Research in Genadendal, South Africa

After Khayelitsha, we arrived in our second host community of Genadendal, located in South Africa. We stayed in Genadendal for approximately one week, researching how community-based tourism could be managed in Genadendal, and also comparing tourism development in Genadendal with that in Greyton, a neighbouring community.

We spoke with many community members during our stay, and divided our group into two, to gain more interviews. I remember one day we had a local guide, Wilmohr, and he was introducing us to influential people in the community. We told him that we'd like to go to the local highschool in town, and possibly talk with some of the directors there, to see if there were any tourism programs already in place for young people. Somewhere along the line there must have been a misunderstanding, because before we knew it, we were standing in front of a full class of 14-year olds! Talk about on-the-spot improvisation!



We started off by introducing ourselves, explaining why we were in Genadendal, and then began asking the class some questions. The kids were interested in tourism, but not many of them had considered it as a career, before. There are currently no highschool tourism classes offered in Genadendal.

A major challenge facing Genadendal, along with many other rural towns in South Africa, is that most of the young people leave for the big cities. This means that the average age in Genadendal is very high, and very few people are moving there from outside. No new energy and expertise is being infused into Genadendal, and as a result, it's tourism development (along with other forms of development) have stalled for the time being. Youth retention is a top priority, and this can be achieved by showing young people in the highschool what business opportunities exist in Genadendal. The area is rich with cultural and natural beauty, but the tourism product is unorganized and poorly marketed. A common problem in many communities is that residents have a hard time seeing the tourism potential that is there, right under their noses. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out these opportunities.



One thing that struck me about Genadendal was how deeply the church is involved in all aspects of the community. Genadendal is home to one of the earliest Moravian missionary settlements in all of Southern Africa, South of the Sahara. A museum and garden highlighted this history. Some of my classmates were uneasy with the amount of control the church has over the community, especially since we were looking at Genadendal through our Western lens of secular government as an ideal.

But I think the church in Genadendal, and similar communities, has the potential to play a large role in motivating people and initiating change. A further challenge we later discovered, is that the Moravian church in Genadendal had split off in the past, into two seperate religious groups, all within the city. This means that today, the community is divided along religious lines, which are very strong. This lack of social cohesion is very difficult to overcome, and provides a major barrier for all community members to come together to discuss and plan for future development.