Baraza

Category: Gorillas | Date: Sep 28 2008 | By: baraza

Several news articles and blogs have noted that the launch of Looking for Miza will help to raise attention  to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in Congo. We are also really pleased that the book will also raise funds. When we started the project to do the book with Craig Hatkoff, we had three important objectives

1. To raise awareness. This book is currently in English and will be translated into a number of languages including native languages in Africa where it will be distributed. The Scholastic Junior corp of journalists from Rwanda will be helping to deliver messages across East and Central Africa and to the rest of the world through the Scholastic website.

2. To help people get involved in Gorilla conservation. We saw how this can work in New York on Friday when children in in the USA and globally were involved in the launch of the book and submitted hundreds of ideas to the website. Scholastic will continue to provide opportunities for involvement through their website.

3. We also aimed to raise funds for Gorilla conservation and already US$ 150,000 has been set aside to support rangers in the Virunga National Park from the Owen and Mzee Foundation. This should help to support many rangers over a one year period.

The situation in eastern Congo seems to be worse than ever and it’s now a year since the rebels have been in control of teh gorilla sector. Miza, and her family are at great risk. According to this article on MSNBC fighting continues near the park as Nkunda tries to extend his area of control. Just last month four people were killed and several injured (18 of them rebels) .  This may be why Emmanuel, Innocent and Diddy were unable to travel to New York to attend the launch of the book “Looking for Miza”.

Given the seriousness of the situation we are interested in your thoughts and ideas on how this children’s book can help to  raise awareness, involvement and funds for gorilla conservation.

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Tags: Congo, Gorillas, Looking for Miza, owen and mzee

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Sep 17 2008 | By: baraza

Though it was announced back in June  the launch of our newest childrens book is actually taking place next weekend in New York. The book is part of a campaign that was born out of a commitment to action made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative shortly after last summer’s tragic massacre of ten mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park. The campaing includes the publication of Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own (Scholastic Press), and the creation of a multi-platform and standards-based educational initiative that will teach children, teachers and parents about the gorilla crisis.

All of the authors and photographer Peter Greste will be in New York for the launch. We will give you details about the events that will be taking place in case you’d like to attend.

I was very pleased to read the first book review on Amazon.com

“Moving, inspiring, informative, beautifully illustrated, and very, very important. This is a true story about one family of mountain gorillas, living in the Virunga National Forest (currently occupied by rebel army forces) and their attempts to return a lost orphan to their fold. “Miza” will engage your mind and steal your heart. You cannot ignore the plight of these magnificent creatures whose lives hang in such delicate balance, threatened by deforestation, poaching, and infection and war. Their innocence, so similar to our own, is poignantly and simply stated: “When gorillas feel safe, they play.”

Another review is on Eco Childs play here.

Craig Hatkoff, my friend and co-author of the book  wrote a moving piece about how this project came about on the scholastic website

“When we first started the Looking of Miza project, the only photograph we had of Miza was the picture that now appears on the back cover of the book. It was a photo of just an eye peering through a bush, snapped by Peter Greste last summer. It was the only photo Peter could get of Miza, who was still traumatized from her ordeal of being lost in the jungle. Park rangers Diddy and Innocent confirmed it was Miza by her distinct and now-famous nose print. With only that one photo in our possession, we agreed with Scholastic to do the book even if we couldn’t get any other pictures of Miza because of the importance of telling Miza’s story and raising global awareness of the mountain gorilla crisis”.

This article goes on to show how a book cover is so important, and how much effort it took to get the “right” book cover.

If you have the book  and have read it, please tell us if you like it - or if you don’t.

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Tags: Craig Hatkoff, gorilla, Looking for Miza, Paula Kahumbu, Scholastic, Turtle Pond, wildlifedirect

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Category: Zahoor Kashmiri | Date: Sep 09 2008 | By: baraza

A new blog for Kashmiri It has been a week since Zahoor Kashmiri left us, and we are still grieving, and receiving outpourings of grief over his tragic death which we wrote about here and here. We have received hundreds of messages, through the blogs, on phone, in texts and through other sites.

One of the last photographs taken of Zahoor Kashmiri in Ethiopia. Photo Yirmed Demeke 

We have set up the blog in his name here Kashmiri’s Wildlife Rescue Fund and a number of donors have already committed to support the new fund for wildlife veterinarians. We hope that this fund will make a significant contribution to wildlife rescues in Africa. Please visit the blog, check out the photograph album on the right, and leave us your comments on what you’d like to see on this blog. One suggestion is that we establish a memorial for Kashmiri in Ethiopia and in Kenya. I personally love the idea.

Other big news is that Rosy, the crowned eagle has had his (yes he’ a boy) cataracts removed successfuly and new lenses put in. This is an amazing story - he is over 30 years old and is the first crowned eagle in history to have this operation. Crowned eagles are the most powerful bird of prey in Africa and are disappearing fast. Rosy who was rescued as a chick with  a broken wing can never go back to the wild, but he’s doing more than his fair share of breeding having produced 12 chicks with his “wife” Girl. All have gone back to the wild. The cataract operation will hopefully restore his eyesight and breeding potential. We are so proud and privileged that WildilfeDirect helped to make this possible.

You can read about this historic operation and follow the progress of Rosy’s recovery on Simon Thomsett’s blog.

Launching “Looking for Miza” in New York! We (Peter Greste, Richard Leakey and I) are really happy to be coming to New York again later this month to launch our new book “Looking for Miza”. The details will be coming out shortly - but order your copy of Miza now from Amazon here and come get it signed. Tell all your friends too! It’s already number 2 in childrens books about apes and monkeys(!) but so far there are no product reviews on Amazon yet.

There is a host of exciting events being planned around the launch of the book so keep tuned to this blog to find out more.

Want to be the first reviewer? Send your customer review to Amazon when you get a chance.

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Tags: Looking for Miza, Miza, Wildlife Rescue Fund, wildlifedirect, Zahoor Kashmiri

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Category: Gorillas | Date: Jun 30 2008 | By: admin

Well, I can finally tell you about it, the secret project that we have been working on for the last 12 months has been announced. The collaboration with Craig Hatkoff’s Turtle Pond with whom I did “Owen and Mzee” earlier has grown into something none of us could have imagined involving Scholastic, the Clinton Foundation, and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation .

TURTLE POND PUBLICATIONS, SCHOLASTIC AND WILDLIFE DIRECT JOIN TOGETHER THROUGH CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO RAISE AWARENESS OF PLANET’S ENDANGERED MOUNTAIN GORILLAS

<!–New Children’s Book Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own in Bookstores in September

–> New Children’s Book Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own in Bookstores in September

New York , NY (June 23, 2008) — <!–Turtle Pond Publications and Scholastic, in partnership with Dr. Richard Leakey’s Wildlife Direct, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), today announced an integrated campaign to raise awareness about, and empower children to help save, Africa’s endangered mountain gorillas.

The campaign was born out of a commitment to action made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative shortly after last summer’s tragic massacre of ten of the world’s remaining 700 mountain gorillas, of which, 380 live in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park. It is a call to action that includes the publication of the children’s book, Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own (Scholastic Press), and the creation of a multi-platform and standards-based educational initiative that will teach children, teachers and parents about the gorilla crisis.

Available in bookstores nationwide in September, Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own tells the story of a baby female mountain gorilla, Miza, whose mother was one of the ten gorillas killed last summer. Miza was rescued by her father, Virunga’s legendary alpha-male silverback gorilla named Kabirizi, following the tragedy and was reunited with the rest of her family. Miza almost died, but thanks to the efforts of the Congolese Mountain Rangers and Kabirizi’s troop of 35 gorillas, she has thrived even without her mother. The book brings to light the gorillas’ struggle and underscores the sacrifice and heroism of the mountain rangers and their critical role in the survival of this endangered species.

The book was written by the authors of the #1 New York Times best-selling Owen & Mzee series, Craig Hatkoff and daughter Isabella (9), Dr. Paula Kahumbu and photographer/journalist Peter Greste. Hatkoff’s older daughter Juliana (13) also collaborated on Looking for Miza.

“Miza’s true story is a life-affirming tale of hope and courage. Her dramatic rescue included not only her famous father Kabirizi, but also entailed the diligent efforts of the heroic Congolese Mountain Rangers,” said Craig Hatkoff. “Working with the Clinton Global Initiative, Dr. Leakey and Wildlife Direct and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation has been a true privilege for our family. Through Miza, we can teach children early on that they have the power to help save the mountain gorillas. She is the ray of hope that will symbolize our commitment to preserving this extremely fragile species from extinction”

“We are thrilled to again be working with the Hatkoff family and Turtle Pond on this new project,” said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade Publishing. “The story of Miza is a stirring call to action and an inspiration to children and families around the world. Scholastic is proud to publish this compelling and powerful picture book.”

This will be the fourth inspiring nonfiction picture book written by the Hatkoffs and published by Scholastic about remarkable animals overcoming adversity. Their popular series of issues-based children’s books, including Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (2006), Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship (2007), and Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Changed the World (2007), introduces kids to real world issues and empowers them to effect change on our planet.

Along with the book, Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, will launch an in-school, standards-based educational initiative that will make elementary and middle school children, teachers and parents aware of the mountain gorilla crisis and the mission to save them. A specially developed curriculum and online portal produced by Scholastic will be distributed to approximately one million students to teach them about the gorillas, their habitat and the Mountain Rangers, and will empower them to become advocates for the gorillas.

In addition, www.Miza.com, created jointly by Turtle Pond and Scholastic, will offer students up-to-date information on the gorillas brought from Wildlife Direct’s field-based blogs written by the Mountain Rangers and other activities and resources. Students will be encouraged to share ideas about helping the gorillas.

“Were it not for the daily reports from the rangers Innocent and Diddy on their Wildlife Direct blog, we would never have heard Miza’s extraordinary story or learned of the monumental challenges facing conservation of Gorillas in this part of Africa,” said Dr. Paula Kahumbu, Head of Conservation, Policy & Partnerships for Wildlife Direct and Looking for Miza Co-Author. “Miza’s story of courage and hope reminds us that everyone in the world, including children can help to ensure the survival of one of our closest living relatives, the mountain gorillas.”

“We are honored to be partners in the campaign to raise awareness about the effects of war and violence around the world,” said Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation CEO Donna Blackwell. “Miza’s story reminds us that we must take steps to protect those humans and animals that are most vulnerable and to strengthen our commitment to peace in the world.”

About Turtle Pond Publications
Turtle Pond Publications is a private entertainment and media company based in New York. Its interests include a variety of children’s publishing ventures and other media investments including the Tribeca Film Festival; the company’s principals, Craig Hatkoff and Jane Rosenthal, are co-founders of the festival along with Robert De Niro.

About The Clinton Global Initiative
CGI is a non-partisan project of the Clinton Foundation that brings together a community of global leaders to identify and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Since inception in 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,000 “Commitments to Action” to address poverty alleviation, climate change, global health, education, and other pressing issues, and improve over 200 million lives in more than 100 countries. The 2008 CGI Annual Meeting will take place in New York September 24-26, followed by CGI Asia, December 2-3 and the second annual CGI U next spring.
About Wildlife Direct
Wildlife Direct was started by Richard Leakey to create the world’s largest online conservation community and raise awareness and funds for conservation in some of the worlds most endangered and dangerous places. Operating deep in the jungles of eastern Congo, blogs written by rangers last year alerted the world to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ranger Innocent and Ranger Diddy’s voices from the front lines of conservation on their Wildlife Direct blog provide a unique opportunity for anyone anywhere in the world to participate in the conservation of one of the world’s most charismatic and most endangered species: the mountain gorillas. Funds raised through the blogs have enabled the Congolese wildlife authority, the The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) to continue wildlife conservation activities on the ground despite the ongoing crisis. Wildlife Direct will use Miza to raise awareness and support for mountain gorillas throughout their ranges in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.
About Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation
The mission of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation is to support and promote the creation of a culture of peace throughout the world. In the spirit of founder, Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and in collaboration with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre of South Africa, the foundation is dedicated to advancing reconciliation, peace-building, non-violence, conflict resolution, and ethical leadership so that all may live in a more peaceable and sustainable world.

–> Turtle Pond Publications and Scholastic, in partnership with Dr. Richard Leakey’s Wildlife Direct, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), today announced an integrated campaign to raise awareness about, and empower children to help save, Africa’s endangered mountain gorillas.

The campaign was born out of a commitment to action made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative shortly after last summer’s tragic massacre of ten of the world’s remaining 700 mountain gorillas, of which, 380 live in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park. It is a call to action that includes the publication of the children’s book, Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own (Scholastic Press), and the creation of a multi-platform and standards-based educational initiative that will teach children, teachers and parents about the gorilla crisis.

Available in bookstores nationwide in September, Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own tells the story of a baby female mountain gorilla, Miza, whose mother was one of the ten gorillas killed last summer. Miza was rescued by her father, Virunga’s legendary alpha-male silverback gorilla named Kabirizi, following the tragedy and was reunited with the rest of her family. Miza almost died, but thanks to the efforts of the Congolese Mountain Rangers and Kabirizi’s troop of 35 gorillas, she has thrived even without her mother. The book brings to light the gorillas’ struggle and underscores the sacrifice and heroism of the mountain rangers and their critical role in the survival of this endangered species.

The book was written by the authors of the #1 New York Times best-selling Owen & Mzee series, Craig Hatkoff and daughter Isabella (9), Dr. Paula Kahumbu and photographer/journalist Peter Greste. Hatkoff’s older daughter Juliana (13) also collaborated on Looking for Miza.

“Miza’s true story is a life-affirming tale of hope and courage. Her dramatic rescue included not only her famous father Kabirizi, but also entailed the diligent efforts of the heroic Congolese Mountain Rangers,” said Craig Hatkoff. “Working with the Clinton Global Initiative, Dr. Leakey and Wildlife Direct and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation has been a true privilege for our family. Through Miza, we can teach children early on that they have the power to help save the mountain gorillas. She is the ray of hope that will symbolize our commitment to preserving this extremely fragile species from extinction”

“We are thrilled to again be working with the Hatkoff family and Turtle Pond on this new project,” said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade Publishing. “The story of Miza is a stirring call to action and an inspiration to children and families around the world. Scholastic is proud to publish this compelling and powerful picture book.”

This will be the fourth inspiring nonfiction picture book written by the Hatkoffs and published by Scholastic about remarkable animals overcoming adversity. Their popular series of issues-based children’s books, including Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (2006), Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship (2007), and Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Changed the World (2007), introduces kids to real world issues and empowers them to effect change on our planet.

Along with the book, Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, will launch an in-school, standards-based educational initiative that will make elementary and middle school children, teachers and parents aware of the mountain gorilla crisis and the mission to save them. A specially developed curriculum and online portal produced by Scholastic will be distributed to approximately one million students to teach them about the gorillas, their habitat and the Mountain Rangers, and will empower them to become advocates for the gorillas.

In addition, www.Miza.com, created jointly by Turtle Pond and Scholastic, will offer students up-to-date information on the gorillas brought from Wildlife Direct’s field-based blogs written by the Mountain Rangers and other activities and resources. Students will be encouraged to share ideas about helping the gorillas.

“Were it not for the daily reports from the rangers Innocent and Diddy on their Wildlife Direct blog, we would never have heard Miza’s extraordinary story or learned of the monumental challenges facing conservation of Gorillas in this part of Africa,” said Dr. Paula Kahumbu, Head of Conservation, Policy & Partnerships for Wildlife Direct and Looking for Miza Co-Author. “Miza’s story of courage and hope reminds us that everyone in the world, including children can help to ensure the survival of one of our closest living relatives, the mountain gorillas.”

“We are honored to be partners in the campaign to raise awareness about the effects of war and violence around the world,” said Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation CEO Donna Blackwell. “Miza’s story reminds us that we must take steps to protect those humans and animals that are most vulnerable and to strengthen our commitment to peace in the world.”

About Turtle Pond Publications
Turtle Pond Publications is a private entertainment and media company based in New York. Its interests include a variety of children’s publishing ventures and other media investments including the Tribeca Film Festival; the company’s principals, Craig Hatkoff and Jane Rosenthal, are co-founders of the festival along with Robert De Niro.

About The Clinton Global Initiative
CGI is a non-partisan project of the Clinton Foundation that brings together a community of global leaders to identify and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Since inception in 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,000 “Commitments to Action” to address poverty alleviation, climate change, global health, education, and other pressing issues, and improve over 200 million lives in more than 100 countries. The 2008 CGI Annual Meeting will take place in New York September 24-26, followed by CGI Asia, December 2-3 and the second annual CGI U next spring.

About Wildlife Direct
Wildlife Direct was started by Richard Leakey to create the world’s largest online conservation community and raise awareness and funds for conservation in some of the worlds most endangered and dangerous places. Operating deep in the jungles of eastern Congo, blogs written by rangers last year alerted the world to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ranger Innocent and Ranger Diddy’s voices from the front lines of conservation on their Wildlife Direct blog provide a unique opportunity for anyone anywhere in the world to participate in the conservation of one of the world’s most charismatic and most endangered species: the mountain gorillas. Funds raised through the blogs have enabled the Congolese wildlife authority, the The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) to continue wildlife conservation activities on the ground despite the ongoing crisis. Wildlife Direct will use Miza to raise awareness and support for mountain gorillas throughout their ranges in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Internet Site, www.scholastic.com.

About Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation
The mission of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation is to support and promote the creation of a culture of peace throughout the world. In the spirit of founder, Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and in collaboration with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre of South Africa, the foundation is dedicated to advancing reconciliation, peace-building, non-violence, conflict resolution, and ethical leadership so that all may live in a more peaceable and sustainable world.

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Tags: Clinton Foundation, Desmond Tutu, DR Congo, Looking for Miza, mountain gorillas, Paula Kahumbu, richard leakey

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 11 2008 | By: admin

Yesterday I signed copies of Owen and Mzee donated to Mukuru where I met children who were honored to meet a real “author”. When I told them that Isabella was 6 when we did this project their eyes grew big with the realization that children can be authors.

Mukuru is a school for over 4,000 children from a slum in Nairobi. 2000 of these kids benefit from one hot meal - probably the only meal they get each day. The school is supported by the world food program and my friend Rita Field-Marsham who donated 1,000 childrens books to their library, invited me along when she realised that I was an author of Owen and Mzee. What a privilege. These kids were amazingly disciplined, adorable, they were playing with a home made paper football. My dream is that Miza has just as much impact, if not more, than Owen and Mzee which is now in 17 languages. I’m hoping Scholastic will do a Kiswahili translation and donations to local schools in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to inspire the youth to care about gorillas.

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Tags: , Craig Hatkoff, Looking for Miza, owen and mzee, Scholastic

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