Dr Dareall

'The longer I live and the more problems I see, the more I hope.' Only someone as extraordinary as Dr Jane Goodall could say this. At 71, one of the most famous and respected primatologists in the world tells Sudeshna Sarkar how her legacy can be carried forward by children of the world.

Kathmandu, Nepal: Dr Jane Goodall has a unique form of greeting which is quite like a signature tune of the work she has been doing all her life.

She stands ramrod-straight, tilts her head slightly and then calls out Ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, each "o" rising up a note till it becomes a full-throated cry that reverberates among the trees, rustles leaves and leaves you forcefully shaken.

"I bring you a voice that is not [often] heard [in your part of the world]," she explains. "It is the greeting of the chimpanzees. It's the distance call they give to maintain contact with each other."

An expert mimic couldn't have given a better performance. But then that's only to be expected of Dr Goodall, one of the most respected primatologists of our times. She is the researcher who lived for years in the remotest parts of Africa and unlocked the wondrous world of the chimpanzees, the primate closest to mankind.

Dr Goodall was in Nepal in November last year to attend a function organised by Roots and Shoots (but more about that later).

She is the founder of the Gombe Stream Research Centre in Tanzania, an institution that continues to do research in chimp behaviour , and the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation in California.

A Dame of the British Empire, Dr Goodall is the recipient of numerous honours, including the Kyoto Prize given by the Japan government, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, and the Gandhi/King Award for Non-violence.

But the 71-year-old waves aside all the superlatives people use to describe her. When a former student of hers, Peter Dalglish, introduced her at the meeting in Nepal as a "heroine in the time of no heroes" and "one of the 10 most influential women of all times", she made a wry face.

"I sometimes quite can't recognise who Peter is describing," she says.

"I am just me, just Dr Jane."

The extraordinary achievements of 'just Dr Jane'

As a 26-year-old woman who had no academic degrees or money, Dr Goodall went off to Tanzania - then known as Tanganyika - in East Africa, to study the behaviour of chimps. The trip was originally planned for six months.

"Before me, someone else too tried to study chimpanzee behaviour," she says. "He went to the forests of West Africa with 12 porters following him. Obviously [because he had so many people accompanying him], he didn't learn much at all. He saw [chimps] only once. My goal was to go into this magic world and act as a historian of chimps.

"At first, the chimps were shy, never having seen a white 'ape' before - and that's what I was."

Her fascination with animals, especially the chimp, probably started at the age of 2 when she was given a life-size toy chimp. Instead of being frightened, she was so enamoured

of it that Jubilee, the chimp, became her constant companion accompanying her wherever she went. Today, almost bald thanks to all the hugs and pats he has been receiving over the years, he has been given respite and now does not accompany on all her field trips. Instead, he occupies pride of place on her dresser.

At a time when it was unheard of for women to travel alone to Africa, let alone stay in the bush, Dr Goodall dreamt of working with animals in their habitat. She saved up enough money working as a waitress and then, when a friend invited her to Kenya, took the first boat there.

It was a fateful journey. On the trip, she met Dr Louis Leakey, the famous paleontologist and anthropologist who was planning an expedition to Olduvai Gorge to hunt for fossils. She persuaded him to take her on as his assistant.

So impressed was Dr Leakey by her dedication that, after the expedition, he helped her get funding to go to Gombe to study chimps.

A turning point

One of the pathbreaking finds of Dr Goodall was when she recorded two chimps, David Graybeard and Goliath, break off some twigs from a tree, strip them off their leaves and make a crude fishing rod which the two then used to 'fish' for termites from a termite hill.

"Till that time, scientists believed that humans were the only species to make tools," she says. "But evidence showed chimps used different objects in different ways [as tools] to get food."

But when she went to Cambridge to present her findings, the venerable professors there told her that her methodology was wrong.

"I shouldn't have named the chimps, I was told," she recalls. "[According to the professors], the chimps should have been given numbers. I was also told that only humans possessed a mind, personality and intellect."

But the degree-less young woman dared to defy the erudite professors and stuck to her conviction because of the support of two wonderful teachers she had: "One was my mother Vanne [who volunteered to accompany Dr Goodall to Tanganyika when the British authorities refused to allow a young woman to go there alone] and the other was my dog Rusty.

"My mother taught me to keep an open mind and to have the courage of conviction; and Rusty taught me (as any of you who have shared your life with an animal would know), that animals have a mind, personality and feelings."

Exploding myths, one by one

Dalglish is all admiration for the rebel scientist who exploded a series of myths about humans and other animals.

"She challenged the concept of animal behaviour ... she dared to rattle the cages. And yet, she is no prima donna."

When Dr Jane Goodall travels - and she travels close to 300 days a year - she shuns the comfort of five-star hotels instead opting for "places with character''. In Nepal, for instance, she chose to stay at Dwarika's Hotel, built by a man who was dedicated to the conservation of old historical buildings in Kathmandu. The interiors of the hotel are embellished with beautiful wood carvings, and wooden carved doors and windows salvaged from rubbish heaps when old buildings were pulled down to make way for multi-storey modern apartments.

Her travels increased after 1991 when she conceived the Roots and Shoots programme, a global network of youth who take the initiative to make the world a better place.

How did it begin?

Dr Goodall's face darkens momentarily when I pose this question to her.

"I [came across many] young people who seemed to have lost hope," she says. "They were apathetic, angry, bitter and often violent [about various ecological issues]. 'It doesn't matter what we do. You people have damaged the earth to such an extent that we can do nothing. We are doomed. There's pollution, global warming, polluted water,' they would say despairingly,'' says Dr Goodall.

"I have three grandchildren, my sister has two. If these young people give up hope, then we might as well give up hope too,'' says the researcher. "That's why I travel to various parts of the world ...

to meet and speak with youngsters [and tell them] that you can break through a brick wall ... just like roots do [when they penetrate between two rocks and split them apart] and send up shoots. All you need to do is roll up your sleeves."

Roots and Shoots aims to do three simple things - care for the environment, care for the animals around us and care for the human community.

The seed for the initiative was planted in 1991 when a group of students visited Dr Goodall at her house in Dar- es- Salaam, Tanzania, to learn more about animal behaviour. It soon took root and today, Roots and Shoots has grown into a global initiative spanning over 90 countries.

Strong as a tree

To realise how wide-reaching and effective the programme is, all you need to do is make a trip to Nepal, one of the least developed countries in the world, reeling under a nine-year insurgency and escalating political turmoil.

Dr Goodall came to Nepal in November 2005, at a time when thousands of Nepalese were frantically applying for the Diversity Visa Lottery that could give them the right to permanent residence in the US, regarded as the land of opportunities.

For over three years, Dr Goodall had been planning to visit Singapore, but four weeks before her scheduled trip, she changed her plans and decided to tour Nepal instead.

What made her change her plans?

A 20-year-old soft-spoken Nepalese boy named Manoj Gautam.

Your knowledge of Dr Goodall as a human being would remain incomplete if you did not know who Gautam is.

Or 19-year-old Uttam, who died of kidney failure due to slow poisoning caused by pesticide. Or any of the 12-year-olds who work in brick kilns and have no time - or money - for school.

Let's go back a little in time

To learn about this slice of Dr Goodall's life one needs to go back to 1995, when Manoj was a nine-year-old living in Dang, in midwestern Nepal, the district that a year later became a hotbed of Maoist insurgency.

Manoj was an unusual kid, always running after lizards and frogs, sneaking snakes

into the house to keep as pets and turning up late for dinner as he was busy chasing some animal or the other.

At an age when most of his classmates and friends were dreaming of becoming footballers or rock stars, Manoj had a startlingly different ambition: he wanted to build a laboratory where reptiles could be reared and studied.

It was around this time that he came across a book that had been given to his journalist father Yadav Prasad Gautam by an American friend who had come to work in Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer.

"I still have that book," Manoj says triumphantly. "It is called Merrill Science and has a red cover with a picture of a robot."

It also had an article on Dr Jane Goodall and her work on the chimpanzees of Tanzania - how she had discovered that they shared the same basic emotions that humans have (love, fear, joy); how they made tools to fish for food (dispelling the myth that only humans made tools); how they were capable of using over 400 of the signs used in the human sign language (to express the same emotions), and were capable of passing on knowledge to their progeny.

Manoj was fascinated by the article and its author. His admiration for Dr Goodall grew when he saw documentaries on her on television.

So, in 2002, when his family shifted from Dang to Kathmandu and he came in touch with the wide and wonderful world of the internet, he dashed off an e-mail (his first) to the primatologist.

Manoj learnt all about Roots and Shoots from Dr Goodall's website and was soon keen to start a branch in Nepal.

However, there was a big hurdle. "The website mentioned that to become part of the network you had to pay $35 (about Dh128) - that's nearly Nepali Rs2 ,600 - a lot of money for a student," recalls Manoj, of his first correspondence with Roots and Shoots. "So I wrote to them, explaining my situation - that I was a high school student, with no job, and asked if they would waive the payment."

To his indescribable joy, a few days later, a parcel arrived for him at his college address containing a certificate telling him he was part of the group. The packet also had a coordinator's manual telling him how to get started, a newsletter and posters. That was in the winter of 2002. By the end of the year, he had enrolled 16 members. Today, there are over 300 members.

For a long time, Manoj had been cajoling Dr Goodall to visit Nepal, sure that it would give a much-needed impetus to the local Roots and Shoots chapter. Finally, she agreed and asked him to get in touch with a former student of hers, who was living in Kathmandu, so that an itinerary could be prepared.

The student was Peter Dalglish, a Canadian. Dr Goodall had met him way back in the 1970s when she was teaching biology and animal behaviour at Stanford University in California where he was a student.

Dalglish arrived in Nepal in 2002 to work with the United Nations on the UN Programme for Child Labour and Child Trafficking. It did not take him long to fall in love with the country and he chose to stay on to work with a Swiss non-governmental organisation.

A few days after Dalglish sent her an itinerary plan, he received a message from her. "I can come in 2007," Dr Goodall told Dalglish [because she had a busy schedule].

"Come now," he urged her. "In 2007, there might be nothing left to visit. This country is on the edge of an abyss ... Come now and give an injection of hope."

Dr Goodall did not need any further convincing. She postponed her trip to Singapore and instead landed in Nepal for a three-and-a-half-day visit.

Manoj was, of course, at the airport to receive her but was tongue-tied and could only mumble a few words ."I can't believe you are truly here," he blurted out when he finally found his tongue.

"Oh, I am truly here," she laughed, and then gave him a gentle pinch.

***

Her new book, Reason for Hope, was recently published and Dr Goodall signed copies of it at a sale that raised $550 (about Dh2 ,024)- a tidy sum in Nepal.

"We have been using our pocket money to make posters and meet transport costs," says Manoj. "This is our first capital."

One of the first things that Dr Goodall did was to visit the Chandeshwori School in Bhaktapur, a sleepy district adjoining the capital that nevertheless boasts the largest number of historic buildings in Nepal and has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Pressing issues

"Brick kilns are a major cause of pollution in Kathmandu valley," says Manoj. "Besides discharging unregulated smoke, they also employ a large number of child workers.

"These children, as young as 10 and 11, can afford to go to school only during the monsoon when the factories are closed. People seeking sweeping reforms would either advocate banning the factories or giving them new technologies to prevent pollution.

"But we at Roots and Shoots do not have that kind of administrative clout or technical expertise. Instead, we try to do what we can to help the children,'' says Manoj.

The chapter adopted Chandeshwori School, a government school that has classes up to Grade VIII. "To help the children with their studies [because they do not go to school], we coach them after school and after our working hours,'' he says.

"Dr Goodall met the children and talked with them. She told them, 'We need you, the world needs you. You can bring a change in your community, and in doing so, a change in the world.'

It was a new experience for them.

Before her, nobody had ever bothered to visit them, let alone tell them that they were needed," he says.

Poisoned waters

Another Roots and Shoots success story that Manoj cherishes is the decrease of poison-fishing in Dang.

"Earlier, people used pesticide to catch fish," he says. They would sprinkle the pesticide in small ponds and lakes, and 'harvest' the fish when it died. "Neither the sellers nor the buyers knew about the adverse effects. Besides poisoning the waters, the pesticide also slow-poisoned the fishermen who ate the fish caught in such a manner.

"The matter came to light when Uttam, a 19-year-old fisherman, died of kidney failure. He had no previous history of such a disease. His death drove home the lesson of how dangerous such methods of fishing are.

"With the help of municipality officials we have been carrying out awareness campaigns. We put up posters and banners underlining the harmful effects of poison-fishing. We also get speakers to talk about it in marketplaces, ask journalists to write about it and exhort pesticide sellers not to sell the stuff to fishermen. Today, you won't see poison-fishing in public places."

And to think that all of this - and so many other positive things besides - happened because one woman set off to study the chimpanzees in the jungles of East Africa.

A poorer place

All this leads to one question: if Dr Jane Goodall had not discovered the amazing world of the chimpanzees, would the world have been any poorer?

Certainly.

"We humans have been separated from the rest of the animal kingdom today," Dr Goodall says. "Animals are no longer thought of as our brothers and sisters ... Something has gone very wrong leading to massive cruelty. Chimps are the ambassadors of the animal kingdom. They come closest to human beings. Chimps can express happiness, fear, despair ... they can die of grief, they can kiss, embrace, hold hands, swagger, laugh and shake fists at one another ... They too have a dark side [quite like humans].

All this shows we are not separated from the animal kingdom."

But is primatology the right tool to help people become more aware of their bonds with the animal kingdom? Isn't it too specialised and incomprehensible for the layman?

Dr Goodall, who doesn't believe in jargon, illustrates her point by narrating a moving story:

"A hunter killed the mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old chimp [he was later named Jojo]. The young animal was then captured and handed over to a zoo in North America.

Jojo spent 15 years in a cage, alone. Chimps, like humans, learn from what they see around them, from their families ... While a rat would behave like a rat even if it grows up in a cage alone, human beings who grow up in isolation will not be able to behave like other human beings.

Same is the case with chimpanzees too.

"Then, one day, the zoo director decided to put 19 other chimps into the same cage that housed Jojo.

"One of the new chimps swaggered up threateningly to Jojo. Now, Jojo did not know how to react.

"[He had never had such an experience before] so he panicked and jumped into the moat surrounding the enclosure.

"Chimps can't swim but he did not know that. Thrice he came up gasping for air and thrice he went down.

"And then, a miracle occurred.

"Rick Hope, a North American, who regularly visits the zoo with his family every year, noticed the incident.

"Rick saw Jojo sink and without pausing to think whether the other chimps would attack him or the fact that Jojo weighs 130 pounds, he dived into the moat. People started screaming. Rick's family was hysterical. The other chimps began advancing to the edge

of the water menacingly. But, after a couple of failed attempts, Rick managed to pull Jojo out of the water.

"Somebody videophotographed the entire incident and that night, it was flashed on North American TV. The director [of Roots and Shoots] saw it and rang up Rick Hope to congratulate him. 'That was a very brave thing you did,' he said.

'I just happened to look into [ Jojo's] eyes,' Rick told our director simply.

'It was like looking into the eyes of a man [who was drowning]. Won't anybody help me? the look said ... and I had to jump in.'

"I have seen that look in the eyes of chained elephants, little children whose parents were killed in ethnic violence ... Once you see that look, you have to jump in and help," says Dr Goodall.

What keeps her going

What makes her such an optimist when there is so much violence and sorrow around?

"I have three reasons for hope," says Dr Goodall.

"The first is the extraordinary human brain. Scientific brains are coming together to find innovative solutions for a better life, for men as well as animals. There has been a disconnect between the human brain and human heart. We have to join hands all over the world to make the connection again.

"The second reason for hope is the amazing resilience of nature. Forests that have been cut down have grown again. Animals on the very brink of extinction can [be reared] again with care and concern.

"The third reason is the energy, dedication, determination and courage of young children. Give them encouragement and something to eat and their courage is amazing.

"I meet groups of children. I see their shining eyes and they tell me what they are doing to save the world. The indomitable human spirit can do impossible things.

"Look at Nelson Mandela. He spent over two decades in hard labour in stone quarries and yet had the ability to forgive. So the longer I live and the more problems I see, the more I hope."