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“This built confidence,” Albert said. “It grew and grew and grew. It reached a certain level. But
once it attained that level, it began going down again because of expectations. People thought that
all of their problems would go away with the creation of the reserve. But it takes more than the
creation of the reserve. The demand is too great, and the means are few and don't always arrive on
time. We now have the bonobo clinic and the college. And maybe when we build the new landing
strip close to the reserve, that will change things. But people are now asking if maybe the reserve,
is something that will go nowhere. The immediate need is to be more creative so that the movement
will gain energy.”
The feeling that everyone deeply involved with BCI and Vie Sauvage has is that they missed a
crucial opportunity, having been excluded from millions in CBFP funding when they were already
established in the area. They had hoped to combine forces with AWF and reduce expenditures by
not duplicating offices and field equipment.
Though BCI's growth was in many ways too fast for its capacities, passionate Congolese con-
servationists continued to come to them. Anthropologist and BCI board member Alden Almquist
told me that Sally had a good eye for leaders, that she knew how to work with the church and find
leaders who had a foot in both worlds, the modern and the traditional, who could lead the people
but also run the organization. The seeds BCI had planted with the Congolese, the respect they had
earned there, and their passion for bonobo conservation expanded their influence despite the missed
funding opportunity. And as with many such expansions, this one brought further conflicts.
During my time in Kokolopori, I looked for evidence of discord with AWF. The Congolese
I spoke to couldn't explain it, and the person who managed AWF in the region during that time
answered my request for an interview by saying that he was too busy to talk. He agreed to take ques-
tions by email, but never answered why BCI hadn't received significant CBFP funding for Kokolo-
pori.
Cosmas Bofangi, who runs his own conservation area, had done trainings with AWF and ex-
pressed considerable appreciation for them, but he also pointed out the difference between them and
BCI. “BCI works with the community to get everyone involved. Their work is participatory. Instead
of dictating, like the model of AWF, Sally wants to work with the people, above all with the people
of the local population, and to get the entire community participating in conservation.”
Later, I spoke with BCI advisor John Scherlis. He studied evolutionary biology and zoology at
Harvard and Cambridge Universities and has worked in conservation for decades. Having suppor-
ted BCI since its creation, he addressed the conservation world's preoccupation with credentials. He
pointed out that Sally and Michael's lack of scientific background had hurt them. “The downside is
that they did lack a certain amount of knowledge. But the biggest downside is probably that they
don't have the credentials as something to flash, like the password at the door of the speakeasy. If
they had PhD degrees from the sort of universities from which they have undergraduate degrees,
or if their undergraduate degrees were in different disciplines, they probably would be viewed very
differently. On the other hand, the fact that they arrived unburdened by the disciplinary and insti-
tutional cultures, and that they looked to the local people more for how to move ahead, rather than
implicitly assuming that they themselves had the answers, was an advantage. I think the essential
thing, certainly for Sally, is that she sees her work in terms of building relationships with people.”
Scherlis explained that communication and openness to other perspectives had been BCI's
foundation, but that Sally and Michael were too overworked to use their strengths to their full po-
tential. He had spent years supporting BCI, and like almost everyone involved, he had worked for
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