LEWISTON — The fate of the orangutan and its rainforest home, the provision of eye care to underserved African communities and the aftermath of Liberia’s brutal civil wars are topics that Bates College students will discuss in public presentations during October.

Robert Little, a junior from Auburn, will offer the presentation “Helping People and Orangutans Through Video” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11. At 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, Emily Howe, a senior from Carlisle, Mass., will deliver “Unite for Sight” and Theodore Sutherland, a senior from Accra, Ghana, will offer “Beyond the Culture of War.” Both events take place in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Little did his research in Borneo, Indonesia, where he investigated the status of orangutans and the destruction of the rainforest. He did video interviews with residents on both sides of the rainforest issue, both those involved in clearing the forests and those working to protect them.

As Little explains, his research project “involved searching through the forest, living as a local, interviewing slash-and-burn farmers and illegal loggers, filming oil palm plantations and profiling a local NGO working to stop the destruction.” Little created a conservation documentary from the footage he captured in Borneo.