Have you ever wondered what Tumaini means?
Monica visiting the girls' shelter in Kenya
Tumaini means "hope" in Swahili, the Eastern Bantu language of Kenya.
Moreover, Tumaini's own lyrics construct an evocative image in the form of a fishing boat: "Give a man a fish and he will eat today, give him a rod and teach him to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life". A simple phrase in the face of today's complex reality that is intended to serve as a guide for our work.
Why in Swahili?
The reason for using Swahili is that the founder of Tumaini, Monica Herrerasturned her life around after a solidarity trip to Kenya. After this experience, she changed her job in the financial world for International Cooperation and founded this beautiful project that connects volunteers with small projects in Southern countries.
More often than we think these personal changes happen. Monica is not the first, nor will she be the last to decide changing lives through travel. A transformative experience that stirs something inside you, changes your vision of the world and the way you inhabit it. Part of the Tumaini team has grown and developed their lives from this type of experience.
That is why we believe in travel as a tool to raise awareness, to open minds and to activate change. Especially through certain types of travel. Those in which you prepare yourself to immerse yourself in a different culture and let yourself be immersed in another reality, leaving your comfort zone.
We also know from our own experience that it is not easy to find projects that accept volunteers without investing a lot of time and effort in it. On the other hand, there are many local organisations that could do with volunteer work but do not have a department that can dedicate the necessary resources and time to look for it.
For all this and much more, Tumaini, "hope", was born. Because we believe that with small changes, together, we can make a better world.
