Gorillas

Reflections on #africamp

Posted on by andrewrfretwell

This is our final blog post for our four month trip to Africa. Instead of my usual pontifications, this blog is broken down into a number of “top ten lists” in order to succinctly share the highlights; enjoy!

The 10 Best Things We Did 

Attend ASYV Debate Tournament

After being in the village for like two weeks, we joined the coaches and participants and spent a day in rapid-fire debates on the motion: The Rwandan government should significantly cut its current dependence on foreign aid. I learned a lot about the effects of foreign aid on Rwanda and the global south in general. But more importantly had an incredible day watching and coaching my team of three awesome girls who went on to win the city championship!

Akilah One-on-One meetings

The work we did at Akilah has meaningful in so many ways, and one of those ways in how it allowed us to jump on motos and meet with individuals around Kigali, whether it was worth current students, alumnae, or private sector employers who regularly hired interns and graduates from Akilah. The meetings gave Jamie and I an up-close look into the developing private sector of Rwanda and those who are building it from the ground-up.

Gorilla Trekking

Being close enough to see a fully grown silverback gorilla change its facial expression as it finishes eating one thing and considers if he wants to eat the next thing is…rad. Seriously, it was like close encounter of the best kind.

Driving the Garden Route (including Winelands)

South Africa is immersed in natural beauty and winding our way through the hills along the South and East Coast became like a 4 day drive through a series of impressionist paintings.

SAFARI!

Big Cats, Elephants, Hippos, Giraffes, Craters, Zebras, there is no better way to get lost in nature than safari in Masai Mara, Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater.

Stonehenge

After safari, it was fitting to go from basking in the natural world to trying to pry into the minds of Neolithic men and women who used this site to…bury the dead? Observe the seasons? Pray? All of the above? Few places leave you with more questions that Stonehenge so obviously, we loved it.

Driving Tour of Capetown with Noel

Our driving tour with Noel was amazing because he showed us the sights and shared with us the stories of South Africa. Not just the ones that feel good to hear, about what a saint Mandela is or how great it was for Apartheid to be overthrown without a war. But he also told us the stories about government abuse and corruption that is severely souring the sweetness of what post-Apartheid South Africa could have looked like. For the comprehensiveness and the nuance that we learned, we will forever be grateful. 

White Water Rafting down the Nile

Jamie and I are not extreme sporters but we like to have fun. Rafting the Nile was about as far as we could go. We paddled our way through a couple of Category 5 rapids, got stuck under a 14 foot waterfall (that we rafted over) and we capsized twice…each time there was like a half second when one part of me went “huh, is this how Jamie tells everyone that I died?” But anyway, it was super-super fun and wouldn’t trade it back for anything. 

Attended Rwanda’s National Genocide Memorial at Amahoro National Stadium

While we didn’t see the Agahozo Shalom students perform, joining with Rwandans from around the country to come together to remember such a recent, painful, confusing and real trauma in ther collective psyche and individual lives was an honor. And because Rwandans are such hospitable people, we were welcomed into such a private, vulnerable moment with open arms and teary eyes. It was a moment through which I will feel connected to Rwanda for a very long time.

Spice Tour and Beach out in Zanzibar

With our volunteering and safari behind us, we took our last few days in Africa to check out Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. While there we both went on a spice tour, where we used all five senses to learn more about how spices and herbs are planted, grow and are used culinarily, medicinally and cosmetically. We’ve done a lot of walking tours, but from this one we said, “Wait, but really?” way more than any other. Then we spent a few days to just sit on the beach at a resort and drink and eat like we were rehearsing for a Corona commercial. We stayed at the Beach Breeze Resort and I recommend it to all. We were also lucky because it was peak rainy season so prices were low, but it was still sunny and in the high eighties on most days. #winning.

IMG_7588

10 Teachers and What They Taught Us

  1. JC, Executive Director of Agahozo Shalom Youth Village – showed us how to hit that balance of bringing the the right people to the table with the right jobs and supporting them, but in a way that lets them do what you hired them to do, and therefore thrive.
  2. Vincent, Village Director of Agahozo Shalom Youth Village – taught us how to look at a start-up and begin building, in order to go from good to great
  3. Ritah, Alumnae Affiars Manager at Akilah Institute for Women – taught us how to love a job through building the relationships through those you serve
  4. Aline, Country Director for Akilah Institute for Women – taught me about part of the psychology of Rwndans as refugees and what that means to their values and sense of self-value
  5. Noel, Tour Guide in Cape Town – taught us to look under the surface to see the stories less told in South Africa, post-Aparthied
  6. Nida, graduate of Akilah Institute for Women – taught us that where there’s a will there’s a way
  7. Francis, Tour Guide for Glory Safaris – taught us about the Maasai and how to consider the balance of thousands of years of traditions with modernity
  8. Jessica, Director of Registration and Career Development at Akilah Institute for Women – gave us a crash course in “Re-organizing the systems of your Start-up” through our work together at Akilah
  9. Maxime, graduate at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village – who inspired us with his ambition, belief in hard work, and gratitude and eagerness towards opportunities and uphill battles
  10. Phyllis, fellow volunteer at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village – taught us how to give without imposing, to support without commandeering, to give in the truest sense of the word

IMG_7936

10 Assumptions Going to East Africa Tears Down

  1. Africa is too backwards for there to be significant progress any time soon.
  2. Africa is a great place to send charity to, not business contracts.
  3. African women are comfortable accepting a life similar to that of their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers
  4. The best way for African problems to be solved is to find the equivalent problem in the US or Europe and just apply the model.
  5. Travelling in Africa is not safe.
  6. Unless they are rich, Africans do not speak English.
  7. Africans do not deal with issues around ‘colorism’ since almost everyone is black.
  8. Africa just needs “time” to get better.
  9. Africans think life is cheap.
  10. Africans are a “simple” people.

The 10 Things We Will Do When We Return to Africa

  1. Climb Kilimanjaro and do some Safari Hikes and Balloon Rides
  2. Do some work with African Innovation Prize
  3. Check out the Apartheid Museum in Soweto
  4. Attend Passover or Shabbat with the Abuyadaya in Uganda
  5. Stay over for a few nights in Addis Ababa
  6. See Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
  7. Hike up a volcano in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo
  8. Spend more time in Capetown and the Winelands in South Africa
  9. Visit the Nyamatta Church Genocide Memorial in the Southern Province of Rwanda
  10. Hike around Namibia

IMG_7943

 #africampers out…for now.

Muzungus in the Mist

Posted on by andrewrfretwell

“The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.”

Dian Fossey, author of Gorillas in the Mist

This past week Jamie and I headed to western Rwanda, to spend a day lounging by Lake Kivu, by the border with the (Un)Democratic Republic of Congo, which was absolutely lovely. But that lounging was in preparation for the following day: waking up at 5am to head out for a trek through rain and fog up a mountain to hang with a family of 20+ gorillas, called the Susa Family, who happen to be the family of gorillas famously studied by Dian Fossey herself. We spent 2-3 hours hiking up from 6,000 feet up a fairly steep mountain that tops out at about 9,000 feet. The mountainside was home to lush green farmland (we were a distillery away from being sure we transported to Scotland), curious local farmers and kids, and dense bamboo forests.

It was the kind of hike where the physical exertion matches the mental serenity and by the time you nearly reach the destination you’re out of breath (the air is pretty thin at 9,000 feet in the air), exhausted, and dirty. But you still think, “Wow the journey is the destination.”

Then you see the gorillas.

And you realize, no, the destination really is the destination.

We spent an hour observing the Susa family of mountain gorillas close up; as in close enough to reach out and touch them since they’re fairly blasé about our presence. After getting up close and personal with the gorillas we returned down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, where jeeps awaited us, there was a group of villagers selling various merchandise, including shirts that said “Muzungus in the Mist,” (Muzungu is basically Rwandan for “honkey” or white person). I thought it funny enough to earn the title of this post.

That tangent aside, it’s impossible to not itch with curiosity towards how a species so close to human lives and plays. Watching an animal that can use its opposable thumbs will always be striking. Observing them was like doing a review of what some our most basic psychological needs. Four needs that stuck out the most to me include:

Our Need for Safe Space

IMG_7704

A Susa baby gorilla finds safe space on mama’s back

The gorillas were comfortable with us watching them eat and play up close, but we were warned that it was possible they would not be so ok with us entering the territory in which case we would have to communicate our deference to them through kneeling down and avoiding eye contact. The need to have territory for oneself, family, tribe (extended family) or nation (coalition of extended families) is taken seriously by the gorillas.

It speaks to how crucial safe space is to our own psyche. As individuals we have places that we guard jealously, whether they be houses, bedrooms, or for New Yorkers a 10X10 foot shoebox they call a modest studio with great location.

The world is full of uncertainty and danger. Keeping a safe space is an insurance policy that if the rest of the world becomes too scary, we have one place into which we, and our most loved ones, can retreat and plan our next step.

Our Need to Share

The gorillas are a cooperative species. They share their space and their food (though they also make clear to the others when not to mess with their food). Sharing is critical on multiple levels. The first is on a basic level of survival. Now to be clear, gorillas will allow one of their own to die if natural selection deems it correct. But survival is not an individual contest for the gorillas; it is a collective undertaking by the family. Therefore sharing is essential to ensuring that the maximal amount of the family can survive, produce children and care for those children until adulthood (gorillas tend to breastfeed for about three years…I think).

But there is another level and explanation to the centrality of sharing to our own psyche: it is how we create and maintain connections to others. Whether sharing food, space, or time, doing so reaffirms our desire to connect and reinforces that connection to do so. The world is a harsh place, so I need someone I can trust. I can only trust someone who understands me and I understand them. I can only understand someone, and they understand me, if we have a genuine connection. How do I create and maintain that connection? Through sharing my experience with them, and they with me. And the more we share, the stronger that connection and trust is.

Our Need for Silly

IMG_7718

Two young members of the Susa family get tangled up and turned upside down while wrestling (all in the name of fun, of course!)

The most entertaining thing to watch on the mountain was how the young gorillas played with each other, wrestling, teasing each other and rolling around the hill. Does this help develop the young gorillas ability to handle physical confrontation? Yeah. Does it also play a role in helping the gorillas determine dominance at various stages of development? Probably. But it also is because while the world is harrowing, sometimes the best inoculation is remembering that we can choose times to forget about the world and just do something fun and revel in our senses, physical prowess and roll around a muddy slope.

Our Need to Resolve Conflict

But not all physical interactions are sharing and playing. We watched as gorillas resolved scuffles among the family, either because one was eating another’s food, getting in another’s way or whatever else it is that gorillas bicker over. It was exhilarating and a little scary to be standing eight feet from two gorillas who escalated from grabbing at the same food to literally beating their chests at each other in about ten seconds. But what was much more interesting was how instantly the quarrel was resolved, one gorilla would back down, and then within a minute they might be playing together or picking the ticks off each other. Lesson: once a grievance has been resolved, you only waste time in stewing over it. Let me know when you figure out how to do that, I would love to learn that trick.

One Final Note

Mountain gorillas are as endangered as they are majestic. They only live in the rain forest that is split between Uganda, Rwanda and (Un)Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwandan Government goes to admirable lengths to protect the mountain gorillas, as does the Ugandan Government. The DRC though…well let’s just say the gorillas have figured out they are better off leaving the DRC. The government is beyond corrupt and for the right price you can set a trap that will ensnare a gorilla. There is something poetic in the mountain gorillas reacting to the effects of a dysfunctional human cooperative enterprise.

20160229_121818

Required gorilla selfie! #Africamp

Check out tons more photos of these amazing gorillas here!

Photo credit (mostly) to Jamie Maxner.