In the beginning
In 1972 my grandfather, grandmother and I visited the poorest country
in the western hemisphere: Haiti. Much to my grandmother's dismay, my
grandfather decided that our adventure for the day would be exploring
the countryside with a Port Au Prince taxi cab driver as our guide.
After an hour driving down a dusty rutted gravel road we stopped in at
a rural marketplace to experience life in rural Haiti. It was along the
side of that dirt road that we had our first personal philanthropic travel experience.
Soon after the dust from our cabbie's Toyota had settled, un-clothed
children, adults and their livestock emerged from the surrounding area,
undoubtedly to closely examine my aqua and orange tailor made Miami Dolphins leisure suit with white leather loafers.
We were surrounded by smiling faces wondering who we were and why we
had stopped by to say: bonjour. Ten minutes later, after just about
everyone in the crowd had a chance to smile at us, touch us and make
direct eye contact with us a soccer ball flew through the air. I
trapped it and quickly passed it back to my new teammate who received
it effortlessly after it had flown right over the heads of several adults.
"When we are very young children we know how to feel.
It's innate. But as we lead a lifetime, we pick up so many thoughts,
impressions, feelings, and ideas, that our sensitivity goes away." -F.L. Ph.d
Connecting
I bonded with the local kids and my grandparents stood side by side
with adults from the village while the cabbie lit a cigar. My
grandmother, initially fearful of the unknown was now smiling, calmly
and communicating in sign language with local women, and enjoying her
experience. We all seemed to connected for those brief moments. The
spontaneous transcendent events of that morning's cross cultural
experience are still vivid today, as they were so many years before.
Those few moments changed our lives.
Deja Vu
During my first trip to Africa while driving between Maun, Botswana and Windhoek, Namibia I was moved to pull over at a village in a remote area of the Kalahari Desert,
much to my friend Linette's consternation. She declined my offer to
join me for a walk into the center of the grass hut village and decided
instead to stay in the car -with the doors locked. Ten minutes later I
returned to the car with a crowd from the village: children running,
mothers talking, fathers trailing the entourage and once again soccer
balls flying through the air. Linette gracefully emerged from the car
with a smile and began to open the clothes intended to gift.
Captivated by everyone's curiosity, kindness and easy laughter Linette
and I spoke of life in their village and life in our village in
Switzerland and the USA. We felt our guests humanity and warmth, we
were welcomed and felt safe as guests of the community.
An hour later after sharing gifts of Nike tee-shirts and old Levis we
had agreed to deliver two men who needed a ride to their cousins
funeral in a village 25 kilometers away. Sent off with with an open
invitation to return completed with smiling faces, vigorous handshakes
and waves we set off down the Trans-Kalahari Highway towards Namibia.
A New Journey
While driving I realized that the seed for Exquisite Safaris
Philanthropic Travel, planted 27 years before in rural Haiti, had just
awakened in Africa. That afternoon as I drove through the Kalahari
Desert with Linette and our two new acquaintances on their way to
celebrate an ending, I began again on a new journey: introducing
travelers to locals with the intention of uplifting those local people
and their communities through health, education and sustainable
development.
If you are a traveler I encourage you to become a philanthropic traveler.
Exquisite Safaris has developed partnerships with humanitarian outreach
projects in Africa, Asia and South America: Orphanages, AIDS and
medical clinics, schools, women's entrepreneurial initiatives, and clean water NGO's that will open their doors to you and connect you personally with the people they serve.
"Life changing luxury travel experience for you: health centers, clean water, schools and women's rights for those less fortunate in the locales you traverse: philanthropic travel".
-David Chamberlain
"Don't follow the crowd. The crowd doesn't get there. They just run round and around in a crazy race. It never ends." -F.L. Ph.d
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