SMALL BIZ - Agency blazes the homestay trail
Published: 3/14/2006
By: LUKE MULUNDA
Ask Peter Ongera to explain how he came up with this weird idea of tourists staying in homes instead of glitzy hotels, and he's apt to tell you about a trip he made to Kita Kyushu, Japan, 12 years ago.
It was in March 1994, and Mr Ongera was among a group of young people travelling to Japan to promote international culture under the Ship for World Youth Exchange programme.
"We stayed in Japanese villages for three months," said Mr Ongera, who now heads a company that promotes a similar concept in Kenya, recalling that he also lived for a month in rural homes in the US and Canada. "This struck me and I vowed to try it here."
Mr Ongera 33 runs, African Homestay, a local agency that links up tourists who want to leave, study and work in Africa with local hosts in rural villages and, believe it or not, in slums.
A homestay experience gives the international visitor the opportunity to live and be exposed to African culture, said the director of the Kitengela-based agency. Technically, these people are not tourists. "They are mostly students and volunteers," he says.
So when they touch town at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, they won't, as the airport ground staff obviously expect, head to five-start hotels like Intercontinental and Grand Regency. At their request, they are likely to end up at Laini Saba in Kibera or somewhere in an earthen, grass-thatched hut in Amboseli.
"They want it that way," said Mr Ongera in an interview. "They want to live and experience village life and what it is like to live in the slums."
Homestays, while not a new concept, are yet to catch up in Africa on a serious commercial scale, but it's a front that tourism marketers are exploring. Kenya Tourist Board officials often talk about it in seminars, but it has done little to promote homestays.
That explains why African Homestay decided to blaze the trail. "KTB is looking for high taxes from big spenders," said Mr Ongera. "But there are those who want to stay in Kenya but can't afford hotels and other government charges." Among them are 12 American students who jetted in on February 13 and 13 Chinese who stayed in Kibera for a week - the latest batch of tourists to visit Kenya through African Homestay. The Americans stayed at a village in Amboseli and are now at some coastal village.
"They want to learn and experience local culture," said Mr Ongera, "and the best way to do this is to get immersed in the people."
As well as linking up locals with people who end up helping charity causes, the homestay model ensures that tourist incomes reach the local community. On average a tourist under the programme pays $10 (Sh720) a day to the host. The programme is usually 3-4 weeks but some are known to stay for as long as a year. This daily charge can't buy a baby's meal in five-star hotels where food costs many times the retail price.
For a rural family that lives on less than a dollar per day, Sh720 is a huge amount that easily leaves Government employees like teachers, nurses and the police officers green with envy. Generous tourists often pay above this rate in form of tips, Mr Ongera said.
African Homestay, which has 94 recruitment agents globally, takes 20 per cent of the amount paid - 10 per cent each from the host and tourist. The money is used to pay its 10 staff, six of them volunteers, and run its Web site, www.africanhomestay.net, which is used to promote homestay tourism.
Because it's cheaper, they can afford to stay longer. Said Mr Ongera: "Here locals benefit as opposed to mainstream tourism whose profits are repatriated to other countries." Tourists pay taxes but the roads are still bad that tells you how the money is spent."
Homestays have become popular so much that, in fact, the agency brings an average of 20 guests a month, especially during the high season between October and December. Mr Ongera says he has had to turn away some applicants after failing to locate "honest" hosts.
When tourists apply for a visit, specifying the kind of experience they want, African Homestay searches for the host and makes security and logistic arrangements. Tourists live the lifestyle of their hosts, so one doesn't have to stretch the household budget to buy what might pass for nice food.
If the host eats ugali and sukuma wiki (kale) for supper and takes black tea for break fast, for instance, so will the visitor. Mr Ongera says their new life starts in town, where the tourists are picked by their hosts. "If they came on foot, they leave on foot," he said.
"We've seen many use matatus and they love it. They help with house work and even learn local languages." Tourists are given lines to call African Homestay officials in case of a problem, while the hosts submit weekly reports. But this does mean it's always a smooth affair: some tourists, after experiencing the new life, change their minds. Africa Homestay has to struggle to get another host and penalises the tourist for the inconvenience.
Even as this new concept picks up, Mr Ongera says rural hosts are becoming a rare commodity. Some of them build modern houses after being paid huge sums of money and adopt urban lifestyles that are not very attractive to this breed of tourists.
"Our guests want traditional life," he said. "But most of our hosts have changed their lifestyles with the money they were paid."
African Homestay is spreading the concept to other countries including, among others, Tanzania, Uganda, Mali, Nigeria and Ghana. "I'm still trying to open up Tanzania. We only take tourists there for one-day trips," he said.
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