It is in my sadness that I find place to write. It seems to me that people do not care about each other anymore today. So, how are we supposed to do business if we do not care about our friends, our families, our communities, our environment. It is challenging the idea of doing sustainable business when it does not matter if you are hurting the environment you are working with. And by environment I do not mean only nature, but everything. Every living things. Humans are also part of the environment.

Yesterday I watched a documentary called Virunga. Virunga is a forest in Congo. This forest is home not only for many communities, but for animals. Lots of animals. There is an oil company called SOCO that is working with the Congo’s government to exploit the area of the forest and nearby looking for oil. SOCO says that if they find oil there, all the community is going to be benefited. However, there are the protectors of the forest, and they claim that Virunga is protected by law. According to these protectors, any type of oil exploitation is prohibited in Congo.

The fact is that SOCO was pushing their way into the forest. One day, one of the protectors was shot. He was caught in an ambush. Nobody knows who… Nobody knows who officially, right? But of course everybody knows who did it. Another day, another protector was caught too. It is amazing. Those threats only started after the oil company established an office nearby the community that protects Virunga.

So, it sounds to me that this company do not care about anything in Congo. Everybody knows how an oil field can be profitable. Everybody knows the revenues that a company in this field can generate. But nobody cares with the damages that this field causes. In this documentary, I heard people saying that the population in Congo cannot be “fixed, educated”. “There is no solution for them”. Again, it is in my sadness that I find place to write. And it hurts me.

It hurts me to think that someone is willing to destroy a country for money. It hurts to see that people do not care, do not respect each other. Literate people. People that went to university, that have masters, and lots of education. People that have the power of information, and because of that have the power of change. Whoever has information today is capable of creating some good changes.

Unfortunately that is not what I am finding along my way for a change. We need to support each other. We need to understand each other. More importantly, we need to respect each other. And we need to start showing it.

Here is the movie I am talking about:

http://virungamovie.com/