How I want to help
African Impact is an on-the-ground volunteer programme facilitater – i.e., it connects different projects making a difference in the field to the rest of the world, provinding such projects with funds and volunteers. It was through African Impact that I found Azafady.
Azafady is an award-winning organisation working to protect the environment and eliminate poverty in Madagascar. As an officially registered charity in England and Wales partnered with an NGO registered in Madagascar, Azafady relies on donations and the help of volunteers, under the instruction of extremely professional and dedicated staff.
I intend to volunteer for Azafady's Lemur Research and Conservation Project in South-East Madagascar for a month, to help map populations of the area, make botanical surveys, plant saplings, talk with local people, etc. as part of Azafady's incredible effort to assess how much damage is being done, how it is being done, and how it can be avoided, how to recover some of the island's impoverished natural environments and how to adequately protect its unique biodiversity.
It is a research and conservation project, so one must be prepared to work seven days a week (for no pay) and camp out in the most basic conditions; I am not going on holiday.
However, the cost is high. A fairly large donation must be made to Azafady, which will pay for my meals for the duration of the program and of which 90% in channelled directly back into the conservation work; but the price does not include flights, vaccinations, insurance, visas, or other requirements, such as a medical kit, water-sterilising material, a tent, etc., which I must pay for myself.
All in all, everything adds up, and I simply can't fund it myself. So far, I have earned and saved enough money to pay for flights. I am fundraising to get to Madagascar and to make the much needed and well destined donation to Azafady, so as to be able to put all my efforts into protecting Madagascar's wildlife in the most direct manner I see possible.
