Programme at Virunga National Park, in a gorilla suit in a crowd of
IDPs squatting the buffer zone of the Park)
(PHOTO 2: Ranger Balemba Baligizi leans on the entrance sign at
Rumangabo Station)
***
Who says there can't be comic relief amidst the misery of war in North Kivu?
We see that there are indeed jocular patches on the seemingly smoothly
woven fabric of gore, fear, dread, and want that are the daily lot of
IDPs by reading the 19 September blog entry of Virunga National Park
Chief Warden, Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode.
The short post is titled "Gorilla Marketing in the Refugee Camps."
Dr. de Mérode:
"Because of the war, there are now about 250,000 internally displaced
people on the park boundary.
"They desperately need fuelwood, and their only option is to go into
the park and cut down the forest.
"We have been trying to convince them to use fuel briquettes as a
clean alternative.
"But we have to convince them, and that's not easy, but we've
discovered a new form of marketing.
"Guerrilla Marketing…"
Then, Dr. de Mérode suspends the sentence so as to amplify with the
definition of "Guerrilla Marketing" as given on Dictionary.com:
"Main Entry: guerrilla marketing
"Part of Speech: n
"Definition: any of a number of unconventional methods of marketing
with minimal resources for maximum results; any marketing campaign
that uses non-mainstream tactics and locations
"Etymology: 1982"
After which, Dr. de Mérode picks up his suspended sentence:
"… and this is what Balemba came up with:
"[PHOTO 1 above]
"[Legend:] Balemba, looking pretty. Briquettes in one hand, energy
efficient stoves in the other. Potential customers all around.
"The jury is still out as to whether it will work, but it did bring a
few smiles to otherwise terribly stressed families."
(Source: gorillacd.org/2012/09/19/gorilla-marketing-in-the-refugee-camps/)
Laughter aside, I've got this pressing question: Where the hell would
these deprived IDPs find the money to buy those briquettes and those
energy-efficient "bambolas"?
***
PHOTO CREDITS: gorillacd.org & flickr.com
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