INTRO
As a long-time friend of Greg Bagunzi and Red Rocks Rwanda, and an admirer of the work of Judy Kepher-Gona through the STTA in Kenya, I was interested in knowing more about the boot camp that STTA conducted during the annual Cultural Festival at Red Rocks, to which Traveller Storyteller has been a supporting partner for the last two editions.
I anticipated the project between these two organisations with so much interest that I couldn’t resist meeting with the organisers and asking some questions of the participants.
This article resulted from a more than two-hour virtual conversation with Dominic, Esther and Michael, three engaged boot campers from STTA a few months after their experience in Rwanda.
It couldn’t be published before, and since the experience is about to be repeated at this year’s edition of the festival, I postponed the publication again in the hope that it could provide valid points of reflection and inspiration for the upcoming gathering of young minds.
PART 1- THE BOOT CAMP CONCEPT
The boot camp has been incorporated into the STTA’s Young Changemakers programme, a mentorship programme for university students. The camp currently runs four times per year in different countries, and it perfectly reflects the extent of STTA’s focus and work beyond Kenyan borders, to include neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania.
The boot camp programme was conceived as a space for students to learn about contemporary issues, and it is an integral part of their curricula. ‘Students don’t experience the issues that the boot camp focuses on unless we take them into the field,’ explains Michael. In Dominic’s words, ‘It’s a class outside the class’, adding for more clarity, ‘a field-based learning opportunity’.
The 2023 edition of the boot camp was focused entirely on Sustainable Tourism. The goal was to understand what sustainability means in other countries because, as it was pointed out ‘everyone has their own way of implementing sustainability’ and they were curious to see how Rwanda was doing it.
In 2019 an STTA delegation visited Rwanda and, by returning for the boot camp, the focus turned to the successful case of Red Rocks Rwanda, especially women’s empowerment and youth engagement.
A great curiosity and willingness to learn moved the Kenyan delegation this time. A group of receptive young changemakers travelling to immerse themselves in the experiences and understand how community engagement works at Red Rocks and, in particular, the secret of the success of the women’s enterprises.
Many open questions guided their careful observations.
PART 2 - THE EMPOWERED PROTAGONISTS
THE YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS
In the Zoom room with me were three passionate and engaged young individuals who attended the boot camp last year.
Michael Mugendi, a young changemaker himself, is responsible for the mentorship programme. In his role as a Marketing and Communications officer, he also assists in driving partnerships for various STTA projects.
Esther Muthee was awarded the Rising Star for 2022, an award that recognises young changemakers who have excelled in the sustainable tourism training programme. The award is the result of her commitment and hard work, which included a sustainability assessment conducted in the field. Her active participation in seminars, panel discussions, and the quality of her publications and product reviews gained her this eminent prize.
Last, but by no means least, Dominic Wanjiru was also with us – climate champion at STTA Kenya. Dominic explained that his work as a Program Assistant consists of developing strategies and plans around climate resilience and organising training programmes for SMMEs, and local community organisations and businesses involved in tourism i.e. CBTEs, and partners.
STTA offers advocacy and professional support to those I call ‘the invisibles of the tourism industry’, the universe of SMMEs with no voice and no support. STTA helps them to be more responsible and prepared in the way they face the climate realities of our times. As Dominic says, ‘We create climate-proof responsible companies in tourism’.
After a brief and enlightening round of introductions I soon realised that, as Dominic put it, they ‘Are all products of the young changemakers programme’.
They were part of the delegation of STTA that last August travelled to Northern Rwanda to reach the Red Rocks camp site where they met the local protagonists, and among them the Red Rocks women.
THE WOMEN AT RED ROCKS
I met them for the first time during the pandemic through my laptop screen, thanks to Greg’s introduction and the supportive interpreting of Mabrise.
I finally met Bertha, Marie Louise and Polina – currently the president of one of the three cooperatives – in person during the Cultural Festival in August 2022. With them, and the other women, I then started a series of Community Storytelling workshops which continued virtually with seminars in 2023, as a part of my company Traveller Storyteller’s ongoing collaboration with Red Rocks Rwanda.
Because of my previous experience with them, the empowerment of the Red Rocks women was not news to me, but I was curious to see how the three changemakers reacted to it.
It was also not news to me that they are improving their personal and professional skills, offering new services and products. Through the Red Rocks ecosystem and the support they receive from each other, their self-confidence is growing and has now started inspiring new generations of Kenyan visitors.
PART 3 – THE EXPERIENCE
Experiencing the Red Rock’s world in Musanze was eye-opening, however, it is part of a long-term relationship with STTA that has been built over the years since 2011.
The visionary work of Greg Bagunzi, pioneer of CBT in Rwanda, has been inspired by another pillar of Sustainable Tourism and local development for the local community in Eastern Africa Judy Kepher-Gona and her work at STTA.
Attending the STTA Annual Africa Summit in 2017 provided Greg with the inspiration and practical ideas that helped Red Rocks to structure its impact, and to go on to win a UNTWO Award for championing sustainable tourism development in Africa.
This time, thirteen relatively young individuals took part in experiences over a week after an intense 28-hour journey over land.
Beyond the lessons learned during the trip itself, you are about to discover what the interactions that the Kenyan visitors experienced in Musanze provided for them and the number of new ideas they left with.
The boot camp is simply a continuation of this mutually beneficial friendly connection whose effect continues to spread over the land and through generations, in both directions.
But let’s talk about the mud.
One Response
I really enjoyed reading this Elisa!
I’m looking forward to the continuation of the story in the next write-up.