Community Kickstart Projects in Asia

The devastating impact of the global pandemic resulted in a drastic decrease in tourism along the Mekong and Ou Rivers in Laos, which in turn has affected the livelihood of communities in the surrounding areas near Luang Prabang. Many families are now struggling to provide the basic essentials and school uniforms their children need for school.

To help support these families and children in need, Exodus Tour Leader and Co-Founder of Baraka Community Partnerships, Andy McKee, is looking to send essential hygiene and education packages (of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, notebook, pen, pencil, ruler) to 500 primary school children, along with 50 school uniforms. Working closely with Andy McKee, we’re helping to raise money through the Community Kickstart Project so that these packages and uniforms are sent directly to their families, enabling 500 children to get back to school and continue their studies. These packages and uniforms will be delivered by Baraka’s long-term Laotian NGO partners for almost 10 years, Community Learning International (CLI). One of CLI’s ongoing charitable projects is their “Book Boat” initiative which helps to take over 1,000 Laos books to more than 100 riverside villages along the Mekong River for children in remote communities to read. With their vast experience in the area around Luang Prabang, they are the ideal partners to assist the distribution of these essential packages to 500 school children. 

Close to Mount Kinabalu, a World Heritage Site, you’ll find the Pekan Nabalu community. To support the recovery of tourism in the region, our local Exodus operator has been working with the local community to create a new tourist attraction in the form of a waterfall, local walking trails and natural swimming pools for travellers to enjoy. The Community Kickstart Project will fund the building of another shorter and more accessible jungle trekking trail to ensure this beautiful community built landmark can easily and safely be enjoyed by all. 

When Malaysia was placed on a strict Movement Control Order in response to the pandemic, interstate movement was limited. This affected many locals economically and caused their food supply to be badly disrupted.   

In response local Exodus leader, Wye Wong, worked alongside the local community to build a community garden with a mission to enable a more sustainable lifestyle for the 360 households living in this community. Wye worked with the local people to install a rainwater harvesting system to capture enough water before the dry season began – ensuring the gardens continued to support the local residents. 

Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, is one of two places in the world where wild orangutans can still be seen, along with a myriad of other species native to Gunung Leuser National Park. In order to protect this rich area of biodiversity, our local tour leaders involved the community in crafting eco-bricks, made from waste collected around the local area, in order to help build a local education café. The café, in turn, will not only help to bring further tourist income to the area, but it will also become a venue for an organic vegetable garden and all kinds of community activity, such as traditional dance, cooking classes, environmental education and English lessons. 

Before travel was paused in 2020 during the pandemic, our core team of National Park jeep drivers played a key role in creating unforgettable experiences for Exodus travellers, by transporting them around the spectacular Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Our operator team wanted to support our drivers and their families in their difficult time of need, so we provided funding so they could have a month’s worth of food, sanitary and medical rations for seven families.  

During the pandemic, people across the Himalayan communities were struggling in the face of an almost two-year hiatus in tourism income. Local guides, cooks, pony men, drivers, storekeepers and others in the area struggled to find ways to feed their families. Our local operator used our Community Kickstart grant to prepare parcels which provided a supply of essential food and health supplies for two months, to distribute to 21 of the trekking staff across Ladakh, who would – in normal times – be working with us to take our customers on amazing treks across the Himalaya.  

The tourism industry was hit hard in Nepal during the pandemic, which resulted in a huge rise in the number of unemployed, homeless, and hungry in Kathmandu.  Karma, one of our Exodus team in Nepal, owns a small bakery there. When tourism halted, he was baking more than he sells and giving the surplus to those in need on the streets nearby. Our Community Kickstart Project supported him to expand his inspiring efforts and to employ our local tour leaders in distributing packed meals. Each day, Karma and his family are baked bread and packed 50 food parcels, distributed by Exodus’ tour leaders to the needy and vulnerable across Kathmandu.  

The South Ari Atoll in the Maldives archipelago is globally recognised as the only year round whale shark aggregation site. In order to keep whale sharks in the area safe, our local tour operator has created and distributed over 120 science-based, government-endorsed whale shark excursion briefing packs to establish best practice guidelines to protect these majestic creatures. Our local tour operator has also organised multiple education sessions and events in the community to raise awareness about protecting whale sharks, encouraging the dive community to collect and submit sighting data. 

As Kyrgyzstan gains popularity as a travel destination, there is a growing opportunity to provide countless local people with new career options. Off the back of this, we have launched a tourism training program for disadvantaged youth in Kyrgyzstan. As well as the important socio-economic impact a project like this can provide, it also encourages environmental protection and the sustainable development of infrastructure in some of the less developed, more rural parts of the country. In a country where 90% of the landscape is mountainous, there is an excellent opportunity to expand trekking and hiking offerings for travellers coming to visit. This course will give youth the knowledge and skills to not only safely lead groups on trekking expeditions in the mountains but also teaches them to engage people in Krygyzstan’s rich culture and history.