Page 25 - Local Voices, Local Choices Excerpt

Local ambassadors: learning from and speaking for the chimps 23
“In the evening, all fishermen would go home, and we would remain behind. She would ask about everything. That white lady would not rest. She would carry her water in a bottle, and we would pity her: ‘Is this someone who can go and stay there the whole day and get rained on?’ Sure enough, she was always out there. We knew she had a job to do, just like everyone has their own duties. She worked there tirelessly, and she got what she wanted. If you seek, you will find.”
Like Mama Fatuma Kifumu’s husband, Mzee Yahaya Almas was orig- inally a fisherman, based in the Kigoma Rural District, relying on his daily haul from Lake Tanganyika to subsist. He learned of employment oppor- tunities at Gombe through word of mouth and began working there in 1977. “News of the research came from our elders, the late Mzee Hilali Matama and Mzee Rashidi Kikwale,” Mzee Yahaya says. These two char- acters featured significantly through Jane’s early years in Gombe. Mzee Rashidi Kikwale was the father of Jumanne Kikwale, introduced in chap- ter 2, and the very first person to guide Jane into the forest to track chimps in 1960, while Mzee Hilali was Jane’s first official research assistant, hired by the Gombe Stream Research Centre in 1968. Fine company indeed for Mzee Yahaya to have as mentors.
“After Mzee Hilali joined the chimpanzee research center,” Mzee Yahaya continues, “I asked him if he would consider me for a position. He agreed and helped me apply for a job as a laborer. After working as a laborer, I began as a slasher, slashing the forest trails for those who were following the chimps. This is where I first saw them and developed a real interest. I said ‘Brother, I love chimpanzees. I don’t know how, but I want to work with them.’ As the senior field assistant, he agreed to support my interest and found a place for me in the team. The ones who taught me were Hamisi Mkono, and Mzee Hilali and Mzee Eslom.” Today, Mzee Yahaya speaks with great passion about the Gombe chimps. Although he may have come to Gombe simply to seek employment, his work there quickly matured into a deep and genuine enthusiasm for conservation.