The Thornybush Community was created by Thornybush in 2005. It was established as a registered non-profit organisation, with the objective of nurturing and uplifting the surrounding local communities adjacent to the protected wildlife areas.
Located on the western border of the Greater Kruger National Park, and on the boundary of the northern Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Thornybush Community has primarily focused its work in two Villages, Utah and its smaller neighbouring community of Dixie.
Thornybush Community’s initial focus area was to implement food gardens, working in collaboration with a local school. It also was responsible for the funding and mentorship of an all-female local agricultural SMME business. Over the years the focus areas have expanded to encompass education, enterprise, commerce, conservation and voluntourism. Thornybush Community has found itself as a contributor in both the NPO sector and a supporter of numerous community initiatives and partnerships.
About Nourish Eco Village
Nourish Eco Village was created as a platform to link conservation needs and ideals with community goals. Sharing the same inherent values of Thornybush Community, Nourish aimed at finding integrated sustainable solutions to issues plaguing conservation, such as poverty, low education standards, lack of food security, and unemployment.
Opening the doors for cultural tourism
This year Thornybush Community launched the most purposeful experience for guests during their Safari – a visit to the Nourish Eco Village to engage in cultural tourism. Thornybush guests are able to learn how the various community projects support education and the livelihoods of local communities. This is another added value that Thornybush integrates into their offering, to provide an extra educated and sustainable view on the cultural side of the safari experience.
Growing local businesses
Pre COVID-19, a commitment was secured with Thornybush Community and long-time loyal donor, Andersen Construction Foundation, focusing on local Enterprise Development. Andersen Construction Foundation have a keen focus on infrastructure development in rural communities. In 2019 their investment afforded the opportunity to completely renovate one of the Thornybush Community focus schools, Hananani Primary. As a direct result of that, Andersen Construction Foundation were eager to come back to South Africa and assist our communities once again. The pandemic may have delayed the project by a year or two, but it never diminished the dream of creating magic. This we were able to achieve in 2022, with a brand new enterprise centre based at the Nourish Eco Village – The SEDIWA HUB.
What does SEDIWA mean?
SEDIWA is an acronym, for Sustainable Enterprise Development in Wildlife Areas.
Nourish is focused on two main components, connecting communities to conservation, and enabling those communities to be resilient, by helping people access income generation through entrepreneurship and enterprise. The hub will be a space where people can come to learn, access quality accredited and non-accredited training, immerse themselves in hands-on learning, grow entrepreneurial ideas and build small business skills.
As both Thornybush Community and Nourish look towards social enterprise, the hub itself will also operate with income generating components. It includes a craft shop, internet cafe, sewing centre, coffee shop and bakery. This creates income revenue for the hub itself, and is a platform for artisans to sell to a wider audience.
The hub also includes a training centre which will offer everything from basic early childhood development courses, to agro-processing, hydroponics training, financial literacy, recycled crafting, sewing workshops and health and safety courses. The list of training is guided by the needs of the local community, as well as by opportunities which arrive from the needs of the surrounding lodges and local businesses.
What it took to build the SEDIWA HUB
Foundations for the hub were laid in April 2022, in preparation for the big build in July 2022. It took many zoom calls, over 60 skilled volunteers from the United States, 20 labourers from local communities and some blood, sweat and a few tears, and the MAGIC was created.
“The space is so much more than we could have ever hoped for”, says Candice Grover, Thornybush Head of Community. “It’s a place of dignity, optimism and a place of growth for all small local businesses and we cannot wait to see it thrive.”
Sarah Dawn Bergs, the Founder of Nourish, in proud amazement said: “Nourish has been going for 10 years now, but seeing this incredible development rise over such a short period of time, really made it feel like Nourish blossomed, and grew into the powerful community space we always knew it could be. Its both humbling, and exciting!”
