Welcoming Foreigners, Supporting Locals: Conscious Travel in Rwanda and Beyond
hello and welcome wherever you are in the world today thank you for joining us for the rise traveler unpacking conversations of sustainable travel we are here to talk to eco-minded and socially conscious Travelers diversity and inclusion Specialists Wildlife conservationists environmental activists and anyone using travel as a way to uplift and inspire together we will go a Step Beyond the Instagram ready world of travel and take a look at how travel can be a source of growth and development for all people and all communities this podcast is an extension of the rise travel Institute a 501c3 non-profit committed to empowering young Travelers through educational programs research study tours and scholarships visit rise travelinstitute.org to learn more and now here's your host Amy Hager hello wherever you are in our in the world today thank you for joining us On The Rise traveler unpacking conversations of sustainable travel we're here to talk about how travel can be uplifting and inspiring going A Step Beyond that Instagram ready world of travel and really take a look at how travel is a source of growth and development for all people's all people in all communities and here at the rise travel Institute we're committed to empowering young Travelers through educational programs research research study tours and scholarships so if you haven't visited our website go to risetravelinstitute.org I'm your host Amy Hager welcome today I'm excited to have Lambert join me from Rwanda and we're going to dive in through a lot of different things in our conversation today but the first thing that I would love to talk about Lambert is you have created a conscious travel and Rwanda short course for us here at the rise travel Institute and can you just tell the audience a little bit more about that course what will they learn if they take that course ah thank you Amy thank you for having me uh by having this opportunity to have also run a destination yeah so Rwanda is a very small country in central Africa that they have a very big history many people excited to here and we understand so the course is about um Rwanda of course the country Africa different cultures languages in different histories so through the course people will be able to know what is the random first then Ronda have had a very tragic history the genocide that they happened in 1994 where around 1 million people were actually the only 100 days yeah so people will need to understand how this genocide happened in a 2010 centuries whereas the word had declared never again to genocide but also know how the country try to to fight the [Music] some people are visiting people are excited to see to connect with the people people that are um motivated to work so the people will be able to know the journey we have gone through stories until now to a peaceful country that everyone is there to visit and so by taking part in the short course like getting I think that history understanding what happened with the genocide and what what the country is like now um is really really great because I know that it you know Rwanda probably isn't on a lot of people's bucket lists to go travel to right and so by taking this course and learning more about the country and the history um you know do you think more people are interested in coming to visit Rwanda now that's right we have seen a lot of people coming to visit Rwanda there are even trooping to this Rwanda from other countries in a neighboring countries so there is a lot of things to learn from Rwanda to the history through how the infrastructure have been made to reconcile again the people that have been killing each other and see how the communities are now being improved through different uh activities that including foreign contributing to their to the livelihood so to the welfare of the communities because one of the attraction is all activities that are visited there are local uh communities initiative summer even the responses for the issues left out by the genocide because we have their uh with those who have orphans who were not having any other thing to generate them some revenues but uh tourism have shown to be one of the responses to those issues by employing people in the community those who didn't have to go to school that can have opportunities and as far as like making crafts to a reading uh by performing some casual activities performances that are as well it can visit and even be willing to pay some money to those people to make their lives and I will dive a little bit more into the impact that tourism has on Rwanda so tell me a little bit more about you and what's your background and how did you get into tourism thank you very much as you said my name is and at the same time starting at the general manager of Rwanda Eco company and Safari Randa equal company working first for over 10 years uh in service organizing some foreign travel services in Rwanda and across East Africa when I see across East Africa that means the countries of West Africa like Uganda Tanzania Kenya Burundi and the Democratic Republic of water so these are the countries that we are working in that we are organizing from the club so my work at irondeco company and Safari includes the 12 operation office management and marketing that involves live in it connecting with clients that are visiting Rwanda interesting some through different platforms to visit Rwanda and connect to them with the the destination destination Rwanda the lock traction go ahead I entered in a tourism uh I have been studying some other sectors I've been a teacher have been a manager of a High School um the national commission for children with the different positions that even managerial level but during my teaching career I when I met a student it was my you know my children at the time but lesser would make you very graduated from foreign traveling have been always my hobby but uh speaking discussing with them showed me how eventually you can travel you can even offer some other good opportunities so with my commitment and the willing to support because I was seeing some kids through my work vulnerable people that are not even having something to eat some courses some some process to put on so I later found out that your fruits I can have business can still travel as my hobby but I can also help people to change their lives through tourism so my former student who is now my my partner yeah the one who introduced me to company his schemes for the graduation from a foreign from my experience in different positions so we are able to create something uh very big and as far as you know and I was created this company that is now operating and different activities and we really see that we are now at a level that we are happy that we are producing something for ourselves and for for the community and for the company in general we are generating something that will help everyone in the so you're making a positive impact and so it was a student when you were a teacher is now your business partner and you know one thing I've recognized about you in our conversation today is you really do a great job of building connections and having Quality Connections and I know you knew someone who introduced you to our executive director Vincy and so through connecting travelers to the communities that you represent in Rwanda and the the people there how have you seen like tell a story of the impact that you've seen on the lives that you've been able to create because you're bringing tourists into Rwanda who may not have gone into the communities before yeah thank you very much actually we we always see feedback from people that you are working with some of them people in the communities you know that Minnesota we are selling products so uh there are different uh Community initiatives around the national festival that we have in Uganda we have the gorilla trading that attracts many people uh we have some curricular villages we have some Arts craft shops around you have poor guys that we are using to guide the toilet so we sell all these products we use these people in the communities help us organizing the tours so we don't have any other Choice other than working with them but always using them and see how the the they are happy I see the feedback that they are giving that's how their lives even ourselves with them and see how they are improving it of course we have them to to be well organized how they can organize themselves how they can improve their products but the feedback that we are getting you you are visiting a window who has been no hope in the future because they had children have no job most of the the women with those of the the generals that had no chance to go to school in our in our history women and we are not given opportunities to go to school so after genocide uh the genocide [Music] imagine how issuing what he should do to make the living for these children so when in tourism came came in and gave them the opportunity to do the class because you don't need it to be educated to do that the class you don't need to be educated to to do a cultural performance a cultural audience so we serve them to help them organize themselves to make some products that are really rewarding to them to the further to the tour uh what if we are having but in the end when we have the story we have some women that will tell you my kids are now brothers from University because I have been able to raise them to pay their services why they should surviving things we have many ceremonies that are share the story when we have to explain this traveling in Rwanda we let them hear from the communities whether them we are from these parents who have been able to raise their children to get revenues and they arrested themselves we are we do not narrate those stories we let them themselves and really interesting some changes and so you're providing these opportunities to the widows from the genocide who have children who they would have no money for clothes College University and so being able to help them I would say build these micro businesses so that they can interact with the tourists and really make a future for themselves and so when you really look into that crystal ball and you look into the future of tourism in Rwanda what does the future look like yeah I would say that it's compromising it's impromising foreign [Music] to do our job with a good organization with the safety of the country I will assure you that our clients have specified that don't prefer to come to Rwanda because of the good organization or the safety imagine a country in 25 years back I have the genocide 100 people are killing each other but now it's a country that you can travel and before I was walk around no one will disturb you so I will say that it's promising because we are seeing how it is improving life how it is generating money and responding to the issues that we had in the past and the issues we are having now I would say that we have the genocide and the widows and the orphans have been able to get chances to go to school because of Tourism improving their parents now the issue that we are having is uh Improvement those kids that we are able to go to school are not able to get some jobs in other instruction services but tourism is one of the sectors that are also employing many people those graduates are now serving and four days yeah even working your boyfriend children are now serving as tour guides and kind of showing that to something that they've probably known really well I'm sure if there's been tours happening they were little now that they're adults they're able to participate in in the community yeah sure actually those graduates are now helping to improve those parents initiatives to improve someone is coming from the the school will be able to help you parents to improve on what he's doing and this is the work we are now experiencing something that we are seeing we really see a very good Improvement foreign yeah and so then when you think about the Legacy that you want to leave behind in this world what is that another question I'm now uh actually I will tell you that in my former students I see them working how they are improving how they now become grown up and doing good so the latest I want to my partner should be calling him my boss because he's the one who introduced me yeah you see if you can have a chance of seeing those people that are that you have helped to to grow up is really something that is heart touching something that I need to see in the future when I'll be old and free people moving around they are always receiving messages from some parents some kids I have helped throughout my career so I want to see a lot of people that can benefit from my my efforts and that is a very it's embarrassing to me yeah it's impressing to see how many people you've been able to have a positive influence on and really improve their lives Lambert that's right well thank you so much for joining me today and joining us on the show it was really great to get to know a little bit more about you but also about Rwanda and conscious travel um we'll visit there so thank you for sharing more yeah thank you very much for this opportunity and take this opportunity to welcome you and even everyone who is listening and who is uh who will have a chance to listen to this story we have a lot of stories to share how about also uh things to show people and I can assure you that if you visit Rwanda you will see some interesting and interesting and heart touching sort of that everyone can be proud to hear awesome well thank you and as I said that brings us to an end of our journey today but if you like what you've heard and you want to hear more subscribe like and comment um you can follow us at rise travel Institute on Facebook and Instagram and here at the rice travel Institute we believe that travel is a powerful tool for transformative change and just like Lambert shared today you know the impact that can be made on these communities and the lives of people are really important to us and so if you're a college student maybe planning a study abroad trip a young professional thinking about a gap year or really anyone who wants to travel the world in a sustainable way we encourage you to head to risetravelinstitute.org or to learn more information about our educational courses and we'll be back soon with another episode but until then keep roaming keep learning and continue to be a rise Traveler this podcast is an extension of the rise travel Institute a 501c3 non-profit committed to empowering young Travelers through educational programs research study tours and scholarships visit rise travelinstitute.org to learn more
2023-06-14 18:57
