Sewing and Knitting for Conservation
It has always been our goal that the people living in the vicinity of
protected areas for gorillas should be involved in our work and profit
from it. Therefore we want to involve Ugandans in the manufacture of clothes
for rangers. Waltraud Ndagijimana, who has lived in Kisoro for many years,
wants to support us in this project. She has good contacts with local
women’s groups who will sew clothes and knit sweaters for us.
The first requests for clothes are already coming in. It can get very
cold on the Virunga Volcanoes; the rangers of the Mgahinga National Park
need warm sweaters. At first we gave them clothes from the store, but
now we have run out. Therefore we are planning to have a large number
of sweaters knitted and put into the store, to be distributed when the
rangers need them.
In addition to sweaters, the national parks’ staff regularly need
clothes that have to be produced according to their special requirements.
We also want to employ Ugandans for this. The first order has already
been placed, but to have more clothes made we need more funds. We have
to buy wool and cloth (expensive, robust quality) in Uganda or Germany.
Not only the rangers will profit from this project but also Ugandans living in the parks’ vicinity!
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Rolf Brunner |
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