BIG EXPEDITIONS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Introduction

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) lies at the core of Big Expeditions & Safaris business. A t the heart of our organization, lies this realization of our responsibility towards the society that has given us our identity. We aim to achieve comprehensive development and raise the educational and moral level among orphans and children from poor backgrounds residing in Maji ya chai village and the surrounding areas.

As part of Big Expedition's corporate social responsibility we has decided to support Mkombozi Nursery and primary school. The vision of the school is to build future leaders by providing the children with a well rounded education to which they would not otherwise have had access. We believe underprivileged children gain independence and a brighter future through education. T he involvement of Nicholas & Angel Minja the owners of Big Expeditions with Mkombozi school has given them the opportunity to take their professional skills and passion for what they do beyond serving clients to members of the community.

Involvement

Before Angel & Nicholas involvement with the school, it was renting one room in an overcrowded neighbourhood which was not conducive to learning. The NGO running the school at the time decided to approach Angel and her husband Nicholas to support the school. Through their tours & Travel company Big expeditions they decided to set up a fund for the school, for every client who travels with Big Expeditions 2 dollars are set a side for the school fund. Angel & Nicholas are not only funding the school but also taken over management of the school to ensure efficient and accountable use of school resources. They manage the school with assistance of a school manager and a principal who is in charge of the of the day to day activities at the school.

Angel & Nicholas have adopted a grassroots approach, working in collaboration with the Arumeru District Education Department and in consultation with the, community leaders. At the start of their involvement with the school, they approached Kitefu village and asked them for a piece of land to build a decent school for the orphans the request was granted and 5 hectors of land was offered. The construction of the school began immediately, the fewer pupils who were at the school were moved to the new location, as the construction works progressed more pupils were enrolled.

Challenges

Despite above accomplishment, the school still faces a lot of challenges, for instance the school need the following.

•  Some of the building projects in the school are incomplete due to lack of enough funds

•  The orphans are living with relatives or good samaritans but the school wants to build a dormitory at the school as this will afford them quality time to study. This will also reduce the extra costs we are incurring currently as we have to hire a minibus to ferry some of them who reside in villages which are out of walking distance.

•  The school compound needs to be fenced to protect school properties

•  Teachers have to walk greater distances to/from school. The school intends to build houses for the teachers when the funds become available. Staying closed to the school will help them to have more teaching time and observe pupils development closely

•  To enhance quality of learning, the school needs library where pupils can study on their own during their free time

•  Feeding program at the school, whenever possible we try to feed the children while in school but due to limited resources this is not possible on a daily basis. It will help a lot if meals can be provided at the school daily as we have discovered that school attendance is very good when meals are provided, feeding at the school also improves concentration.

•  Recurrent expenditure such as teachers salaries which have to be paid at the end of every month.

The following donors have made a big difference to the school, their assistance is highly appreciated.

•  Cami Mattson from San Diego helped Linde School by purchasing the land for the School, providing uniforms, shoes and food for the students. She has also contributed to the building of the School like she did roofing of one building.

•  Dr. Charles Martin from USA constructed a Well and now tape water to school.

•  Trevor Stuart from Canada installed the windows to all classes and recently he started the foundation of one new class. He also paid the teachers salary for the month of February.

•  The Kochuk family from Canada installed all doors to the classes, they are also sponsoring one kid and they also pay teachers salaries from time to time.

•  Tracy Jacobson from Canada bought the fed the children at the school food for 3 months, provided the pupils sweaters and last year on May she paid the teachers salary for 5 months.

•  The Rotary club of Arusha has assisted the school to install 2 tanks to harvest the rain water. They are also paying salary for one teacher every month. They have also promised to pay more teachers and assist with school feeding program.

You too can make a big difference to the lives of the orphans by assisting the school.Any form of assistance to the school is highly appreciated .

Enquiries about the school should be send to the school patron Mrs. Angel Minja at Big expeditions e-mail address: info@bigexpeditions.net