June 28, 2011
Susie Gelman, Richard and Rhoda Goldman’s daughter, spent last week visiting 2001 Goldman Prize winner Eugene Rutagarama in Rwanda. Rutagarama was awarded the prize for his outstanding work with mountain gorilla conservation. Today, Rutagarama works for the International Gorilla Conservation Program, building ecotourism, monitoring the mountain gorillas and building relationships with the communities near the parks. Susie had this to say about her time in Rwanda:
“Just spent the day and evening with Eugene – including tracking mountain gorillas over a 7 hour period (6 hours hiking and an hour with the gorillas) through a pouring rainstorm and over some very steep and challenging terrain. It was tough but absolutely memorable.”
