Skiers Fund New Homes And Clean Water For Uganda’s Batwa Tribe

VIP SKI has helped build new homes and a clean water supply for one of East Africa’s most marginalised communities, thanks to proceeds from its winter holidays.

Using funds from the last ski season, the company has helped to build six permanent homes, three latrines, and a water tower serving a school and wider community work. The work was carried out using environmentally friendly construction techniques developed by HYT, including low carbon compressed earth blocks.

For the Batwa, who have spent generations on the margins, often without access to clean drinking water or sanitation, the impact is profound. “We wanted our holidays to do more than deliver magical ski weeks,” said Andy Sturt, founder of VIP SKI. “This project shows how something joyful, time in the mountains, can help transform lives elsewhere.” 

The Batwa, once forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers, were evicted from their land in the 1990s to make way for national parks. Many now live in makeshift shelters, lacking basic services. HYT works to improve lives in these communities by combining sustainable building with skills training and community engagement.

Sturt said VIP SKI would continue to support the charity, with more updates expected later this year. “It’s easy to forget, when you’re wrapped in the comforts of a ski chalet, how different life looks elsewhere,” he said. “But our guests have shown that travel can also be a force for good.”

More information on the charity’s work is available at www.hytuganda.com