Last Tuesday, October 17, was the third event in the Mary Riley Styles Library program celebrating Falls Church City’s sister city partnership with Kokolopori, Democratic Republic of Congo. Sally Coxe, president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI), spoke about her recent expedition to Kokolopori to a rapt audience. She emphasized the critical link between successful great ape conservation and helping the people living in bonobo habitat areas such as Kokolopori improve their health, educational and economic opportunities. Without concerted international support for rainforest people, bonobos–the rarest of the four great ape species–could be extinct in the wild within a decade, before most people on the planet even know they exist. One important way Falls Church citizens can help Kokolopori residents improve their lives is by supporting the establishment of Kokolopori’s new health clinic. Coxe mentioned the grateful father whose toddler son had been saved by BCI staff after the boy had fallen into a cooking fire, because they provided antibiotic cream for his burns and transported him to the nearest hospital 70 kilometers away. By working with BCI and Vie Sauvage, BCI’s Congolese partner organization in Kokolopori, Falls Church citizens have an opportunity to make a big difference in the lives of a Congolese community and the forests and wildlife that are part of our common global heritage. Next Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., is the fourth and final event in the Mary Riley Styles Library’s Kokolopori program: modern and traditional Congolese music by Bana Ndule (Children of Music), a live five person band.
