Donate Textbooks To Learners Protecting Wildlife In Congo

Do you have English language textbooks you don’t need anymore, or does your school? Or do you know someone who can spare a few new textbooks?

Donate those textbooks to learners involved in conservation in Congo.

I recently learned of Wildlife Direct, a web organization which functions as a bridge between donors and local organizations supporting conservation – specifically of Mountain Gorillas and other wildlife - in Congo; protecting these animals from poachers is important not only because they are rare, but because they are key to the economic relaunch of Congo. Tourists currently pay over $400 a day to visit such gorillas in neighboring Rwanda and Uganda – it’s not hard to imagine how a bit of this kind of tourism could influence the Congolese economy in a positive way.

The elite rangers - known as the Advanced Force - who protect the Mountain Gorillas keep in touch with those who contribute funds to their cause via blogs, which you can read here. Currently, the rangers utilize translators to blog and also post photos they take of their everyday lives – but they’d love to write the blogs themselves.

Unfortunately, English textbooks are not available locally at all, and on one of the blogs, Wildlife Direct made an informal request for anyone who might have access to some textbooks to help out.

Via email, William Deed of Wildlife Direct reports he has gotten “…many requests from those within the Advanced Force who would like to get their hands on some text books that teach English. Nearly all of the Congo Rangers have great French and so any text books that are English for French Speakers would be handy. Even better if they were English for Swahili speakers!”

And who makes up the Advanced Force?
“They are mostly men in their very late twenties and thirties, with an incredible enthusiasm to learn. Actually, a lot of them already have a few sentences in English and they quickly pick it up when they hear us talk…” So first of all, any donated books would need to be geared toward adult learners – not children. My guess would be that books up to Intermediate level might have the widest appeal. But don’t rely on my guesses, check with William Deed himself: you can reach him at wdeed (at) wildlifedirect dot org.

One restraint to keep in mind: there is no postal service where the Advanced Force is located, so any books would have to be sent to Kenya and carried to Congo as hand luggage. Because of this, they aren’t looking for just any material written in English: there is a specific need for English language textbooks or material specifically for learning English.

If you can help, or know someone who can, get in touch with Wildlife Direct through William Deed.