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My Hero
My hero is one with spiritual grace,
who sees humanity in chimpanzee's face
Living amongst the wild, taking her chances
to speak for the meek, this child of St. Francis.
She reaches far, teaching children compassion,
mammal exploitation is out of fashion.
All babies play, primates laugh. Elephants cry,
and like us, mourning graveyards where dead kin lie.
My hero knows all beings, to love, respond.
Human elitism is foolishly wrong.
She travels the world with her message of hope,
to revere all life. She's the animal's pope.
Her hands touch earth, nature's habitat needs roots,
opening closed minds, and growing them like shoots.
Your words, I will hear, and your mission applaud.
Gentle one, who walks in the shadow of God.
Showing the plight of wounded species, her call.
She, altruistic, my hero Jane Goodall!
© dlbrown
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From England to the Forests of Africa
By Hans Weise
Jane Goodall was just 26 years old when she left England for East Africa - setting out for what is now Tanzania - to study
chimpanzees in Gombe National Park on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. The journey, taken in the summer of 1960, was Jane's first
step in fulfilling a lifelong dream of working with wild animals in their natural habitat.
Legendary paleontologist Louis Leakey had been looking for someone with unique observational skills (and tremendous patience)
to study chimpanzees in the wild. In Jane Goodall, he found just that person.
At first, British officials refused to let a young woman venture into the African jungle by herself, so Jane took along
a companion, her mother Vanne, for the first few months. Once in Gombe, however, observing the chimpanzees would prove difficult
- very little was known about their behavior, social structure or daily life, and they fled when Jane tried to get close.
But after a few months, the chimpanzees began to accept Jane's presence in their world. A male that Jane called David
Greybeard was the first to venture into her camp. He appeared one day to reach the ripe red fruit of an oil nut palm that
grew nearby when he saw something better - bananas on Jane's camp table. He snatched the bananas and took them back into the
bush. Slowly, other chimps began to approach the camp and Jane was able to begin observing them up close. What she saw would
change primatology forever.
In October 1960, Jane watched as two chimps stripped the leaves off twigs and poked the twigs into the holes of a termite
nest to fish for food. It was the first glimpse of another creature making and using tools. Until that time, humans were thought
to be the only toolmakers. After Jane reported her findings to Louis Leakey, he famously responded, "Now we must redefine
'tool,' redefine 'man,' or accept chimpanzees as humans."
Jane Goodall was born in London on April 3, 1934, and grew up in Bournemouth, in the south of England. When she was just
over a year old, Jane's father gave her a toy chimpanzee named Jubilee, which she still has to this day.
Her favorite books as a child included The Story of Dr. Dolittle, The Jungle Book and the Tarzan series. By the time she
was 11, Jane dreamed of going to Africa in a time when it wasn't thought the proper thing for a young woman to do. But Jane's
mother Vanne told her, "Jane, if you really want something, and if you work hard, take advantage of the opportunities,
and never give up, you will somehow find a way."
Jane Goodall's work in Gombe was expected to last only months, but it has now become one of the longest uninterrupted
field studies of any animal species in its natural surroundings, and research continues there to this day. It's hard to overemphasize
the ways in which Dr. Goodall has changed and enriched the field of primatology - we've learned that chimps have distinct
individual personalities and complex societies. In short, we've learned that chimpanzees are far more like us than we'd previously
thought.
In 1965, Jane earned her Ph.D. in Ethology from Cambridge University, and in 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute
for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation to provide ongoing support for field research on wild chimpanzees. Today,
the mission of the Jane Goodall Institute is to advance the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action
to improve the environment for all living things. The Institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and
their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs
in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots education program, which since 1991 has registered more than 6,000 groups in 87 countries.
Awards and Achievements
As the recipient of numerous awards and the author of many publications, Jane Goodall is world-renowned and highly respected
in both the scientific and lay communities. In 2002 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Jane to serve as
a U.N. Messenger of Peace, while in 2001 she received the third Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. Jane is also the only non-Tanzanian
to have received the Medal of Tanzania, and was awarded the DBE by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in 2003. In 1995, Jane received
the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal "for her extraordinary study of wild chimpanzees and for tirelessly defending
the natural world we share."
Additional honors include Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research
2003, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, the 1996 Caring Award, Sigma Xi's 1996 William Proctor Prize for Scientific
Achievement, the Ark Trust Lifetime Achievement Award and the Animal Welfare Institute's Albert Schweitzer Award. She has
received numerous honorary degrees from universities and colleges around the world.
Today, Jane spends much of her time lecturing, sharing her message of hope for the future and encouraging young people
to make a difference in their world.
A Little advice from Jane Goodall:
"Every one of us makes a difference every day. I advise you to think locally to start with, rather than globally.
Try doing at least one thing every day that makes your world a better place.
Perhaps you can visit someone who's lonely. Or try to smile to everyone you meet.Maybe you can volunteer to walk dogs
or play with cats at your local shelter. Remember that small acts can have long-lasting effects."
Visit Jane Goodall's Website
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