Calabash Tours & Calabash TrustBy Paul MiedemaDirector, Calabash Tours and Founder, Calabash TrustCalabash Tours (www.calabashtours.co.za) is a micro enterprise that was established in 1997,and is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The company is a commercial entity with a strongsocial agenda. The core business is in<strong>for</strong>mative social history tours that include daylong visits todisadvantaged townships in Port Elizabeth. The purpose of the tours is to offer tourists insightinto some of the developmental and socialissues affecting urban Africans. We showcasesome of the challenges of the Apartheid past,and the triumphs of our new Democracy. Theareas we visit are home to close to half amillion people, of whom approximately 35% areunemployed, and 20% HIV positive.The tours are run from a <strong>Responsible</strong> Tourismperspective, creating economic opportunities<strong>for</strong> poor communities while addressing thepotential negative impacts of tourism withinpoor communities. The tour products havebeen accredited by the certification program,Playing soccer, Port Elizabeth Township, South Africa.Credit: Calabash ToursFair Trade in Tourism South Africa. Calabash handled approximately 4000 tourists in 2009, andthe primary source of visitors comes through large Inbound operators. Calabash Tours also runsvoluntourism programs, with minimum placement duration of 1 month. The areas of focus <strong>for</strong>Voluntourism are education, and work with people afflicted with HIV/AIDS. Calabash Tours hadapproximately 75 volunteers in 2009. Lastly, Calabash Tours has several clients with whom werun ‘Charity Challenge‘‖ type visits, where infrastructure – such as sports facilities -- isdeveloped in under-resourced township schools. We facilitated two such events in 2009.VisionWhen the company was started in 1997, wehad two purposes. First we wanted to providevisitors with a balanced, well-researchedinsight into an urban city undergoing atrans<strong>for</strong>mation to democracy with the demise ofApartheid. Calabash Tours wanted to ensuretourists saw more than the wonderful sceneryand wildlife that South Africa offers, but alsounderstood the value of our human heritageand history. Townships have been perceivedas dangerous and inaccessible, and yet theyare home to the majority of urban Africans.In front of health clinic on township tour, South Africa.Credit: Calabash ToursOmitting Urban Black History from the tourist itinerary appeared to us to be a perpetuation of theApartheid past which we felt our company could help to correct. Secondly, we recognized that if38
we brought tourism to these communities we could bring economic opportunity, create businesslinkages, and help augment the income of poor households.At this stage, we had no idea what travelers‘ philanthropy was, that it was possible, or even thatthe concept existed.The Shift Towards <strong>Travel</strong>ers’ PhilanthropyAs we took visitors into the township areas on our tours, a <strong>for</strong>ce was unleashed which we hadnever anticipated. More and more tourists asked about supporting the projects we visited, suchas schools, craft initiatives, and health facilities. It dawned on us this was an opportunity todirect resources towards these projects. In 1999, a recent immigrant from Scotland, MarionGate, took a couple of tours with us and then approached us about setting up a legal entity <strong>for</strong>fundraising to support township projects. This was how Calabash Trust was started. In 2000, itwas registered as a not –<strong>for</strong>-profit entity, and was granted legal status. Calabash Trust is aseparate legal entity from the tour company, with its own board of trustees. So we embarked onthe travelers‘ philanthropy path, at the request of our clients!I don‘t think any of us involved in the beginning had any idea what we were doing, where itwould lead, and that we would eventually identify our work as part of the travelers‘ philanthropymovement.The EvolutionInitially, all we did was tell our tour participants aboutthe Trust, so any pens, pencils, money, goods, etcthey wanted to contribute could be managed, andaccounted <strong>for</strong>. We soon determined that if we weregiving projects money, we needed to be sure theycould account <strong>for</strong> it. Sometimes they lacked capacityto do so. Soon we were delivering small, in<strong>for</strong>malworkshops on book keeping, or minute keeping, andgeneral administration. Donations were slow in thebeginning, and my co-founder Marion was alsoinvolving friends and family in Scotland to generatesmall donations.Home visit on township tour, South Africa.Credit: Calabash ToursSome Early ChallengesooooHow were we going to prevent a dependency situation being created in the projects wewere supporting?How were we going to channel small amounts of money from around the world into ourSouth African bank account, without it being eaten by international bank charges?How were we going to monitor the progress of the projects?How would we identify projects?39
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