Why is this Woman Prostrating Herself in Terror?

Because she's poor beyond our ken and needs the basic necessities of life. And she got caught providing them to herself.

Click on the title link and go through the slide show to get the complete picture, and the answer to why she's on the ground in abject humiliation will be clear. No one should force another human being to grovel, and an "Only One" requiring it is unforgivable.

I'm skeptical of the reporter's claim that most times folks like this get a warning. Look at these people and their ingrained reaction to "authority"--they know the score. If the photographer hadn't been there, who knows what ditch these subjects would have ended up in?

There are ways to protect the Virunga gorillas and their habitat. Unfortunately, an Africa/UN coalition that does not value and protect human rights is unlikely to find them.