An Official Welcome to Georgianne Nienaber

Some of you have noticed that our little blog has extended its inquisitiveness all the way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo lately. This was because a guest journalist has allowed us to post a number of her recent investigative reports on the Congo at Mosquito Blog, some first premiered here, others originally posted at Huffington Post.

The journalist I am referring to is Georgianne Nienaber, who recently traveled all the way to the war-torn and chaotic eastern Congo with Australian journalist Helen Thomas to interview General Laurent Nkunda of the rebel CNDP, as well as investigate facts on the ground, shortly before, in a shocking turn of events, Nkunda was deceived and detained by his Rwandan ally.

This was not Georgianne's first foray into Africa, nor is it likely her last. She has been writing about Africa for years and indeed even recently wrote a well-received book on the famous, tragically murdered gorilla researcher and protector, Dian Fossey, entitled Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey.

Georgianne seems to be a living embodiment of Amy Goodman's motto: "Go to where the silence is." Elie Wiesel, whom Georgianne met years ago, voiced similar sentiments to her once and she took them to heart, consistently going to where the silence is greatest, where suffering people have no voice and those who do are thick with lies. This concern has taken her not only to Africa, but into areas of suffering right here in America. She has written prolifically and passionately on the devastation of Katrina and its destructive aftermath for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, magnified by the folly and corruption of men. She has also plunged into animal rights and written an investigative novel, Horse Sense, on the abuse of horses in insurance frauds.

Why am I telling you, the reader, all this by the way? Well, Georgianne has accepted an invitation to become a contributor to Mosquito Blog and has just posted her first piece below, Emmanuel DeMerode: Exclusive Interview on Fate of Humans and Wildlife in CONGO

Her gracious acceptance not only adds an internationally renowned author, writer and journalist to our ranks, but now takes us buzzing beyond the confines of Virginia and into Louisiana and New Orleans, where she currently resides when she is not traveling. The little Mosquito now has one wing on the East Coast and one wing on the Gulf Coast, with our many eyes on the whole planet.

So, dear readers, please welcome aboard Georgianne Nienaber.

If you would like to learn more about her, she also has two websites:

http://www.thelegacyofdianfossey.com/


http://georgianneneinaber.ning.com/

And here is her standard bio, somewhat out of date, that I lifted from one of her websites:

Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and recently spent six weeks in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction. She is currently developing a documentary on the Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE.