2009 Hawken Grad Travels to the Congo

Aaron Kohn `09 is spending a portion of his summer in the Republic of Congo on assignment for INCEF, the International Conservation and Education Fund - an organization he has worked for previously as an intern in their Washington, D.C. office. INCEF`s founder, Cynthia Moses, was a National Geographic Producer in Central Africa when she decided to start making films for a different audience: the local populations. The organization supports local filmmakers and editors in making films about conservation, public health, and economic development. INCEF`s films are taken from village to village to teach people about deadly diseases such as Ebola or to provide alternatives to illegal elephant poaching. Because the films are all in the local languages and have testimonies from people who have been affected, INCEF has been hugely successful in changing human behavior. After spending several days at INCEF`s headquarters in Brazzaville, Congo`s capital, Aaron will travel with one of the education teams to several villages near Ouesso. His assignment involves shooting an update for a film entitled On the Road, which documents dissemination teams going from village to village. The project will update INCEF`s methodology and will feature some of INCEF`s educators as well as villagers. In addition to serving as a practical tool to explain INCEF`s work, the film will also be utilized for fundraising purposes. Following his adventure in the Congo, Aaron, a published writer and award-winning film maker, will return to the state to attend Columbia University in the fall.