Tourists Gives Back to Community
BY TAVAKE SIMON HANA’AROA
WHEN we talk about the impacts of tourism in the Solomon Islands, Kia Community in the Isabel province is a living testament.
Just recently the community received donations from its oversea friends that had visited the area in the past and are now established a cordial relationship with them.
The gifts were donated to Kia Community Clinic and School.
Had it not for Kagata Village Stay, things won’t turn out as expected.
Kagata is situated on Barora Island, in the Kia district of Isabel province and is consist of three bungalows. This Village Stay was the host for the Visiting tourists seven years ago.
Mark Waller was one of the tourists and he was the one that was instrumental behind the donations as they give back to the host community as a token of appreciation for their great hospitality.
“Some friends and I went to Kagata about 6 or 7 years ago and fell in love with the people and the place.
“We could see the damage that logging has done to the environment and the people so we wanted to help,” Mark Waller said.
The donated items include medical supplies for the clinic, school stationaries, clothes, tools and cooking items such as frying pans, saucepans as well as sports equipment like soccer and volleyball not to mention machetes.
For Mark and his friends, they have a series of donations and the recent one is just one amongst the donation chain.
“I usually send a crate over at least once a year
“We have facilitated the setting up of a school in that area and just recently installed a good solar system and laptop for the school at Kopikola. We have managed to make a big contribution to the school there with school supplies and equipment.
“This last one we have just send had medical supplies, clothes, tools and cooking items, such as frying pans, saucepans, etc.
“We also sent some machetes and I’m pretty sure there were some things for the school as well. There was also some sporting equipment like soccer and volleyballs and nets,” Mr. Waller said.
A statement posted on the Kagata Village Frens Facebook page has shown how the community appreciated and acknowledged the oversea friends for their hearty donations.
“Tourism has an impact on our community. Thanks for visiting friends for organizing these donated items to support our people in rural areas.
“Those donated items will support the people and children as far as the rural development is concerned,” the statement reads.
As someone who had frequently visited Solomon, Mark was very fond of the natural environment especially in the remote parts of the country but was sad to see how gravely the environment and its ecosystem are deteriorating due to the impacts of logging in the country.
“As many of us have traveled widely we have seen how outside businesses especially logging have come to these beautiful clean areas and took everything they want, with no thoughts for the locals. We wanted to help prevent that,” he said.
He continued; “it seems to me that while much of the world is being miss managed, the Solomon has a great opportunity to get it right, and to reap sustainable benefits from it,” an optimistic Waller said.
At the moment, Mark and his friends have greater plans to continue their work in contributing to the communities and now they are working closely with the tourism department to ensure things worked perfectly for them.