Windhoek, NAMIBIA - Ultimate Safaris, through their own non-profit trust, Tou Trust, and a group of Swiss friends, donated a fully-fledged computer center for the Grootberg Primary School on Friday, 20th July 2012. The school is located in Erwee in the Kuenen Region of north-western Namibia. The NAD 80 000 (USD 10 000) donation was realized when friends of Ultimate Safaris visited the school in October 2011 and were made aware of the dire need for the scholars to be exposed to modern computers during their education. Tristan Cowley, director at Ultimate Safaris and a trustee of the Tou Trust, commented that “in today’s world it is absolutely imperative that all young children are computer literate and in the tourism industry it is almost impossible for anyone to find a qualified position without being computer literate. Even guides at Ultimate Safaris are using technology whilst guiding in the form of iPads, iPhones, digital cameras and laptops. Our hope with this computer center is to expose young scholars to computers to ensure the transition to secondary or high school is smoother and easier. It will hopefully also provide the tourism industry, which mostly operates in rural areas and employs people from those areas, with more skilled individuals in time. Ultimate Safaris has a strong link to the Erwee community as it is the village from where Namibia’s most coveted legendary guide Orlando Haraseb hails from, who is a senior guide at Ultimate Safaris.”
This project was a joint effort between the Tou Trust, a group of Swiss friends and the school itself. The school provided the center with all its modifications which now houses the computer center, along with arranging for the provision of electricity and internet to the area, whilst the Tou Trust provided all the computer equipment and installations. Mr Maujakisiujani Tjivikua, the principle of the school, said; “we are excited by the new addition to the school and extremely grateful for the generous donation. We have close links to Ultimate Safaris, and this partnership again proves to us that they are a truly Namibian company with the objective to improve the lives of the people they work with. Ultimate Safaris is really fulfilling their social responsibility and is showing great leadership when it comes to this.”
It was decided by the school to name the computer center in honor of Denise Nieman, an American tour operator who recently lost her life in a vehicle accident while in Namibia.