The words of Horton hear a Who, the book by the famous Dr Seuss. It is the story of a big agile elephant who goes out of his way to protect a little speck. The little speck represents a whole community of interesting characters. Much like the communities that we serve. Every day there are some incredible community heroes serving the littlest of beings. As a sustainable tourism advocate for South Africa, making a social impact is at the very core of our travel company.
With the beautiful Helderberg mountains as a backdrop, lies the towns of Somerset West, Strand and Gordon’s Bay. Known for the long stretch of beach, a nature reserve and festive markets on the wine farms, there are many wonderful community projects running. Over the years, I have had the privilege to meet some amazing community builders like, Colin and Patricia Van Wyk who runs Phambili community centre. The health inspector who turned community builder commits their lives to serve the small township of Rusthof. They see and serve hundreds during a week.
The corner community hall provides meals to the poor, holiday activities for children in the area and also serves as a health hub for the elderly. The centre also has a dental chair that delivers preventative dental care for children. When asked why they do this for almost 15 years now, Colin just answered…’We are compelled to love, share and show kindness to our fellow neighbour. If this centre is not here, there is no hope for this community. We need to do this!’
Themba means ‘hope’ and so, we need to do this too! Raised on the Cape flats, I need to do this. At the very heart of my travel business, we need to make a positive impact. While we commit a service of excellence to our clients, we deliver hope to the locals when we contribute a portion of fees to a community project. Our tours are a combination of culture, community and conservation. We invite you to be part of the transformation and join us as we explore places of hope!
Ask me about Volunteering opportunities at these community projects in Education, Health and Sports.
