Bruce
Bruce has been working at Ngamba Island for three years, since completing his studies. Prior to studying, he didn’t have a particular interest in wildlife or conservation, but his first job after leaving college was as a volunteer at UWEC. After six months of volunteering, he applied for a job at Ngamba Island, and his knowledge of animal keeping gained him the position. He now classes chimpanzees as his favourite animals and is clearly passionate about his job.
I asked him for how long Ngamba had had internet, and he said it had only been since the beginning of this year. In response to my question about whether he felt it had benefited the sanctuary, he said that has allowed them to have much improved communication with other sanctuaries and conservation organisations, including receiving updates about the status of conservation projects and initiatives outside the island. I asked him if he thought having internet had increased visitor numbers, but he felt that it probably hadn’t, as many visitors heard about the sanctuary through word of mouth, or when visiting places like UWEC.
The sanctuary gives every visitor a small form to fill in, which asks simply how the visitor heard about the sanctuary, whether they are local or international, how they got there, and whether they intend to support the sanctuary in any way. It then asks for name, address and email address, so that when the forms are collated in the office once a month, the sanctuary can keep in touch with those who offered support and actually benefit from it. Gerald, the Assistant Manager, told me when I handed my form back to him, that roughly five in every 100 people who fill in the forms will end up following through on their offer to support the sanctuary or related projects, which just shows how a very simple initiative can really make an impact.
Ngamba Island's information board
The sanctuary makes it very clear to all visitors that it is there for a very important purpose and that it rehabilitates chimpanzees, rather than allowing people to make other assumptions. The first thing visitors are shown on arrival is a large board with information about the island’s work, community outreach projects, and a “before and after” type picture of an orphaned chimp.
To keep local communities feeling included and valued, anyone from these communities can visit the island free of charge on Sundays, providing they arrange it by phone in advance. Bruce said this really helps to keep relations between the sanctuary and its neighbouring islands smooth and productive, and prevents hostility and damage towards the island and its workers.
Stanley
Stanley has been working at Ngamba Island for seven years. His job is to prepare the food for the chimpanzees (they are fed four times a day). He volunteered at Ngamba Island for six months before gaining paid employment there. He said that he was taught about conservation when he was at school in Kampala, but that he feels raising awareness using films would encourage even more people, both locally and internationally, to take an interest in the sanctuary’s work.
Aggrey
Aggrey Nuwamanya has been a boat captain on the boats that take visitors to and from the island for 3 years. When I asked about his motivation for taking the job, he said that his uncle owns some of the boats, so after growing up in Western Uganda, he moved to one of the neighbouring islands to start working with his uncle. He felt that people in his community would really enjoy the opportunity to watch films about the island and conservation in general, and would be very interested to learn from the films. I asked him whether he thinks visitors to the island know much about conservation, and he said he doesn’t tend to talk to them about the chimps because they will get that on the island, but that a lot of the visitors seem to have some knowledge about the issues surrounding fishing in Lake Victoria, and some understanding of conservation.
