Theodette

Since Dian Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center, it has had no shortage of female researchers.  In fact, both the previous director of Karisoke Liz Williamson and the present one Katie Fawcett are women. However, it is not common to find a Rwandan woman researcher.  While the Rwandan government is amazingly gender neutral, it is a fairly recent development.  While the Gorilla Research Program’s manager is a woman, the program can only boast one Rwandan female on the team: Theodette Gatesire who is the data entry assistant.  Together we are visiting the famous woman researcher’s grave.

 

In 2005, Theodette came to Karisoke to study the behaviour of lone silverback gorillas. Studying these gorillas is no easy feat; one must track long distances to follow the gorillas and over steep terrain.  “When I tracked silverbacks, I had to walk a lot and go very fast to keep up with the gorillas.  I have no problems with the forest,” she says.   After finishing her memoirs, she went to work for the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks as a guide.  While she enjoyed showing tourists through the park, she left half a year later to return to Karisoke as the data entry assistant.  When she got pregnant, she thought her career at Karisoke was over and was greatly surprised when she got a call asking if she was strong enough to return to work. “I can try!” was her response.  At first she asked to only work three days a week with a maximum of five to six hours per week.  When she was told she was allowed to bring her baby in to work, she returned to her full schedule with seven hours a day.

 

The trek up the volcanoes is long and arduous.  Despite having travelled this trail many times before, Theodette and Fidel Uwimana, the field data coordinator, go at a pace that will not completely wear me out.  Fidel knows this site especially well because he worked and lived in one of the cabins here for Dian Fossey herself.  When we come across a skeleton frame of a building, Fidel explains with a smile that this is where he once lived.

 

On our way back from the park, we discussed the status of women.  “The women in Africa are very strong because it is them who do the work in the field, fetch the water and the hard labour.  They can have a baby on their back, go fetch water and take care of the home,” she says, “You rarely see a man taking care of a baby or cooking.”  Suddenly our driver, Jean-Bosco, pipes in “there are few who help their wives.” He points out that he especially helps out when his wife is sick.  “Most men call in another female relative when their wives are sick,” he says.  Jean-Bosco is from a younger generation; Theodette thinks that with the next generation it will be even more equal.