Honey badger is situated in a rural community, where many of the community members are poor, living in basic housing (no electricity, or water) often on less than a dollar a day. The Renju Family believe it is important to ‘give back’, by this we mean providing opportunities for the development of our surrounding community.
Part of the proceeds from the accommodation and safaris go toward the development of community initiatives. As seen below, we have a multi-faceted approach to achieve our aim of being a genuine community and environmentally-conscious travel option. We welcome any thoughts and suggestions.
Our ‘giving back’ approach is multi-faceted
In order to support our community we have various different activities constantly on going. We have included a few highlights here. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our guests for enabling us to continue our support to our local community. Please contact us for more information on these or any other aspects of our work.
A summary of our 'Giving Back' initiative
Since its initiation in 2010 the Giving Back initiative has achieved the following…
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Purchased a rice paddy to help First Chance Education Centre with rice and also with a surplus to sell to help them with some of their overheads
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Build capacity to set up and manage a small income generating activities, these include a local craft shop, production of tie and dye materials and the production of soap that we use in our rooms.
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Honey Badger is a well-known training centre for young Tanzanians; this includes students from our local community as well as those from other vocational training centres. Please feel free to give us feedback on our staff,
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For every Honey Badger t-shirt purchased $5 is set aside to go towards our community projects. This amount is pooled and then matched by the owners and awarded to one of our community projects. So far we have collected over $200 (and still counting)
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We link interested guests and potential volunteers to the Kilimanjaro Young Girls Network, such visitors provide much needed assistance both physically, emotionally and financially. Many of our guests as what they can bring to help out local communities, we make sure that their gifts are needed and reach those that need them the most.
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We support he Maasai Literacy programme (run by African Impact) – enabling them to educate over 20 local Maasai with key numeracy and literacy skills.
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We employ 35 staff, whose livelihood and family relies on us at Honey Badger. All our staff receive training and support in their jobs , so far we have run 3 full time training courses and many ad hoc trainings also take place
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We rely on solar power at the lodge (instead of opting for a fuel guzzling noisy generator)
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We try to limit our waste and compost what we can to use on our gardens
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We pride ourselves in nurturing our gardens, tendering to our trees thereby creating not just a refreshing oasis for our visitors but also as a showcase to our local communities’.
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Wherever possible we purchase locally and use local workmen, we strongly believe in investing in the economy of our community, town and country
AS OUR GUESTS YOU ARE VERY WELCOME TO VISIT OUR PROJECTS. PLEASE ASK OUR STAFF ABOUT THIS.
How can you support our 'Giving Back' initiative
Proceeds from all guests payments go to support our 'Giving Back' initiatives, so by supporting us you are helping us to support others.
Many people ask us how they themselves can help… here are just a few ideas:
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Continue to come and enjoy yourselves: stay, eat, drink, swim and be merry
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Go on safari with us or climb the mountain with us
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Buy some of our locally made gifts to support the local school
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Tell all your friends about us, the more people that come to us the more we can support others
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Enquire about our volunteer programme
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Donate to our community initiatives
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Buy a Honey Badger T shirt