We say goodbye.

Iván András Bojár, the founder and leader of 10 Million Trees, bid farewell with the following personal thoughts to the person who taught us to love the nature that surrounds us throughout his life.

FAREWELL, WONDERFUL JANE GOODALL! 🖤🐒🌳❤️🖤

We were barely a few weeks old, just as the team that has now grown into the massive 10 Million Trees was starting to come together, when we heard the news that Jane Goodall was coming to Hungary. 

Our newly acquired friend, András Kádár, the head of the local organization of the wonderful and influential British ethologist and researcher (Jane Goodall Institute), did everything he could to arrange a meeting between Jane and me. I will be forever grateful to him. 

And I am grateful to life for allowing me to be there on that early day, watching Jane plant a sapling together with many others on the slopes of Sas Hill. 

This event created the opportunity for me to get to know Jane more closely, as she placed a confirming seal on our then-budding venture with a hug. 

I cannot deny that even today, feeling the shoulder of the tiny, fragile woman in my arms, the power of that gesture has far-reaching, very far-reaching effects. It still resonates today. And with today, we can even vow that it will continue to resonate until we fulfill our commitment. 

After the planting, Jane retreated to a clearing, and we, along with the other guests, gathered around her as she spoke softly. In her introduction, she greeted us with a hoot in the language of chimpanzees, explaining that this is how her friends, with whom she has maintained a close relationship for seven decades, express themselves. 

It was both peculiar to hear a discreet elderly lady speaking chimpanzee in the middle of bustling Budapest and simultaneously a message from Africa, the message of the rainforests, the message of the nature Jane witnessed in her youth, against which she has raised her voice thousands and thousands of times, and whose importance she has taught us, the consuming, competing, voracious Europeans, to appreciate. 

A few days ago, just a week ago, we stood here in Budapest again, in St. Stephen’s Park, as we ceremoniously closed this year’s Volunteer Water Donation campaign. (https://www.facebook.com/10millioFa/posts/pfbid02G4ZDWGW1PpyRGhLp9XEoaMbv8R8xMujSETdZZJKSX5Kfg4C7VUgFWVwiHYgZWDkrl) András was with us again this time, and once again, Jane’s current message was with him. In the brilliant late autumn sunlight, with the wind caressing the leaves of the trees we also keep alive, Jane’s voice resonated once more. 

This time it came from a recording, as Jane’s peace message had only arrived here a mere hour or two earlier, if I am not mistaken, again from Africa, where she was staying during those days. 

We stood silently in the roaring, noisy city, but for a moment, silence and tranquility settled in our hearts. 

A true and sincere voice spoke to us, which is always striking when authentic. Behind every word Jane spoke lay life experience, distilled wisdom, and knowledge, and this can leave a mark, burning into the one who hears it. 

In the coming years, a multitude of books, films, and conferences will discuss who she was. Alongside David Attenborough, she was a prominent ambassador of the twentieth century, who witnessed the world in relative wholeness, observing its decline, as we, like a swarm of locusts, consume our living conditions. She mobilized incredible energies and had a tremendous impact on humanity. 

Now, as Facebook is filled with photos of those who had the chance to meet her, it is evident how far her values have reached, even in this small and distant country, touching many people and, through them, even more. Years later, I was incredibly fortunate to meet her again in Budapest. 

I don’t know how chimpanzees say goodbye when they experience a great loss, but now, if I could, I would bid farewell in a way worthy of her, using their voice, and I would hoot: 

Goodbye, wonderful Jane Goodall! 

Thank you for being with us!

Iván