Jane Goodall

Today I had the fortune of listening to Jane Goodall. I wanted to be in her physical presence as I suspect that she had a radiance about her. And I was indeed right. In a room packed with developmental economists and other NGO professions she spoke passionately about her mother. How her mother believed in her from the time she was 1.5 years old and took earthworms to bed with her. Instead of getting upset her mother nurtured her love for animals.

Jane she was born between the two world wars she was very poor - her family could not even afford a bicycle. But her mother bought her Tarzan and other great books about the natural world. At 11 years old Jane had a dream that she will be working with animals she said and writing about them. And when she shared this dream everyone except her mom laughed at her. Her mom told her to work hard and focus on her dreams. Finally she saved enough money to buy a ticket on a boat to Africa and set sail on a new adventure. She knew she wanted to be a naturalist in Africa. And this to her was the starting point. Getting there. Of course once she was there there were other obstacles. In particular no one would take responsibility for a young single woman to roam the forests unaccompanied. So her mother came along with her. And when Jane was starting to lose heart - feeling that she was not learning anything spectacular about chimps her mother refuted it. Her mom told her that Jane was learning alot about how they feed, what they feed on and other daily habits. And encouraged Jane to record all of it. And her breakthough finally came when she saw a chimp using a stick as a tool. Her mother also created incredibly trust and goodwill among the local Kenyan people by setting up a "clinic" in the village where they were. She used epson salts, bandages, aspirin and other simple medicine to treat the ailments of the villagers. In turn the villagers came to revere her as a white witch doctor and allowed Jane much access and shared their wisdom with her.

When she finally presented her findings to professors in Cambridge they said that she was wrong. Animals have no emotions and it was wrong of her to name her animals. They must be numbered. She said instinctively she knew her professors were wrong. From a very young age her dog had taught her that animals have many emotions and this in turn became the basis of her work. I was deeply inspired by her story and her radiant story telling. She spoke to us from her heart. No script. No slides. With vivid animal hoots and chimp like gestures she shared her intimate knowledge of her chimps with love, honesty and compassion.