Charley Fisher and I visited a local school here in Nkuringo Community today to present hand puppets Gina Fisher sent from Austria to assist the teachers in course presentations. We were taken aback at how well we were received and how eager the kids were to learn. To assist in learning their math lessons the children ages 2 to 11 use bottle caps.

In 2007 during The Colorado African Expedition, Keith Hellyer and I captured content for a documentary film entitled ‘Primate Questions of Conservation’. We examined the conservation of the mountain gorillas at the expense of the Batwa people. During that time I was fortunate to meet Ugandans Jonathan and Pamela Wright. Now Charley Fisher and I are here at the Wrights Wildplaces Africa Clouds Mountain Gorilla lodge in the Kigezi Highlands. We have visited in the village of Ntungamo and spent the day in the forest with the Batwa.

Although to a large degree it was staged theater, it does reflect how the Batwa struggle to preserve their cultural heritage and in turn make a few shillings while teaching their children about how life used to be for Africa’s forest people.