The Kawaza School Fund is a private fund started by Robin Pope Safaris in 1988 to assist in improvements at Kawaza Basic School, one of the local schools in the Nsefu Chiefdom. They sent us this article in the beginning of January 2008.

Huge improvements have been made at Kawaza since this time and the school is almost unrecognizable from the first photos that were taken. Over the past 5 years other schools have been added to the list of schools that Kawaza School Fund assists.

We now work with Kawaza Basic School, Nsefu Basic School, Kapita Community School, and Katapilla Community School (opening in January 2008).

The main goal of the Kawaza School Fund is to create an entire school system in the Nsefu Chiefdom to make it possible for the children of this area to attend school through to grade 12, but also so that they have enough skills to take advantage of the many jobs offered by the tourism industry in this area, and will not have to leave their homes to seek employment.

At the moment the highest grade offered in this area is Grade 9, so we offer sponsorships to the top students and orphaned children for their Grade 10-12 studies, which currently need to be pursued at one of the various boarding schools in the Eastern Province.

It is very difficult for families to find the funds to send their children to boarding schools as the fees are high and transport is expensive. In 2007, we created a 5-year plan to improve and expand all 4 of the schools in Nsefu, and by 2011 Kawaza Basic School will be a full Secondary school offering up to Grade 12.

Through kind donations from clients at Robin Pope Safaris and word of mouth we have been able to make all of this work possible. Robin Pope Safaris provides for all administrative costs of running the Kawaza School Fund, so all donations go directly to projects in the Nsefu area. For more information, please see www.kawaza.org.

Robin Pope Safaris is aiming to become a Carbon Neutral Company through the Reforest Nsefu Project by addressing two main environmental issues, climate change and deforestation.

In conjunction with Kawaza Basic School a variety of trees will be planted in the Nsefu area. To offset the carbon produced by Robin Pope Safaris, fruit trees and slow growing indigenous hardwood trees will be planted. These trees will not only have the benefit of sequestering carbon but will also produce fruit which can be eaten/sold by the community and will eventually provide them with good timber for building.

For the reforestation part of the project, fast growing indigenous trees and agro-forestry species will be planted. These will be species that are commonly used for firewood (the main fuel for cooking), building houses, and the agro-forestry species will help improve the soils and increase crop yields.