How Exodus Travels is supporting local communities globally

The fund operates under three main pillars – Exodus’s “three Es” of education, empowerment and environment.

Examples of the fund’s positive impact on local communities include the creation of “freedom packs” for women in Nepal to ensure they have access to reusable sanitary products. The packs are made locally, and the next stage will be to provide training so women can make their own. “We’ve had some great comments from customers – more than 50% of them are women so they have real empathy for this issue,” says Burrell.

The foundation also aims to help alleviate poverty in the countries it visits, with one project in Ledak, India, funding local women to help them learn to make crafts to sell to passing tourists.

“We enabled a group of women to take a felting course and they started selling felt snow leopards,” explains Burrell.

“After the first winter, one of the women who was particularly poor had made enough money to buy food staples for her family for a year.”

There are often times when the foundation’s mission statements overlap, fulfilling all three values. An example is a project in Kenya that takes young people to see wildlife in their country.

“We have been taking groups of school-aged children to the Masai Mara National Reserve. A lot of the children had never seen an elephant despite growing up in the country. The experience provides education by showing them the value of conservation and it also helps build pride in their country.”