Editor’s note: This commentary was written by Dr. Tara Stoinski, CEO and chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is celebrating a quarter-century headquartered in Atlanta. From our modest offices nestled behind the orangutans at Zoo Atlanta, we’ve had a major global impact. We’ve seen mountain gorillas – the […]
2020 in Review: Global Atlanta Founder Honored by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College for Africa Series
It all started with a chance conversation in 2011 that stemmed from a transatlantic trip. Global Atlanta founder and publisher emeritus Phil Bolton was reporting from Belgium when he found out that the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren would be packing up items from its vast trove of African art and sending them on tour […]
A Primary School’s Defiance of Local Vandals in Eastern Congo
Education has provided the foundation for Neema Namadamu’s career as a global activist. Even as a child living in a small, remote village in the violence prone Democratic Republic of Congo, she was determined to walk to school with an improvised cane despite having been partially crippled by polio. It’s not really surprising that once […]
Civil Society: Goal of ‘Hero Rising Women’ in Eastern Congo
It is a profound tragedy that one of the most mineral rich areas of the world with the most fertile ground has been a killing field with roving bands of armed men and boys under the command of a variety of different warlords and clashing armies. Such is the recent history of the eastern Democratic […]
Books 2019: Colonialism or Philanthropy? Blurred Lines in King Leopold’s Congo
Book: King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa Author: Adam Hochschild Review by: Kirk Bowman, Jon R. Wilcox Professor of Soccer and Global Politics, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Tech; Founder and Director, Rise Up & Care After procrastinating for two decades, I finally read King Leopold’s Ghost […]
DRC President’s Reform Agenda Receives Enthusiastic Welcome in Atlanta
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, received an effusive welcome from the DRC’s diaspora community in Atlanta when he arrived at the Cobb Galleria Centre the afternoon of Sept. 28 on a two-day visit during which he also met with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the King and […]
How to Save a Species: Mountain Gorillas Show the Way
Editor’s note: This commentary article was written by Dr. Tara Stoinski, president, CEO and chief scientist at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Atlanta. In September more than half a century ago, the legendary primatologist Dian Fossey pitched tents on a mountain slope in Rwanda to study the elusive mountain gorillas. These are the Gorillas […]
Female Empowerment Highlight of African Art Exhibit
Atlantans had the opportunity from Jan. 18-April 21 to see a remarkable exhibition of African art at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, which featured works focused on the traditional lives of women and girls. The artworks were selected from hundreds of pieces belonging to the Mehta Collection of retired professor of international banking and […]
Kenya’s Ambassador Challenges U.S. to Match Chinese Investment and Promote People-to-People Exchanges
China president Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has spread throughout the world including the African continent challenging the U.S.’s economic dominance, is proof enough of China’s ambitions. But last week even in Atlanta there were intimidations that a more dynamic role for the U.S. would be welcome in Africa if it upped its […]
Hawks Great Mutombo Seeks Israeli Partnership With Congo Hospital
Atlanta Hawks great Dikembe Mutombo spent the days after Thanksgiving in Israel on a trip aimed at bringing expertise from the country’s largest hospital to his native Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Mutombo, the towering center known for stiff defense in the paint, is exploring a partnership with Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer, which […]
