When working in such fragile protected areas as Mahale National Park our efforts to conserve the precious Chimpanzees here must also include the support of the local populations whose lives are affected by the limitations a park can impose on their daily lives. With fishing and agriculture the main stay of the local villages in the area it can be hard to understand why we need to protect areas of the forest and lake and so with the creation of the Nomad Trust we aim to support projects in areas local to our camps to provide understanding of the importance of conservation and engaging them with the tourism industry. The majority of our staff here are employed directly from Katumbi and the surrounding areas, which assits in that understanding and gives you a chance to meet people who are incredibly passionate about their home here.
We support Katumbi Village in many ways through donations from guests and also through 'Pack For A Purpose' where items go towards the small clinic which struggles to maintain supplies. We are working with Katumbi School with many projects which you can learn about in the following pictures:
A beautiful location, the school sits at the top of the hill overlooking the village and receives refreshing cool breezes off Lake Tanganyika
With 800 students at Katumbi School the 7 teachers have their work cut out!
Visitors to the school are always welcomed warmly with a song or two and much excitement!
We continue working towards providing the most basic equipment needed: desks, chairs, uniforms and books.
The Government Ciriculum includes Computer Science and all students had were text books with pictures of computers, it wasn't until a recent donation of nine laptops from a very kind guest that they can now actively learn on a real one!
We have been working on building a 'Computer Lab' to house the laptops so the students can learn in an effective way and keep the comupters safe. We just need to finish the floor, windows, door and several solar panels to power the laptops! Keeping up with the fast moving technological world is essential for the children to progress and have a chance to gain work in the future.
Cool dudes of the class!
Another project in progress funded by donations to the trust is the teacher's house that sits right at the top of the hill behind the school with some of the most incredible views over the mountains! It's very nearly finished and will be a welcome home for the much needed teachers for the 800 pupils at Katumbi!
Schools Out!! So much excitement as everybody rushes down the hill!!!
If you would like to get involved your donations no matter how small make a big difference to the pupils here.
You can check out the Pack For A Purpose website on: http://www.packforapurpose.org/ to see what useful items you could bring with you, or once in camp you can speak with the Managers who will gladly help you with small donations and a visit to the village if time allows. Alternatively you can email us at [email protected] for more information about all the projects in Tanzania.