At Kikooko Africa Safaris, we believe in supporting the communities that make our country so special.
We invest to fund and support community initiatives that educate local people about wildlife conservation and environmental protection and facilitate action to put learning into practice.
We are happy to be able to share the success of our projects with you. Because of your trips and travels to and through East Africa, we are able to spread these benefits with the communities we travel to – and the places we’re from.
With the aid of a Swiss client, we have been able to develop a pilot project that loans community members money at just a 2% rate. So far, the results of this project have been positive and the income has been put into financial community saving groups.
Part of the revenue from Kikooko has gone to purchase land that provides jobs to the community through agriculture projects. This includes farming projects, entrepreneurial activities like bee keeping and goat and sheep rearing, and environmental conservation projects, including tree planting.
Revenues also go to support a health centre and two primary schools in our founder’s home village.
We support two villages outside of Kampala with a community reading project. Our goal is to improve the reading culture of our communities with this book-sharing idea. This was especially well received and important during the pandemic when our children were not in schools.
Through tours and our accommodations, Kikooko Africa Safaris directly employs 13 families. That employment includes our drivers, guides, and staff, for an impact on an estimated 150 people.
Through our community projects, Kikooko supports 12 villages and over 5,000 people in South Western Uganda. These include villages in Kiyebe, Mushangye, Kigumira, Mafuga, Kashasha, and Ruhija. Many of our Kikooko clients have been able to share direct interactions with our friends and family here.
Through athletic programs that include football and running, Kikooko supports more than 600 children and student athletes.
Kikooko Athletics Club supports the youth in the following ways:
We give students the opportunity to develop their skills and compete on an international level. Recent trips have taken our youth teams to China, to Egypt, and to Europe.
Through athletics, we are able to expose our youth to a more international mindset with friendly competitions in different cultures, regions, and countries.
In order for Ugandan students to receive a quality education, at or beyond a primary level, the only course of action is to attend a privately-run school. In these institutions they can readily find better paid and qualified teachers, access to learning resources and a clearer path to further education and qualification themselves.
The issue is this: how do families that live a subsistence existence afford the fees required for their children to have a chance at education that will allow them to raise raising their families and communities from poverty?
We are proud that through Kikooko Africa Safaris we have been working for years to enable families to send their children to school.
Through general donations and individual sponsorship for students, Kikooko can ensure that interested, passionate, and driven children have the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and qualifications necessary to lift themselves upward.
In addition to the funds we invested into BOKEFU, Kikooko is able to directly connect children and their families with sponsors wishing to assist with the cost of education.
Such individual sponsorship is particularly beneficial when a student has progressed from primary towards secondary and tertiary education; at these stages the cost of schooling often rises dramatically and as a result fewer and fewer Ugandans are able to afford to attend.
The effects of this are found particularly at university level, where those who wish to study medicine, law or education find themselves locked out of the training and skills they need to make a genuine difference.
If you’re interested in sponsoring a child at any level of education, please get in touch to learn more.
It’s not always possible in every case for a sponsor to contribute the full amount towards school fees for these children.
In this case Kikooko has reached agreements with families and schools to create a fund, our “Basket of Education,” through which we can distribute funds as they are required.
Where general donations are made to the Basket, Kikooko can use these funds either to guarantee deferred payments made by families, allowing families the time to be able to pay themselves, or to directly contribute the fees necessary to educate these children.
One of Kikooko’s former clients, Joke, wearing a dress made by participants in a community skilling project.
By traveling with Kikooko Africa Safaris, you’re already helping to support these much-needed projects.
Many of our past guests have become committed, continued supporters of these communities by partnering with us on innovative projects, school tuition, scholarships, and more. Their involvement continues to this day.
If you’d like to get involved, please feel free to reach out to us to discuss further. We will get back to you within 2 business days.
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