CTPH

One of the most exciting panels during my audiobook launch was with my youngest interviewers, Talia and Tendo. Here is Part 1. Twelve year old Talia, a nature conservationist and tourism enthusiast inspired by Dr Jane Goodall, Professor Wangari Maathai and Me! asked the serious questions In Chapter 20 of Walking With Gorillas you talk about taking our message to the children. Beyond being passionate about conservation, how can young Africans see it as a career to create lasting change? It’s important to inspire, encourage and support the children and youth to lead their own initiatives like Talia’s One Million Trees 🌳 where they have planted 620,000 trees over the past year! and engaging her as a Senior Ambassador of Little Hands 🙌 Go Green. It is also possible to create a job for yourself in conservation, like I did when I convinced Dr Edroma to hire me as their first veterinary doctor at the Uganda Wildlife Authority 🦍 And having supportive parents makes a huge difference, like my mother, Hon Rhoda Kalema who supported me throughout my career. It is so inspiring to see Talia’s mum supporting her dreams. Anyone can become a conservationist no matter what your profession is! Your journey shows that protecting gorillas also means helping communities and engaging people from other sectors. How do we ensure that conservation remains relevant for future generations over the next 50 years? It has to relate to the everyday person. Therefore we have to expand our reach because so many sectors affect conservation. #WalkingWithGorillas #ListenToWalkingWithGorillas

Here is Part 2. Not surprisingly our younger son, 17 year old Tendo asked the more personal questions! Maama, how do you manage to maintain the same energy every day? What gets me out of bed in the morning is wanting to make a difference for the gorillas, the communities and the planet. We have done a lot, but there is still a lot more to do! Being an extrovert, I get energized by the people around me and their encouraging words and posts, this includes my family and friends; and our board, staff, volunteers, colleagues, partners and donors. I also get my inspiration from God. Will you be writing another book? Just after “Walking With Gorillas” came out in 2023, Lilly Golden, my editor at Skyhorse Publishing, encouraged me to write another book and I have now started working on it! Would you want a movie about you or your book to be made? Some people have expressed an interest in helping to make a movie and we have started following up on this. I believe that it will make our conservation story more accessible to the world just like “Gorillas in the Mist” did for Rwanda. Tendo ended with “I am proud of you Maama” 🥰🦍💚❤️ Click the link below to get your copy: linktr.ee/WalkingWithGorilla… The hardcopy is also available on Amazon and in major bookstores worldwide. #WalkingWithGorillas #ListenToWalkingWithGorillas