Pack for a Purpose on Your Next Holiday
Written by Jess Tyrrell
Small Space. Little Effort. Big Impact.
The age of reciprocally beneficial and transformative travel is here! Suppose you're looking to positively impact communities on your next adventure. In that case, you can change a life by simply saving just a little extra space in your suitcase to pack supplies needed for local community projects – be it education, health, child welfare, animal welfare, or socioeconomic development oriented. This also means you'll have more room to bring souvenirs and goodies on your return home. 😉
In this blog post, we’ll briefly introduce the Pack for a Purpose initiative, how it works, and how you can participate in your next adventure to South Africa and/or Namibia. Let’s get packing!
What, where and how?
The inspiring international Pack for a Purpose initiative enables travellers to journey meaningfully. Each destination they work in has unique requirements, and what you'll be asked to pack depends on where you're going! The required items range from stationery supplies to soccer balls, seemingly insignificant items to most, but life-changing to others.
As a traveller, there are 5 easy steps to take to join the movement:
Check whether Pack for a Purpose affiliates are active in the destination you're travelling to using their nifty map.
Find an accommodation or tour company that operates in the area you're travelling to and select a project they support (Viatu offers several participating accommodations)
Choose the needed supplies from their list that you wish to take
Drop off the supplies at the accommodation or tour company will then deliver them to the project
Smile and pat yourself on the back for making a positive impact, and don’t forget to share it with the world
Here is an example of a needs list for Ukhanyo Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa. Items with an asterisk are urgently needed:
General School Supplies:
College-Ruled Paper, *Erasers, Markers, Reward Stickers, Post-its, Pastel-Colored A4 Paper, Highlighters, Koki Pens, Retractable Wax Crayons, *Whiteboard Markers (medium thickness)
Laminated Wall Charts:
A4 lamination pouches
Computer Hardware/Software:
Flash Drives/Memory Sticks
Educational Games/Toys:
Colouring Books, Sticker Books, and Toy Cars
Packing for a Purpose for your trip
Travellers interested in responsible tourism can contribute firsthand while on holiday. Viatu’s multiple destinations have various Pack for a Purpose projects! What’s more, plenty of our stays are the providers of the supplies to communities, meaning you won’t have to go out of your way to deliver them! Remember that you don’t need to pack everything on the needs lists, just what you can, as every small contribution counts.
Namibian Projects
7 of Wilderness Safaris’ Namibian camps support communities in the surrounding rural areas through Pack for a Purpose donations. These include primary and combined schools that need general school supplies, reference materials, flashcards, laminated wall charts, text/reading books, art supplies, computer hardware, sports equipment, clothing, etc.
If you're staying or passing Damaraland Camp, Desert Rhino Camp, Doro Nawas, Hoanb Skeleton Coast, Kulala Desert Lodge, Little Kulala and/or Serra Cafema, check out their needs lists here.
If you need a little nudge or further inspiration, check out this family’s life-changing experience when they Packed For a Purpose and visited Jacob Basson school in Namibia.
South African Projects
A large number of accommodations and tour operators collect and deliver supplies to community projects all over South Africa. These community projects span education, health, child welfare, animal welfare and socio-economic development. These projects and their respective drop-off points for listed goodies are in Johannesburg, the Western Cape (Cape Town and surrounds), the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga (Kruger National Park and surrounds).
Check whether you recognise the names of any hotels or tour operators on South Africa's Pack for a Purpose homepage and select the corresponding packing list to get to (life-changing) work!
Check out this family’s trip to South Africa where giving to people in need reciprocally changed their, and the community members, lives.
Pack for a Purpose has created several shareable filters, baggage attachments and printable signs that you can use on your social media and travels to share the life-affirming stories of your compassion and how they changed you and the people you've helped.
You can find out exactly how to Pack for a Purpose on your trip to Botswana in our dedicated blog post here.
We invite you to travel with a purpose on your next great escape. You can plan a purposeful trip with Viatu, which will take you to several of the partners mentioned in this blog post.
Have you Packed for a Purpose before? Or planning on it? Let us know your story, and tag us in your efforts. We, the planet and its people, thank you.
