Rwanda: Construction of Ellen DeGeneres’ Campus commences in Feb

The much-awaited ceremony of Ellen DeGeneres’ Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is set to start next week.

According to Felix Ndagijimana, Director of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the campus is likely to create over 1,500 jobs (with 40 percent of the workforce being female) and USD 2 million spent on local labour and trades. “In addition, we estimate that USD 2.5 million will be spent on local materials gathered from within 250 km of the site,” he said to Sunday Times.

Ellen DeGeneres, the globally renowned American television talk show host was gifted with campus by her long-time partner Portia de Rossi. That gift would later make Ellen embark on the first trip to Rwanda to physically witness the unprecedented efforts that the late Dian Fossey dedicated to conserving mountain gorillas.

Since then, Ellen DeGeneres, who is famous for hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show, is raising awareness and mobilising resources to boost her efforts to create the first and the largest campus that will focus mainly on research that has to do with conservation of the endangered mountain gorillas. The campus will be home to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund that has been operating in Rwanda for more than 50 years through its Karisoke Research Centre, based in Musanze District, Northern Province.

The current building sits 30 kilometers away from Volcanoes National Park, where Fossey Fund’s daily gorilla protection and science work takes place. The campus is expected to officially unveiled in early 2021.