The Voice on Fire Interview - Series #3 - ROBERT BYARUGABA

Robert was born on the boarder of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in Uganda, to an impoverished family where hunting and poaching were considered normal. Attempting to survive alongside the forest, their crops were often eaten and destroyed by wild animals, and killing these animals and hunting for food was part of daily life.

To protect crops, children often stayed home from school to guard them. Robert’s schooling was affected, and he was initiated into hunting and poaching, as were his brothers and sisters.

In 1991, the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was Gazetted as a National Park. Robert saw opportunity to pursue more formal education, gaining his Diploma in Tourism Management, also becoming a birdwatching guide gaining work in the National Park. Education became important to him and he was soon helping parents to see the value in letting children go to school, to learn and have an education, so the children could understand the value of conservation and learning other skills to help protect the Forest, the animals, and their communities.

Robert was also inspired to create Poaching Reform – to stop the killing of wild animals and forest burning during honey harvest. He founded the Poachers Reformers Initiative, an important project offering information, support, education, and sustainable projects for the Ugandan Forest people. Now, Robert invests his time in teaching people in his community to grow vegetables, manage apiaries, do recycling, look after pigs and goats, and many other important and valuable projects. Going forward, Robert also aims to develop the tourism aspect of the community with an educational vision to expose people to life within the Bwindi border communities.

Robert's website is:

https://www.greenmountaininitiative.org/

--