Community Support - Africa Sustainable Journeys

Empowering Communities Together

Help Rebuild Hope for Mama Gorretti & Her Children

Through the Rebuild Hope campaign, we aim to raise UGX 22 million (USD 6,000) to build a strong, secure home with a proper roof and latrine. This home will provide safety, dignity, and stability so the children can focus on education and their future.

How You Can Support

Your contribution will fund building materials such as iron sheets, cement, bricks, sand, and timber, as well as skilled labor to complete the construction. Every donation counts, and sharing this appeal helps too.

We also welcome volunteers who can contribute time and energy on-site. From carrying bricks to assisting with construction, your presence will make a real difference. If interested, reach out, and we’ll respond within 24 hours.

Mama Mbabazi Gorretti, a 44-year-old single mother of five in Nyakabira, Fort Portal, Uganda, dreams of giving her children a safe home and a better future. For years, she has faced challenges, but her determination to keep them in school remains strong.

With support from African Sustainable Journeys (ASJ) and PLATFORM for the NEEDY (PLANE), her younger children have been able to attend nearby community schools, and we’ve provided learning materials to keep them in class. These efforts bring hope, but without a safe and permanent home, progress is fragile.

Community Programs

Teenage Mothers

In Uganda’s Rwenzori region, many teenage mothers face stigma, broken education and poverty, yet their resilience tells a different story. Through the Teenage Mothers Empowerment Program (TEMEP), Africa Sustainable Journeys stands with these young women, honoring their strength and helping them reclaim their futures.

TEMEP begins with healing, offering safe spaces for counselling, confidence building and sisterhood. It then equips the girls with practical skills in tailoring, crafts, farming and entrepreneurship, paired with financial literacy and savings groups. These tools transform vulnerability into independence, enabling them to start businesses, return to school and inspire others.

Built with local partners and guided by the girls’ own voices, TEMEP is a community-driven movement of recovery and rebirth. It shows that even in hardship, dignity can be restored, hope can take root and futures can be rewritten one girl, one story, one dream at a time.

Rural Education Support

In rural communities, many children face barriers that keep them from learning and thriving. Our Rural Education Support program exists to change that.

Through this initiative, we have paid school fees for more than 20 pupils, repaired school swings so children can enjoy safe play, and provided food to schools through our own modest resources. We continue to work closely with partner NGOs to reach and support even more pupils in need.

We collaborate with schools and parents to provide uniforms, books, and other essential learning materials, while also delivering teacher workshops to strengthen the quality of education.

Every effort we make brings a child closer to staying in school, learning with dignity, and believing in their future. Rural Education Support is more than a program. It is our commitment to giving every child in rural communities the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.

Batwa Clinic

Program Coordinator: Asiimwe Bosco, renowned local guide

In the heart of Uganda’s Rushaga region, near the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the Batwa indigenous community continues to face deep social and economic challenges. Displaced from their ancestral forest home in 1991, many now live in extreme poverty, with limited access to clean water, education, or healthcare. Life expectancy here is just 28 years, compared to the national average of 63.

Most Batwa families survive on less than a dollar a day. Daily life means long walks to collect water and firewood, subsistence farming, and constant vulnerability to preventable diseases like malaria, typhoid, pneumonia, and HIV/AIDS. Health concerns are often worsened by poor infrastructure, long distances to clinics, and a lack of medical resources.

Africa Sustainable Journeys is committed to changing this reality. Through our Batwa Healthcare Program, we provide direct medical care, health education, and outreach services. Our ”Choose Your Impact” initiative we helped supply mosquito nets to over 151 families, reducing malaria cases in 2024. We have also supported our local clinic, which treated more than 378 community members last year, and promoted sustainable livelihoods by working with Batwa artisans.

While remote location, limited funding, and poor infrastructure remain challenges, our mission is clear: to restore dignity, improve health, and give the Batwa people a fair chance at a healthier future. With every partnership, visit, and contribution, we move one step closer to that goal.

Goats for Gorillas

In the Volcanoes National Park, where mountain gorillas roam mist-covered slopes, wildlife survival is closely tied to the well-being of nearby communities. For years, poverty pushed some residents toward poaching, threatening both gorillas and their fragile habitat. Today, that is changing.

In the region, Africa Sustainable Journeys supports former poachers’ families through a program that builds sustainable livelihoods while easing pressure on gorilla populations. Each visitor can donate a goat to a household, often the start of a small herd that provides income, nutrition, and a reason to protect rather than harm wildlife.

Over 96 goats have already been given to local families, reducing reliance on hunting and safeguarding the ecosystem. Alongside goat donations, the program fosters conservation awareness, cultural exchange, and access to basic services, empowering the community to protect the park.

Our Focus Areas for Lasting Impact

Livelihood Support

Helping families earn, sustain, and thrive through practical support.

Economic Empowerment

Supporting teenage mothers and youths with skills training, microfinance, and hope for the future.

Education

collaborating with rural schools, NGOs and parents to give vulnerable children access to quality learning.

Healthcare

Delivering vital medical services and health education to local communities in collaboration with our NGO partners.

Our travelers Says

My trip with ASJ was impactful, I felt I was not just traveling, but also helping communities in a meaningful way.

Anon Eventon

Austria

Frequently Asked Questions?

1.How do you support community programs?

Each trip contributes to community support through our ‘Choose Your Impact’ initiative for travelers. ASJ also makes an annual donation to each program.

2. Do travelers engage with communities during their visit?

Yes, guests can engage with locals, and even choose to support one of their initiative(s) through our ‘Choose Your Impact’ option.

3. Can I visit the community programs during my trip?

Sure, but only when visits are safe, respectful to locals, and approved. For child safety and well-being, visits to schools are not allowed.

4. How do you ensure the programs are sustainable?

We partner with community-led NGOs, community groups, and schools to provide ongoing support, and reinvest a portion of trip proceeds and annual earnings.