The Executive Director of Australia Uganda – National Resources Initiative (A-UNRI) was officially appointed as the tourism ambassador destination Uganda in Australia by the Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Hon Kiwanda Godfrey in Uganda on 24th February 2016.
Since then, Jo Wigg’s contribution to the Ugandan tourism industry has played a tremendous role in helping various communities in the country.
Jo Wigg has attracted a number of return tourists from Australia who visited and donated water tanks to Communities around Bwindi and Kihiihi this year. They also enjoyed travel through Park areas and seeing African Wildlife.
These tourists have donated resources to help different communities in areas of Bwindi, Jinja and Kihihi. Among the key projects that have been set up by the Australian tourists happens to be the “Safe Water” Kihiihi Tank and Food Service Facility which also helped in the development of the Kihihi kindergarten whose numbers are increasing annually. The kindergarten which currently consists of over 104 children is expected to rise to 200 in the next 2 years. The safe water project was mainly set up to provide safe water to Kihiihi kindergarten with the help of a 1000 litre tank, shelter and water filters.
Parents have gained confidence to exclusively entrust their children to the school which has inevitably affected the numbers.
In a bid to maintain the standard of the newly set up project, the activities of the project will be overseen by the A-UNRI team and maintained at the expense of the kindergarten from local revenues in form of fees to guarantee sustainability. A-UNRI and The Church of Kanungu (Hall provider of roof for water tank water collection) will be responsible for monitoring the project to ensure that it meets the community needs for generations to come.
In a tourism perspective, today the Bwindi hills have been elevated to the world as more tourists flock in to see some of the last remaining Gorilla, Batwa (Pygmies) living in the rainforest surrounds of Buhoma.
Australian Rotary organizations have shown their interest in joining hands to improve the safe water projects In Uganda among which are found in Rotary District 9420.
In addition to her tireless efforts of bringing in more tourists, Jo Wigg also raised money through Rotary Club of Lismore to help Jinja set up safe water project in Partnership with Njeru Rotary Club. When fully commissioned this project will serve as a model for other communities without safe water to follow.
Jo and her team will be working in Uganda on Safe Tourism, Safe Water and Feeding programme until January 2019.