Can Sustainable Travel Save Mwandama?

The notion of sustainable travel stretching beyond its comfort zone of recycled goods and environmentally- friendly fun activities to uncharted territory that promotes a sustainable social environment has been mentioned a few times here at Justmeans. We took a look at the effects of tourism to polygamists communities, the need for sustained tourism beyond international sporting events, and most recently, the need for responsible tourism in Haiti. The ability of sustainable travel to serve as a platform for reform is a tool we can all take advantage of. But at what point does sustainable travel and tourism become a crutch, stalling the real social changes that need to take place? Let's take a look at Mwandama to get an idea of how much struggling communities should rely on the sustainable travel industry for a substantial social change.

Mwandama is a cluster of villages in southern Malawi, a cluster of villages that is no stranger to poverty. An estimated 300 million people live below poverty standards in Africa. More than 50% of Africans live with water- related illnesses, including the highly publicized bacterial infection, cholera. These statistics are sobering, and Mwandama isn't far behind. However, reform seems to be regaining control of Mwandama's destiny. September 2000 marked the year that that the UN declared a vested interest in improving the standard of living for impoverished African villages by creating Millennium Villages. This organization aims to give struggling rural villages the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. One of its main tools relies heavily upon sustainable travel. Millennium Villages has begun creating guided tours for sustainable travelers to come into village clusters to get an "authentic" idea of what it is like to live in one of these villages. All profit is collected in a community ecotourism
fund and, presumably, redistributed throughout the villages.

This effort is to be admired. However, the responsibility of getting the message out about the harsh reality of living in these villages rests in the hands of the sustainable traveler. A major assumption must be made. Chances are likely that the tours organized by the villagers will not show you the reality of life in theses villages. That is, what it looks like for a mother of three to be dying from cholera probably won't be included anytime during your afternoon tour. These hopeful villagers are probably going to show you the more charming side of village life. It is not enough to venture to these villages to gawk at the staged and well- crafted presentation of the "brighter side" of living in these villages. An invaluable opportunity to make the rest of the world aware of their poor living standards will be missed if the traveler thinks walking through a tour is all that needs to be done.

Photo Credit: gbaku