Our Mission

Tshulu Trust (No.: IT 12/08) is a Community Organisation in HaMakuya, a rural chieftancy adjacent to Kruger National Park and close to the Zimbabwe border in the far north of Limpopo Province. As part of the ex-homeland of Venda, HaMakuya suffered systematic under-development during the apartheid era, and is now recognised as a national poverty node. Unemployment is estimated at over 95% and the only substantive source of cash income is government grants. Tshulu Trust aims to enhance responsible wellbeing and livelihoods by improving the ability of community members to sustainably exploit their natural and cultural resources. The intention is to stimulate the local economy by creating employment and micro-enterprise opportunities in tourism, agriculture and through small business development. Strongly committed to maintaining the highest standards with regard to environmental sustainability and the non-exploitation of people, Tshulu focuses on the eco-, cultural and educational niches in tourism, and organic agricultural initiatives. Tshulu products and services meet fair trade and ethically-sourced standards. All profits go to the community in the form of salaries, home-stay fees, or the formation of new projects. Through a central administration office, the Trust runs its core tourism initiatives (Tshulu Wilderness Camp and the HaMakuya Home-stay Programme), as well as other micro cooperative-enterprises in agriculture, catering, baking, sewing, building and metalwork. All enterprises build on local knowledge and assets, developing these further so as to be appealing to local and external markets. For example: the home-stay programme introduces genuine rural Venda culture to visitors in a respectful manner; the caterers offer traditional Venda and international dishes; the sewing cooperative makes the costume for local dance troupes and as well as clothing and other items for visitors from traditional cloth; and the metalworkers have evolved a range of ‘fusion’ furniture that uses Venda cloth in chairs and tables. Tshulu takes a nodal approach to achieving sustainable rural development. In a nodal programme a core anchor project is established, and around this a variety of smaller initiatives that support and rely on the anchor project and each other are catalysed. This allows micro-enterprises and cooperatives to share costs, and creates a node of growth that attracts infrastructure, capacity and markets.