Children living adjacent to the Virunga Massif in Rwanda have been invited to perform in this year's annual gorilla naming ceremony, Kwita Izina. The 150 primary school children will be performing the Mu Birunga song which refers to the home of the Mountain Gorilla, the Virunga Massif, and seeks to deepen the relationship between humans and gorillas.

The Kwita Izina ceremony has grown from a small local event to an event with global reach as it celebrates Rwanda's most treasured natural asset, the Mountain Gorilla. During the event, all baby gorillas born since the last ceremony are given names in the midst of pomp and fanfare characteristic of human name giving in this part of the world.

This year, eighteen (18) mountain gorillas will be given names during the ceremony at the Volcanoes National Park. Since it coincides with the "International Year of the Gorilla," the theme for this year is "Celebrating the Year of the Gorilla". Under this theme, they shall celebrate the efforts of all those that have contributed to the welfare of their wildlife and its conservation and give opportunity to everyone to contribute to the sustainability of conservation for Gorillas.

This will be the first time the Art of Conservation group - whose core mission is helping the people who live near the gorillas to live healthier lives so that both the human and animal populations can be healthy - will be sending a performance in this prestigious event. The AoC group want to stress the interconnectedness of the gorillas and the Rwandan people at the Kwita Izina.

The schoolchildren have been practicing hard for their performance as the date of the ceremony, 20 June 2009, draws near. We wish them the best of luck.

You can donate here to support these young children as they go out to educate the world about these rare majestic great apes.

The wire is awash with the tragic news that Rumangabo has fallen to rebel forces loyal to the renegade Democratic Republic of Congo general, Laurent Nkunda, putting the 200 mountain gorillas resident in the Virungas in danger. The rebels have captured the Virunga National Park headquarters at Rumangabo and the rangers who were stationed there have fled into the forest. Now the more than 50 rangers are hiding from the rebels inside the Virunga Forest without food, water or reliable communication as the fighting between government troops and the rebels continues.

The Gorilla Protection blog is assisting the Virunga Park in raising funds to help them evacuate the rangers and host them in Goma. Please donate to help these desperate rangers who take care of the majestic and rare mountain gorillas.