Grassroots Logistics .:. News :: TropicAir and Origins Safaris Kalacha Women Self-Help Project, Kalacha Dida, Northern Kenya

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Grassroots Logistics is a regional organization based in Nairobi and operating within East Africa, with the aim of facilitating and supporting projects aimed at empowering local communities to address conservation and poverty alleviation challenges. We also aim to support our sponsors and donors to fulfill their philanthropic, emotional and individual needs by contributing to ‘their own projects’ while ensuring that they are updated on ‘what their dollars’ have achieved.

In a sense, Grassroots Logistics therefore aims to encourage our sponsors and donors to visit the various project areas so that they can participate and have the experience rather than just donating to causes that they do not identify with. As such, we aim to work with projects that strengthen the mission and objectives of Grassroots Logistics.

NEWS

Kalacha Women Self-Help Project, Kalacha Dida, Northern Kenya

In a bid to alleviate poverty and to improve the living standards of the local Gabbra people, a ‘self-help’ lifeline has been identified in Kenya’s remote Northern Frontier District. With the assistance of various donors, the local community has established four self-catering Bandas (Swahili for homesteads) in the area. These Bandas serve as accommodation sites for guests and other visitors in the area.

The Gabbra tribe are traditionally pastoralists with a nomadic lifestyle but ‘development’ and politics have brought about a change in their traditional way of living and they are slowly adopting a more sedentary lifestyle as their traditional ‘rangelands’ are hemmed in.

To counter the pressure on areas that have historically been ‘rested’ through nomadism, now bearing the stress of rural development, a number of income generating projects have been set up in this poverty-stricken area working with groups of local women now based in local villages.

So far, several of our guests have visited Kalacha to experience life in this rural area with scattered villages, home to around 3,000 inhabitants. Tourism has provided a direct boost to the local economy by directly paying for traditional dances and home visits.

In the last three years, local youths have been selected from the area and trained to accompany guests during desert walks. This has provided genuine cross-cultural interaction and helped to reduce poverty levels. The creation of small businesses has also spurred a savings plan. Women in the area have become examples of financial empowerment as they are able to earn income for basic as well as build family savings.