MBOU-MON-TOUR
Mbou-Mon-Tour is a Congolese NGO working with local communities in the Bolobo Territory of the DRC to protect bonobos through community conservation.
MMT, together with WWF, are helping villages habituate the bonobos that live in their forests, with the hopes that ecotourism will bring economic benefits to these communities, and simultaneously preserve the species.
In 2016, I worked with Mbou-Mon-Tour and WWF to develop and implement a two-day bonobo sensitization workshop for the local primary schools. Children are the future of conservation and through awareness and education, they learn their unique role to protect this special and endangered species.
The workshops involved sensibilizing the children to bonobos through puppet shows, coloring and drawing contests, and finally a pledge to protect bonobos made with their handprints.
The children's enthusiasm and receptiveness to the workshops were phenomenal, and my faith in this next generation of conservationists is strong. Through them may the endangered bonobo's future be saved.