I have been very lucky and have been selected (from oversubscribed applications) to go on a trip to Swaziland in June/July 2014. While I am there, I will be working with the local community at the Shewula Mountain Camp. We also get to go on a Safari at the Mkhaya Game Reserve and spend a night at the Malolotja Nature Reserve.
The Shewula community is a friendly agricultural people, with traditional thatch and stone houses dotted neatly among fields of maize cotton and vegetables. They encourage visitors to their area to enjoy the incredible view, gain an insight into traditional Swazi lifestyles and appreciate the natural splendor of the Lubombo conservancy.
In the community, there still survives the "ubuntu" tradition, based on the solidarity and that all the people are equal. In the "ubuntu" tradition, you are a person only with and through other people. In the community all the families have access to the land and to other natural resources and this free access is still a good weapon against poverty.
But the community now has to face the terrible emergency of HIV/AIDS which is threatening its future: since 1997 there are several projects in the community aimed to assist the vulnerable families. All the projects are part of a wider community based natural resources programme, aimed at securing sustainable development for the entire community and at alleviating poverty for the most vulnerable segment of her population, especially orphans, widows and elderly people.
I have to find £1525 to pay for the trip; I have to pay £345 on the 4th November, £345 4th December, £345 3rd February and £340 24th March! I would like to also raise some funds for the schools and communities.
I am asking firstly if my friends and family will help to pay for this trip instead of Christmas or Birthday presents please. My Dad has set up a PayPal account for me and you can donate here:
If you have any further ideas for fund raising, to either help pay for my trip or for me to raise money for the schools and community in Shewula, Swaziland, please send me an email:
Please Email shewula@redengine.co.uk
