Listening to Africa

“Ex Africa simper aliquid novi”

(Always something new out of Africa)

We often get asked what our impact has been so far this year and what have we done. Some people even say that it looks like ‘a fun holiday’ we have been on or as far as it looks like ‘a journal of a couples honeymoon in Africa’.

Someone once said “in order to understand Africa, you need to live in Africa” and someone else went on to say that “in order to help Africa you need to listen to Africa”, both clearly very wise individuals.

The EXPEDITION Project isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel, it isn’t trying to re-design constitutions, and it isn’t trying to take over the world with its ideas and opinions. What The EXPEDITION Project is trying to do is take a step back and try to understand the wheel, the constitution and the world, and from there move forward in the best possible direction.

For centuries tourists, travellers and the most of the western world have brought ideas to Africa of what works elsewhere in the world, but as the quotes imply above, Africa is a very different place to the rest of the world. And with Africa we need African solutions to African problems.

I remember when I was involved in some community development projects a few years ago and I couldn’t understand why my efforts would go both unaccepted and unsuccessful. One in particular was sports coaching for kids that didn’t have any resources or accessibility to training and coaching of this vital youth tool for team work and exercise. Another was self sufficient food gardens, in particular for HIV and TB patients to enable them to get the vital vegetables needed to maintain as strong an immune system as possible. When I asked some local community members why the sport clinics, for example, didn’t work I got told that they held no incentive for the kids. No incentive I thought, was the chance to train and learn skills not incentive enough? My point is that, what you think may work might not infact be enough or effective and so sometimes you need to take a step back to fully understand why and ultimately how projects can work in future.

During our 2012 assessment of South Africa so far we have visited many projects along our route in order to understand exactly what is being done, how it is being done and what maybe The EXPEDITION Project could do to help and work with these individuals and initiatives. Some projects we came across are government run, and some are private, some are internationally funded and some are community funded but one consistency ran clear throughout. All these projects, very much like South Africa at this stage, are being run in a very much dog-eat-dog fashion. Now this may sound weird considering that these may be community development or conservation projects but the problem we feel is that the communication is missing and the supervision is miss-managed. NPO’s and similar organisations worldwide are fighting over a small pool of funding and sponsorship and so it is seen as risky to partner or share ideas with similar minded projects in fear of limiting the much needed sponsorships and donations. This is the battle we want to work with. Is it possible to create a network amongst all currently competing organisations in South Africa in order to not only share thoughts and ideas but create revenue possibilities and increase possible funding?

The final commonality within these styles of projects is that it is frowned upon to try and create your own income by creating revenue streams. After all an NPO is understood to not be a profit seeking venture and so should be receiving its income from donors and sponsorships not sustainable revenue streams. This is another area we would like to open up. Doing this would create more jobs and more sustainable, self sufficient initiatives that would then be able to not just rely on hand-outs for survival.

In Doringbaai we met Peter of the Fishermen’s Co-operative and learnt about how the previously dog-eat-dog fisherman philosophy is being turned around into a more effective formula for the good of this small west coast community. This format will them be carried to other west coast towns in order change the very much cutthroat views. <a_href> Find out more here.</a_href>

In Strandfrontein we chatted with Sue about eco initiatives and wind energy in the area only to find out that there is actually a big call for sustainable energy unlike Paternoster, further south, who seem to be generally anti the visual pollution a wind farm would create and possibly affect tourism. Find out more here.

In Garies we met the determined Percy from the Youth Development Centre run by Dept of Social Development who is battling with minimal funding and low skills training and supervision to turn the large unemployment in the area to an active community full of ideas and possibilities. Find out more here

In Hondeklipbaai we visited a Community Development Centre initiated by the Dept of Tourism and Environmental Affairs to empower this west coast community, however three years after millions was spent on the centre it lies vandalised and derelict. Find out more here.

In Zeerust we got introduced to the North West Design and Craft Institute, a showcase of the areas talent in doing so marketing it nationally and internationally. Find out more here.

In Alldays we had coffee with Wendy from the Roadkill Initiative, who is working as part of the Endangered Wildlife Trust to identify why so many animals are lying on or along side our roads each day and how we can go about limiting these fatalities. Find out more here.

In Timbavati we learnt what is being done for the elephant population in South Africa from Michelle of Save the Elephants and how expensive tracking just one elephant in fact is. Find out more here.

In Hoedspruit we had a private tour of the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, the leading cheetah centre in South Africa and learnt the difference between a conservation project and a money making project disguised through conservation. Find out more here.

In Mtubatuba we met a few international volunteers working with AIDS patients and found out how far behind the Dept. of Health is in providing quality, accessible and affordable health care in the country and in particular the most affected part of South Africa, the area between Kwa-Zulu Natal and Lesotho, Mozambique. Find out more here.

In Hluhluwe we spent a day with Martijn of Eco Label as he explained how he is so passionately trying to achieve community self sufficiency and what he is doing about it. Find out more here.

This is only a taste of what we have achieved so far, but this is only the beginning. Still to we will be meeting with the Cape Leopard Trust in the Western Cape, more EWT projects and of course many more as we move down the east coast back to Cape Town.

Finally, towards the end of 2012 we will bringing it all together by spending two weeks accessing how different Cape Town is after visiting 200 smaller areas before we then head into year two – 2013.

In 2013 we will be assisting the above mentioned examples by sourcing CSI match ups, providing local and international volunteers, creating a nationwide network for growth and of course giving our own time, man-power and resources annually in the form of skills development and sustainability.

A project of this scope means that you have to understand Africa time and in doing so we have to make sure we lay the right foundations. 2012 is all about doing just that, but don’t be surprised if you start seeing progress very soon because it is all part of our plan.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved into stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others” Pericles

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