Why The Tongabezi Handshake Projects Matter, According to their Team Leaders

The Tongabezi Handshake Projects:

A Mukuni Community Farm, by Zuwi Nawa 

‘There is great excitement in the Mukuni community where we are currently busy erecting a fence to secure our farmland from the elephants!

We will take a small team with some experience and skills in farming to teach people from this community on how to start their own gardens and also provide the community with freshly grown vegetables! These will be sold at a reduced rate and all funds will go back into the development of the farming project.

Since Livingstone town and community areas rely heavily on tourism, unemployment is on the rise. We will be engaging people in this project, teaching them a skill, providing affordable food, and also keeping them busy and ensuring people don’t slip into petty crime or get depressed.

The long term plan would be to supply lodges and hotels in the area with produce once tourism flourishes again. We look forward to working with the community and developing this project into something long term.’

The Reforestation Project, by Thembi Mibenge 

‘I am so excited to be a part of such a great project where the community will be educated on the importance of trees to the environment and how bad burning charcoal is. We will also introduce them to grass stoves which are much more eco-friendly and teach them how to plant and take care of trees in areas where deforestation is taking place.

We will also be planting fruit-bearing trees that will provide nutritional fruit for the community – especially in these remote areas where the community tends to have a lot of immune deficiencies and have limited food supplies. Working hand in hand with the community towards a greener environment!

Once we receive guests at the lodge we will engage them in this very project and provide exposure to this community which could lead to further benefits.’

The ‘Chicken in the Bush’ Farm, by Agness Kamwi 

‘The community around the lodge is home to underprivileged families in the society.  During this period of the COVID 19 pandemic, most of the breadwinners in the families have lost their jobs as they were mainly employed in the hospitality industry.  This has increased poverty levels in the community.

Through the chicken project, some members of this community will be involved in the project and get an allowance which they will use to sustain their families as well as acquire a new skill that they can at some stage use to empower themselves. Staff members involved in the project will acquire new knowledge that they can use even after retirement.

The production of eggs which will be available to the community at an affordable price will provide for the much needed nutritional value especially to children and the sick and elderly.

The chicken waste will be donated back to the community to use in backyard gardens hence even adding more value to the nutritional benefits for the community as they produce organic healthy vegetables.

The project has already gotten us excited and many people are now dreaming of one day owning a farm.’

The Tongabezi Team needs your support in order to protect and empower our Tongabezi communities. 

If you would like to donate to the Tongabezi Handshake Projects, there are two possible ways!

1.) Donate securely and directly via Paypal:

2.) Or, please do so to our registered charity bank account below:

NL30RABO 0322 3912 37 (BIC RABONL2U).

Green Safaris Conservation Foundation
Box 301
1400 AH Bussum
The Netherlands

Simply reference Mukuni 1, Chicken 2 or Trees 3 depending on which project you would like to support, and we’ll be sure that your sponsorship goes to the correct initiative.

All funds are 100% committed to supporting our staff and running these initiatives! 

If you have any further questions, have a brilliant fundraising idea of your own, or would simply like more regular updates about the projects then do get in touch with natasha@greensafaris.dev.dedi419.flk1.host-h.net

Until we can shake hands again and check in with each other, we hope that you are safe, well, and happy, and that your daily decisions are driven by kindness.

With Love,

Team Tongabezi