Friday, July 3, 2009

The future Robertsport Community Campsite

One of our first projects involves organizing and formalizing the use of the land around the ancient cotton tree into an eco-friendly campsite. We're talking composting toilets, a sheltered cooking area and a compost heap, a freshwater camping shower, plus strategically positioned hammocks,a designated parking site and an environmentally friendly way to reuse or recycle the waste generated by our campers.

After consulting with campers and the community, we've decided to charge 5 USD per person per night, which will go to campsite maintenance and the Community Fund. Campsite maintenance means first building and then sustaining the amenities listed above -- small comforts which will hopefully encourage people to support the community and stay at the campsite, instead of driving a little further down the beach. The Community Fund will support micro-enterprise and other projects backed by Robertsport Community Works, which you'll be hearing more about in future posts.

To establish and communicate about the campsite's new policies, we're painting three signs. The smaller one, which you see here in its in-progress version, will be placed near the thatch that surrounds our pit toilet and read, "Keep our toilet clean. No garbage, please." The second small one will say, "Welcome to Robertsport Community Campsite." The large sign will welcome people, ask them not to litter, point towards the toilets, explain the fee, announce who to call for security, and also include a disclaimer of some sort absolving us of responsibility should a coconut fall on someone's head, etc. The blackboard side will list the organization's finances, which we'll also post monthly on this blog, as well as any announcements we might want to communicate.

At the moment, the payment system involves us collecting cash and a receipt book. Eventually, the security staff will be trained to issue receipts and collect funds, which they'll give to the RCW treasurer and then to us to put in the RCW account. We'll set up a PayPal account to facilitate this process as well.

We're all about bringing together best practices from like-minded organizations around the world and making them happen in Robertsport, so please post suggestions and comments freely. We hope to see you soon at the Robertsport Community Campsite!

2 comments:

  1. I remember Basata and how cool each ocean spot was because the little bamboo hut was so simple yet thoughtful. You could try to do that with the campsites too. (Don't forget a hand washing station. I like the tippy tap because it conserves water and is easy to make (www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/tippy-tap.pdf). Elie, we used one of these camping in Mara a long time ago.) I have lots of suggestions for composting latrines... from personal experience. It's important they don't smell.

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  2. Hey guys - this is such a fantastic site. So stoked to finally come across it - and so sorry it has taken me so long to jump in! But now I am so here... That said, i am now busy from early morning to late night on our own camp and land project in Portugal, so I may not be of much use, but I will contribute as much as I can. And i wholly completely totally look forward to my next visit now I see all the killer things you have gonig on. And i SO want to order a few of thhose T-shirts!!
    Cheers for now
    Magnus

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