Our Community Projects
At Madisa we believe in giving back to environment and local communities. Months before the opening of the lodge, we invested back in to the country by starting with a few small community projects.
Etameko brilliant boards project
Following research within the Sorris Sorris area around Madisa lodge, and it was established that there were many children between the ages of 6 and 15 years who have never been exposed to formal education or attended school.
The Leisure Pro Group approached The Republikein newspaper, who together with Bank Windhoek, agreed to sponsor Etameko lap-boards that children can use in the absence of notebooks or pens (both of which are in very short supply in this region).. These boards can be written on the front and wiped clean, whilst the back of the board has a table of multiplication & the alphabet.
This project was rolled out at Madisa. Following the introduction of these boards to children in the area, we realised that there is a huge need for adult education as well. We are in the process of engaging with other stakeholders on the next steps that need to be taken to put an adult education process in place.
Iyaloo Project
Iyaloo is a community project started by Red Sky adventures in Namibia, to assist employees and their families with extra income and skills. The aim of the project was to use materials and resources from used items of furniture and discarded building materials.
The overall objective for this project is to become a continued enterprise development program. Leisure Pleasure Lodges will continue to use Iyaloo as the sole providers of these products
Animal Care
We recruited Windhoek Veterinarian, Dr Anke van Wyk to undertake monthly visits to create awareness amongst the locals on basic animal care, such as shelter, feeding & washing of pets. A monthly dipping of animals in the community which will serve as an opportunity to address and treat more serious illnesses.
Soccer Team
Leisure Pleasure Lodges has sponsored the clothing for the first soccer team at Madisa Lodge. Through other projects we wish to generate funds for soccer boots as well as other equipment that might be needed for the team. Team Madisa has already made us proud by winning a few matches against the other lodges in the Sorris Sorris area.
FUTURE PROJECTS WHICH WILL BE COMPLETED WITH THE LODGE (PHASE 2) IN 2011 INCLUDES:
Elephant Chilli Pepper Project
The Chilli project to use chillies in order to keep elephants away from local crops and houses has been done for a number of years in various countries. As Madisa often gets visited by the elephants and could pose a threat to our communities and projects, we too will employ this concept. The Lodge Group are in the process of contacting relevant experts in this field to assist us with further developments..
Greenhouse
The community will learn to grow vegetables and it is hoped that this project will result in the provision of fresh produce for the community, sales to other lodges, roadside sales, own & local consumption. All this adds to the locals much needed dietary requirements.
Bakery
Like the Greenhouse concept, the bakery will serve much the same purpose on both lodges. We aim to form the bakery as part of the shop/beer garden & curio shop, which will serve drive-by tourist.
Mobile Medical and HIV Clinic
We have arranged for an existing mobile clinic to travel to the communities and offer full medical check-ups as well as HIV testing, counselling and retroviral distribution.