If you're traveling to Africa (or other third world country) and you want to "do good."
 
We are just back from our fourth trip to Africa, a glorious five weeks wandering through South Africa, Swaziland, and Zambia. I have suggestions for making your trip more personal meaningful for you and the people you meet.
 
1.  You are contributing  just by going to Africa.  Spending money there, being a witness, and being an ambassador are all important.  Everything matters.  Don't let yourself be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the need.  Experience the joy of being able to do something concrete and important, to contribute, to improve lives, to make a difference, every day of your trip.
 
2.  The Ambassador from Zambia to the United States, Her Excellency Dr. Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, was a guest at my house last year at a fund raiser we had for Zambian orphanages.  She said one sentence I will never forget:  "In the rural areas, $10.00 can change a life."  Change some lives while you are there.   
 
3.  Tip the maids-enough to make faces light up.  Also porters, the person who pumps your gas, and anyone who contributes to your stay.
 
4.  Find a way to get some money to the poorest-of-the-poor.  In Cape Town, the outskirts of the townships are makeshift housing "squatter camps" which lack running water, electricity, city services, and most of the bare necessities of human life. We were talking to a waitress in our hotel, and asked her if she knew anyone who lived there.  She did, a cousin....we gave her $100 for the cousin and $100 for her.
 
5.  Talk to people!  Taxi drivers have knowledge and opinions.  How is the economy?  Are things getting better or worse?  And listen.....don't pontificate. Listen to why someone wants three wives instead of telling him why he shouldn't.  Learn what is being taught in AIDS prevention clinics instead of decreeing what should be taught. (I talked to a woman facilitating training for about twenty rural women.  They recommend breastfeeding exclusively for five months, not even water.  Why not formula, which would be even safer for babies? "If there is formula, other people in the family will drink it and the baby ill not get enough nutrition..." )
 
6.  Take local people with you when you sight-see.  Four years ago, we took our taxi driver to Museum Africa, where he had never been.  This year, we invited the maids at our B&B to the Apartheid Museum, and they brought their children.  What an experience for us....one woman had lost the hearing in an ear from a poice attack at her school when she was in sixth grade.
 
7.  Invite someone for a meal.  Twelve years ago, we enjoyed the guard at the gate of Mkuzi Game Park in KwaZulu.  We asked him for dinner, which I had planned to cook, but it was pouring rain, so our dinner was corn flakes and boxed milk, knee-to-knee in our tiny camper van.  He played guitar and sang for us.  This year, we saw him again....he is now camp director at Mkizi, and took us up the mountian to visit his school, his village, and his home.    A lifetime friendship from a box of cornflakes!
 
8.  Buy crafts. And overpay occasionally.  My grandson had saved his money for a year for his trip to Africa.  In Swaziland, he found a stone leopard he liked at a market.  He left me to pay for it while he ran ahead to another stall which was about to close. A minute later, he ran back,  tugged at my arm, and whispered, "Nana, please tip him.  The leopard is  so beautiful, and the man  looks hungry." 
 
9.  Visit a school or an orphanage.  In rural areas, there are still people who have never seen a white face.  Ask for the director or headmaster and ask permission to visit, and to take pictures.  Show them the pictures on your digital camera, and send copies after you get home. Ask if the children might sing for you.  And make some kind of contribution when you leave.
 
10.  Go with full bags...minimal things for you and lots to give away.  Shoes, toothbrushes, bandaids, medicines, vitamins, pencils, children's books, clothing.  Everything can be used.  Go home with full bags with the things you have bought.
 
11.  Drop coins when no one is around. In Africa, most people walk great distances.  Coins can be a nice surprise.
 
12.  Talk to people in power.  I told a manager at Seaworld that I was disappointed to see so few faces of color among their presenters, and said I'd enjoy seeing staff more representative of the diversity of South Africa. Tourism is terribly important to the economies of African countries.  Remind people that tourists care about employment and treatment of Black Africans.
 
13.  Express a preference for Black canoe guides, game guides, tour guides.  Traditionally, guides were white and well paid, while porters were black and poorly paid.  This situation has improved...somewhat. Demand leads to supply.
 
14.  Read local newspapers, listen to local radio stations.You'll learn about perspectives which would never have occurred to you. And you'll support a free press.
 
15.  Be mindful of waste.  When we were there, KwaZulu was experiencing a drought so awful that boreholes were drying up, and some people slept by boreholes becuase that was the only was they could have access to water.  A long shower would have seemed obscene.
 
16.  Encourage your friends at home to travel.  "each one, reach one!"
 
I'd love to hear about your trips, and your suggestions for outreach.

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