Research in Bulembu, Swaziland

We spent roughly one week in Bulembu, which is a small community in Swaziland. We had a chauffeur drive us into Bulembu, and the mountain roads were sometimes very small and winding. We made it to the border crossing with minutes to spare, since the crossing we used usually closes at 4pm every day.

During our stay in Bulembu, we were interviewing local people about their views on tourism. We wanted to measure empowerment, levels of local participation in tourism, to identify tourism product, and to uncover barriers to community-based tourism development.



While we were in Bulembu, we encountered members of various church groups as well as other volunteer groups who came to Bulembu to help in any way they could. Sometimes they helped to build a water pipeline system for locals, other times they helped in schools and day-care centers. Now that I'm back in Holland and going over the theories again, I realize that there is actually a name for this: "justice tourism". This kind of tourism is relatively new, and the term has not been extensively used. To quote from my textbook, it's "a process which promotes a just form of travel between members of different communities...it means treating local people as people - not as beggars, nuisances, servants, con men, thieves or exotic photo opportunities".

Justice tourism can include:

- historically oppressed communities sharing with visitors their experiences of past wrongs (like apartheid), thus rewriting history books

- tours of poverty-stricken areas (like the townships) where education and understanding, not horror, are the outcome

- tourists from Western countries coming to assist with development or conservation work, which makes their vacation more meaningful, rather than an egocentric holiday

An interesting trend. Here are some pictures of my classmates playing with some kids at a daycare in Bulembu, and serving food at a battered womens shelter:





One interview I had with Andrew, a local municipal officer in Bulembu, will stay with me for a long time. The interview started out with me, and 2 other classmates, asking questions about tourism development in Bulembu, and if locals are prepared to deal with tourists. As the interview progressed, Andrew started to talk about the reality of his community, a reality that many tourists do not see when coming to visit.

I forget the exact numbers he mentioned, but something like 6 out of 10 children in his community are raped before they reach high school. 80% of the time it's by a family member. Spousal abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol abuse are widespread. The average life expectancy is around 32 years old, because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People are desperate, and societal values are breaking down.

Andrew was dead-serious when he was explaining these things to us, and I'm sure he wasn't saying it just for shock value. It's important to understand the underlying issues in a community, before jumping in with big plans for any sort of development.

Because of abuse, many children develop behavioral problems, which later creates problems for them when they are ready to enter the labor market.

The AIDS problem is huge, because how can you empower local people to hold management positions, if you train and train and train them, but they die before they can reach that level? It's a huge frustration, and it's part of the reason why many communities are stuck in cycles of poverty.

One quote from Andrew was very impactful: "you can't look at the issue of HIV/AIDS through a Western perspective, it doesn't work. You can't throw money at AIDS research and health clinics. AIDS is not just a health issue, but a cultural and social one as well. Do you know how difficult it is to change a culture?"

So in this context...is there a place for tourism in Bulembu? According to Andrew, yes. He says it's essential that the word gets out about issues his community (and others like it) are facing. Become informed, tell as many people as you can, and don't support corrupt governments, with politicians who remain silent on these issues. Ignorance is not an excuse.