Egypt
Egypt - Nile river clean up
From Left to Right: Natalia Andrea, Enedina Gonzalez, Francesca Larrain, Rossi Saldivia: Quantyco Journeys.
While on an expedition down the Nile River via sailboat, Francesca noticed lush, green shorelines littered with plastic pollution. Instead of watching the plastic pass by, the team decided to take action. The sailboat captain docked along the shoreline near a local village and the team unpacked a few empty garbage bags and gloves and began cleaning the shoreline. Soon after, local villagers joined in the efforts uniting a community keen on environmental conservation. While traveling, do not be a bystander when it comes to the environment and surrounding community. Instead of contributing to the effects of environmental degradation from tourism, help mitigate your environmental social footprint by cleaning up your surroundings, educating locals on sustainability, and volunteering for local causes.
Social impacts and community assistance
Egypt-Village
A pressing issue seen within the hotel industry is food waste. A vast majority of fresh food from kitchens, dining halls, and buffets is often thrown away while the rest if sold to surrounding restaurants or other hospitality businesses. In order to mitigate this crisis, the team decided to start our own system of saving food. Instead of throwing away fresh food, we mitigated the hotel's food waste by saving it and distributing it to underprivileged surrounding areas. We collected and purchased leftover foods from our hotel, converted them into lunch bags, and hopped on our tour bus. The tour bus stopped by a local village where food insecurity was rampant. We hopped off the bus, followed diligently by body guards, to hand out our makeshift meal bags to women and children who were staying home while the men worked manual labor jobs for pennies on the dollar. The villagers' eyes lit up with joy and amazement grateful to receive a free meal.
It is a true heartwarming experience to connect with our brothers and sisters on this planet. After all, we are all children of God and we all deserve opportunities for prosperity. The poverty rate in Egypt is extremely high and the economic and educational systems do not provide opportunities to the public. Kids are found running around the streets and swimming in the Nile River when they should be receiving proper education in school. The surrounding area's economy is based solely on tourism and the jobs available to most of the surrounding area within this industry is quite limited. Tourists get caught up in the glitz and glamour of vacation and travel when they should be partaking in helping the surrounding area and leaving a positive impact. Although we must respecting views and religions of others countries and cultures, we must find ways to use the opportunities and gifts God gave us to help others less privileged than us living in a areas where those opportunities and gifts are not available.
