Short description
A community tourism lodge has become the engine of food security, education, health and job creation in Nqileni Village in the Eastern Cape.
Need
The Xhora Mouth Administrative Area comprises six remote rural villages, one of them being the Nqileni Village. It is an area that epitomises the most acute poverty challenges in the country: a legacy of non-existent or poor education provision, a limited subsistence economy which forces many people out of the village into migrant labour and an absence of basic government services.
At municipal level, 96% of households from the Mbhase municipality have an income of less than R1600 per month and 78% of the population is below the poverty line (an increase of 10% in a decade). 75% of the Mbhashe population have no access to clean drinking water and 74% of the population have no access to any kind of toilet. 72% of the population use firewood for cooking and 79% live in self-built mud brick houses.
Overview
The Bulungula Incubator is a non-profit organisation started in 2007, three years after the establishment of the renowned Bulungula Lodge. The lodge was established to pilot tourism as a platform for rural development and job creation in the Eastern Cape. The success of the lodge led the founder to seek ways to increase the impact they were making in the area, through the formation of the Bulungula Incubator. Nowadays, the Lodge is 40% owned by the community and they receive annual income from the business’ profits.
The Bulungula Incubator contributes to the social economic upliftment of the Nqileni community through a series of initiatives including education and early childhood development, health awareness and treatment, permaculture and improved access to water.
The organisation has opened four Early Childhood Development (ECD) facilities. Their education programme also includes a scholarship programme, after school programme, and a support and development programme for the surrounding government schools.
The Incubator’s health programme includes organic farming projects and addresses nutritional deficits and the problem of intestinal parasites. They also run monthly workshops focused on HIV, TB and other critical issues. Through a partnership with the Department of Health, community members receive on-site voluntary HIV testing and counselling and 450 households receive home-based care for the elderly, chronically ill and vulnerable children.
The Incubator has helped 39 entrepreneurs set up a range of micro-enterprises and agribusinesses and has installed four boreholes and 95 rain and spring water harvesting points.
What we like about this organisation
Given the levels of poverty, little access to formal education and unemployment in the community, Bulungula is addressing pressing and urgent needs. The organisation is deeply rooted in the community and has an excellent reputation within the community. The association between the Bulungula Lodge and the Incubator represents a sustainable way of addressing rural development.
What difference can your money make?
- R10 000 would be used to train child and youth care workers
- R250 000 would be used for ECD training in our new community-based preschools, equipment and further training for the home-based care providers
- R750 000 would be used to roll out water filters and develop a database for community survey information measuring health and other indicators
Volunteering opportunities
- Training for ECD teachers
- Database designer
- Research, analysis and writeup of their programme as a model