PICC programs support our conservation partners with essential skills and resources to sustainably enhance their conservation communication capacity. We recently conducted a number of PICC sessions in Buhoma-Bwindi, Uganda, where we taught groups of school children about animal behavior, ecology, and conservation issues and solutions through our interactive sessions with photography, field sketching and storytelling. Over 270 children in a public school, and 40 students and teachers at a private high school experienced the PICC program during July 2024.
Building on the photography and conservation skills from the PICC Bwindi sessions in 2022, we returned to the village of Buhoma, at the northern gate to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, to collaborate with Mushamba Moses, Director of Rafiki Memorial Wildlife Conservation Initiative.
Mushamba arranged for our visit to the Rubona Primary School, a government-funded school with 350 children walking long distances to attend school and receive 2 meals a day. The kids ranged in age from three years old to their teens. There were 265 kids at school the day we visited. They welcomed us with joyful songs and dances and shared their various garden and goat-raising projects before we met inside their classrooms.
Our visit included a wonderful meeting under the shade of a tree with the school director, Simon, other teachers, and a reformed poacher that was very knowledgable of the mountain gorillas. While we were at the school a mountain gorilla family was visiting right up the road as the school is located on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Our PICC session included around 150 of the youngest students gathered in one classroom to learn about wildlife conservation. Each child got a worksheet to color and happily used the colored pencils. There were also more than 100 older students in two additional classrooms. Mushamba led them through the coloring book and purpose of our visit in their local language and they each received a coloring book and colored with the watercolor pencils (the pencils remained at the school for continued use). They shared many stories about their experiences and enjoyed sharing their knowledge of mountain gorillas and the forest habitat.
Later in the week, Mushamba arranged for the PICC team to collaborate with 40 art students and two teachers at Bwindi Heritage High School in Buhoma. Each student received a copy of the Mountain Gorilla Coloring and Activity book and an art journal. We discussed primates, conservation, shared stories of wildlife interactions, and learned how to use the Canon DSLR cameras. They practiced how to focus on nature photography with quiet attentiveness, capturing images of chickens, flycatchers, chats, plants and each other. Mushamba noted that “they were offered photography skills to help them appreciate nature in all dimensions and which can also be further done professionally in our tourism world and be a source of income”. Back in the classroom the students and teachers used the watercolor pencils and field identification resources to make beautiful illustrations while we continued to have discussions about primate behavior and conservation.
A few days later we returned with over 30 enlarged prints of their best photography and held a gallery exhibit in their classroom. They each proudly received a PICC Conservation Ambassador certificate and celebrated their success in both photography and art.
We deeply appreciate the existing respect for wildlife and their habitats shown by our partner organizations, and our workshops are designed to build upon that foundation. Our sessions not only focus on technical skills in photography and drawing but also emphasize the importance of ethical conduct in capturing wildlife images. We also actively involved elders, teachers and community leaders, integrating their wealth of knowledge and the invaluable traditional wisdom they hold regarding local animals and ecosystems.