Community Kickstart Projects in Africa

Jinja Uganda, is Uganda’s second largest city; on the one hand it is a prosperous economic hub; on the other, you only have to scratch beneath the surface to see the deep poverty that children on the streets live in. Life on the streets is one of extreme hardship, with constant danger of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.  

We have partnered with S.A.L.V.E. International, an NGO out on the ground who are offering young people on the streets a safe place to stay, whilst supporting them to resettle back into a loving home. At the Halfway Home where the children stay, Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation is funding the ‘Growing for the Future’ programme which provides training in sustainable agriculture techniques. 

Lessons cover a wide variety of aspects of permaculture farming such composting, water conservation, soil quality, animal husbandry and how to grow nutritious food at home even within small spaces and slum areas by using sack or container gardening. All of these practices help families increase their food production and combat the impact of climate change. Children who have been on the ‘Growing for the Future programme’ are given a start-up package of seeds and tools once resettled to their families to help them to keep using their skills and become more self-sufficient. These lessons are shared with their families and their communities, with an emphasis on building up the young people’s self-confidence during the training so that they believe in themselves enough to share their skills.

In Kenya’s Mara region, the closure of the tourism industry throughout the global pandemic has left masses of people unemployed. With diminished income and increased uncertainty, women and children have found themselves on the receiving end of emotional challenges as well as socio-economic challenges arising from these difficulties, including an increase in intimate partner violence and cases of child abuse. 

Through our Community Kickstart Project, and their engagement with Masai communities, our local operator was able to plan and run a Masai Women’s Empowerment workshop. This focused on building financial, social, and emotional resilience, and equipping women with parenting skills in hardship situations. Throughout the workshop, participants were equipped with the skills they need to manage their stress and emotional well-being, how to respond to and report gender-based violence, and how to better communicate difficult or sensitive news to their children. The women also joined training sessions on soap making and knitting, to help them explore new ideas for income generation to help supplement their household budgets. By the end of the workshop, the participants had all the skills they needed to help build a network for personal and community empowerment in the wake of the pandemic.  

“Tourism is our major source of income here and when the pandemic hit, it affected us badly. From the monthly land leases and fees that we get from the conservancy to our beading business – we couldn’t sell anything as there weren’t any tourists. I learnt many things [at the workshop] that were different from the usual common beadwork we do in Maasai. In fact, I’ve learnt a new skill which has now become an alternative source of income for me. I’ve made it into a small business, which has helped to improve my family’s financial situation.”  Naomi Nasha, Workshop Participant, Kenya.

To read more of Naomi Nasha’s story, take a look at our International Women’s Day 2022 blog, here.

In 2024, we supported the fuel and maintenance costs for an ATV used by the Matobo Rhino Trust (MRT) for anti – poaching patrols. After significant losses between 2000 to 2012, Matobo National Park implemented a rhino protection programme and the MRT has been a big supporter of such projects. The ATV has multiple uses and benefits, including rhino anti – poaching patrols, fence monitoring and repair, fast reaction to rhino incidents and the deployment of anti – poaching scouts. Over the years, rhino poaching has decreased with only nine rhino poached in the last ten years. Fewer losses and increased births have resulted in an increased population which, relative to other Southern African parks, is a major achievement.

When COVID-19 caused Edward Fredericks School to close, the children who relied on the daily hot meals the school provided were left without. And with tourism coming to an abrupt halt, many of the children’s family’s income stopped almost overnight making it difficult for them to cover the cost of food.  

Pascall and Marian, owners of our accommodation partner in Solitaire, a location often visited by Exodus travellers, has been providing hot meals to local schools through the Solitaire School Food Clinic. 

With funding through the Community Kickstart Project and the support of our local operator, the School Food Clinic team has been able to increase the meals they provide from 3 times a week to 5 times a week, meaning 150 children will receive a healthy hot meal every week day for the coming two months. Our Operator noted that once Exodus’ Community Kickstart grant was announced at a local fundraising event for this project, they had three big local companies also pledging donations of £500 towards the Community Fund – which means they raised £2000! This fund now enables Pascall and Marian to look at building a small permanent kitchen at the school as well. 

Young, underprivileged, and impoverished people may never get the opportunity to visit some of the many remarkable places within their home countries. Through our partner Baraka Community Partnerships, we funded a short adventure trip for 16 young adults from Lusaka, Zambia, to see and learn about their local wildlife and culture and visit one of the great natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. For nature to be protected, everyone has to be able to see and understand our vital connection with the natural environment. 

On this trip, the students, representing different tribes within the country, had opportunities to interact with one another while learning about the geography and history of Zambia. They also visited Kariba Dam which has had a huge impact on the development of modern Zambia environmentally, financially, and culturally. 

Click here to read more about how this experience enriched the lives of the students. 

Exodus Tour Leader, Andy McKee, has been supporting Zambian communities for a long time through Baraka Community Partnerships, an NGO he set up. Baraka provided essential emergency relief to rural and suburban communities in Zambia during the COVID-19 pandemic and are continuing to help poorer children access education. During the pandemic, many schools in the Zambia were closed, and disadvantaged children were unable to access online learning facilities, which led them to fall behind in their studies. We are funding education catch up workshops for 36 students at a learning centre in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia to help these young people progress further and achieve their full potential. 

Andy McKee explains, “With the shutdown of Zambian schools, the poorer children were unable to access any remote learning and have been left behind. These weekend workshops that Exodus Travels Foundation has funded will ensure we can help vulnerable and underprivileged children to have a better chance of passing their exams during these unprecedented times.” These workshops will not only help children to catch-up on their studies, but better equip them with the skills and knowledge to achieve their ambitions in future. 

Morocco was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which drastically impacted local villages such as Armed, Tachedirt, Azzdn and Tmigst, who heavily rely on tourism as a source of income. Exodus trek staff, in particular, have been out of work since the pandemic and the lack of government support and limited employment opportunities has left many of them unable to afford the basics. When trekking restarted in September 2021, this was a huge relief for the people of the region and they began to get back on their feet, until Morocco made the decision to close its borders once again, without a sufficient support scheme in place. Through our local operator, Exodus supported the distribution of emergency food baskets for a crew of 44 local people before the Holy month of Ramadan began and food prices started to increase. Each parcel contained essential items such as flour, sugar and oil to help them feed their families.