Before I take you down my path, allow me to comment on an article written by Lola Olufemi in September 2015. Lola Olufemi is a graduate of Cambridge University in the UK. She argues that formerly colonized countries should not be treated as a playground for white and wealthy. She writes “There is nothing new, radical or interesting about going to a continent that your ancestors pillaged and destroyed, all the while enslaving its inhabitants, and then writing about how you feel like an outsider for the first time. Colonised countries are not an emotional playground for the privileged. They are not there to teach you anything about yourself or to reveal how race operates or to remind you that you are lucky.” To an extent, I agree with her sentiments that African travel could be for a better purpose that most ‘volunteers’ make of it. How does one say they want to help Africa, by spending $5000 on flights and in-country expenses to build a toilet block at a school, costing $950? As Lola argues, they would have done more by staying at home than travelling at all, for that purpose.
One may still ask, ‘What will Africa do without aid?’ Well, I want to say that we could actually replace aid with trade. I have worked in Malawi’s tourism industry for 13 years now and I think I have earned authority to say I have seen it all. I cannot speak for the rest of Africa, although I think most of these issues will reflect scenarios all over the continent. I will speak about Malawi, the African country I was born in, a country I call home. Malawi could turn this around by using ecotourism as a model to develop the country without aid.
Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education". (The International Ecotourism Society 2015.) In my research paper submitted in partial fulfillment for my Bachelors Degree, I wrote; ‘The concept of ecotourism and responsible tourism are fairly new in Malawi although a few industry players have designed systems to steer their operations towards sustainability. Malawi as destination shows that it has the potential to generate considerable income for local communities. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 2017, Travel and Tourism contributed a total of 4.1% to Malawi’s GDP in 2016 and made a 6.2% contribution to total employment of the country. With these figures, if Malawi adopts sustainable tourism and encourage ecotourism practices among its main players, this may develop local communities and eventually the country.’
Malawi has a very unique example of ecotourism in practice and it is yielding results. One of Malawi’s leading Tour Operator; The Responsible Safari Company has chosen not to write a cheque and make donations to local communities, but have adopted a model that ensures that benefits of tourism will reach the local communities. They have built capacity of their three linked community projects and adopted a business model in how they work. These communities welcome tourists, school and university groups to their community and showcase the amazing work they do. In turn, the community is offering a service in the name of ecotourism visit, and raises an invoice, which is later paid by The Responsible Safari Company. In this way, there is more trade and not aid and the long lasting partnerships that are developed here, help to make global citizenship a reality. You can follow on this progress by following this link: http://www.responsiblesafaricompany.com/our-communities/
Kate Webb of The Responsible Safari Company feels that trade is more empowering than aid. She says ‘…there has to be an element of trade in aid for it to work as it is more empowering to be able to earn your own money for your family and community.’ In my dissertation, I recommended that government develops a national ecotourism policy to guide players to replicate these efforts and move away from the aid industry as this country, and indeed the continent will develop through trade and not aid.
Now, back to Lola’s article, I think we should not discourage the white middle class in travelling to our continent, but we should encourage people to travel with a purpose, and doing research on how to responsibly travel will go a long way in achieving a very rewarding African experience.
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