The effect of the Worldwide Covid19 pandemic on Tourism is catastrophic and has left thousands of FGASA guides and their families in a terrible financial situation. Many of our guides have been laid off, had their salaries cut and, in some cases, have not been paid at all. The dire situation is compounded by the fact that many guides as we know, rely heavily on gratuities from their guests each month to make ends meet and there is no end date in sight as to how long this lockdown on world tourism will continue.
All reserves, lodges and operators in support of FGASA, would never obtain the support from the travelling public if it were not for our outstanding FGASA qualified guides. The Natural and Cultural experiences delivered by these fantastic skilled FGASA guides, coupled with unique hospitality services, is what makes guests come back time and time again. We at FGASA believe that our guides form an integral part of our tourism industry and devote their lives to continuously improve their qualifications in pursuit of service excellence out in the field or any tourism establishment.
Their dedication to this end can never be in doubt and all of us connected to these unbelievably passionate individuals are distressed at their plight. As such, we as FGASA, the authority on setting standards for nature guides across Southern Africa, have decided to launch this project to raise money to help our guides and their families survive this crisis. We have set up a FGASA fundraising campaign to raise funds to help our guides.
Our Aim
Our aim is to raise enough money to help as many FGASA registered guides as possible so that we are able to allocate an equal amount of money to each guide in need in an attempt to lessen the impact of this dreadful pandemic. Guides can decide to access this money or use it towards their annual subs.
R 580 helps one guide
R 5 800 helps 10 guides
R 50 800 helps 100 guides
R 500 800 helps 1000 guides …. and so on…
We have thousands of guide to support so please donate whatever you can afford.
100% of the funds raised and labelled FGASA GUIDE FUND will be utilised for the FGASA GUIDE FUND. All transactions will be recorded and audited for absolute transparency.
By donating you are:
- Improving the crisis situation for our guides by assisting them financially
- Enabling and assisting FGASA guides to put food on the table for themselves and their families
- Making it possible for guides to pay their annual subscriptions which enables all working guides to remain up to date and to improve their qualifications
Thank you for taking the time to support the FGASA guides and to assist us to achieve this goal. We will continue fundraising till we have enough funds to achieve our target and until such time as the Covid19 crisis ends. Should we not reach our targets, the funds will be split equally amongst all current FGASA guides in good standing. Hopefully the lockdown ends soon so that Tourism gets going to enable our guides to start work.
Please Feel free to email me with any suggestions or questions.
Michelle du Plessis
FGASA MANAGING DIRECTOR