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In our opinion, traveling with Rift Cross Safaris means a lot more than mere viewing of the world renowned tourist sites in East Africa. By so doing you are also supporting us in supporting the vulnerable groups within our communities. As a mark of our concern to the abject poverty currently existing in Africa, particularly in our own country (Tanzania), we have decided to join hands with others in a bid to alleviate poverty and empower the members of the community who are currently in a dire state. To this end, we have set aside a portion of our earnings so as to train the orphans for possible job opportunities in our company or elsewhere.

Owing to diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria as well as other factors such as accidents, thousands of children have been orphaned. These children are usually forced to fend for themselves because their relatives are in most cases very poor themselves. Hence, their inability to bear additional burden. In certain cases orphans may be illegally deprived of inheriting property left behind by their deceased parents. To make matters worse orphans are sometimes stigmatized against. All these further compound their distress and sense of loss. Eventually a good number of orphans end up in the streets. Even those that do not become street children may not have access to education and medical services. Because these children need to earn their own living, they usually drop out of school and end up being child laborers. This may make them victims of abuse and exploitation. Furthermore, orphans may be forced to engage themselves in such criminal activities as robbery and prostitution.

Various organizations and groups have been established in a bid to lessen the plight of orphans. Some orphanages have been set up and some children have been taken off the street. Resources available to these organizations are in most cases overstretched. We at Rift Cross Safaris have decided to lend a helping hand towards caring for the orphans by providing moral ormaterial support.

When the orphans come of age they leave the orphanages and face the world on their own. Naturally, they are usually ill-prepared for this, due to the fact that their educational opportunities are in most cases limited. In addition, they lack practical skills that may make them eligible for employment. We at Rift Cross Safaris have decided to help orphans who are about fifteen and over by funding their training in skills that qualify them for employment. For instance they may train as cooks, waiters, safari guides, drivers, mechanics and mountain crew.

Rift Cross Safaris gives high priority to recruiting former orphans for jobs that may be available in our company.

Community Support

What does Rift Cross Safaris do towards easing the lot of the communities?

We Rift Cross Safaris, feel that helping the communities in locations in which we operate is part of our mission. Hence, we have endeavored to join forces with various actors both local and international in a crusade against poverty. To this end we have devised various community programmes and policies, which, we believe may result in improvement in living conditions in the target areas. We are believers in a holistic approach to development and poverty reduction

Regarding employment our policy is to give first priority to the local people. For instance, when recruiting mountain guides we give the first priority to the communities around the mountain. Similarly for cultural tourist guides, we make use of the locals. It is hoped that apart from promoting improvement in a living conditional for the beneficiaries, this policy will make the local communities feel that they are also partners in development.

Rift Cross Safaris also works in collaboration with various organizations by supporting those organizations materially and morally. We support community education programs that aim at creating awareness on the part of the communities about certain cultural practices and attitudes which are anti developmental in nature. One of such practices is female genital mutilation. This practice is extremely cruel and a huge health risk to women and girls. We are all for the programmes that educate members of communities on the unhelpfulness of this practice and for the eventual abolition of them.

In some communities a girl child’s education is not viewed positively. Those who hold these attitudes may not send their daughters to school at all or they may make them discontinue their schooling after elementary level. Some girls may be forced to leave school and forced into marriage against their while they are underage. We team up those who are endeavoring to educate members of the community on why educating a girl is a good idea. We believe in the modern adage: when you educate a girl you educate the whole community.

AIDS/HIV is a major scourge now besetting our communities and nation as a whole. In order to counter the spread of this scourge, Rift Cross Safaris work in partnership with various organizations which are creating awareness on the part of the community about certain traditional practices which promote the spread of HIV/AIDS. These practices include polygamy, inheriting a wife of deceased relative, female genital mutilation etc. it is hoped that abolition of this practices will slow down the spread of the killer disease.

We are campaigning against the negative cultural support against negative cultural practices. However, we support the promotion and continuance of positive cultural traits. Some of the cultural practices which are highly appreciated are working in co-operation, assisting one another in times of crisis etc.In order to generate local income; Rift Cross Safaris makes payments for use of local facilities. The same applies for services rendered to its clients by the local persons