Today, Friday 14 2008, is Orange for Orangutan Day. It is the day that you dress up in Orange, gather your friends and do something to raise awareness and funds for orangutans, Asia's only great ape.

The Orangutan Awareness Week was the brainchild of Gary Shapiro, the Chairman of Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative. Shapiro started promoting the idea of a special week for orangutans in 1995 when he was vice-president of the Orangutan Foundation. In 2004, Gary and his wife, Inggriani, started the Orang Utan Republik and with then member of parliament and former Miss Indonesia, Angelina Sondakh, as their Ambassador, lobbied the Indonesian government to recognize the week.

In November 2005, the government declared the "Pekan Peduli Orangutan" or Orangutan Caring Week. They chose "caring" over "awareness" for the day since caring sounds better that awareness in Indonesian. Caring, in Shapiro's words, also reflects a higher level of involvement than awareness. Today, many organizations organize events to celebrate this week by sharing information and calling people to action.

The Orangutan Awareness/caring Week is now recognized by other countries outside of Asia such as US, Britain and Australia. This year, many organizations will be celebrating the orangutan week in their special way. Orangutan Foundation will have today, Friday November 14 an orange-themed day dubbed the Orange for Orangutan Day.

Other organizations will also be hosting various exciting and educational events in their areas. This is what Gary Shapiro said about others' involvement in his guest blog post on the Orangutan Foundation blog at WildlifeDirect about the origin of the Orangutan Week:

The Sumatran Orangutan Society will be holding events at Oxford University and surrounding areas. The Australian Orangutan Project has events taking place in a couple of their chapter regions: Western Australia and Queensland. Zoos such as the Greater Los Angeles Zoo are using the opportunity to increase awareness about all the apes including the chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan and gibbon (Ape Awareness Day: November 9). San Diego Zoo is holding Great Ape Awareness Days, November 13-16).

So what do you have planned to do today? Leave a comment here to let us know.

Photo courtesy Orangutan Foundation

There is a place in Indonesian Borneo where "every place is a school, and every person is a teacher". That place is Kampung Konservasi (Indonesian for Conservation Village). Kampung Konservasi is an integrated environmental learning facility ran by Yayorin (Yayasan Orangutan Indonesia) at the city of Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.