Visit Shanga, an inspiring social enterprise

Give back while you travel by visiting Shanga, a social enterprise that employs Tanzanians with disabilities to make gifts from recycled materials. Shanga is based at Arusha Coffee Lodge and became part of the Elewana Corporate Social Responsibility Program in 2017. We have two main missions: employ as many people with a disability as possible and make our products with recycled materials. Currently we employ 52 people, 35 of whom have some sort of disability, and in 2019 we saved up to 100 tonnes of waste from going to landfill.

The heart of our message is to be kind and recycle. Some of our staff have faced huge challenges because of their disabilities; many are deaf, have prosthetic limbs or are in a wheelchair so just getting an education and a job can be a mammoth task. Through word of mouth though, we get a lot of people come to us looking for work and when there’s a vacancy, we train applicants up to make everything from necklaces to shopping bags and glass vases.

We encourage people to visit the Shanga workshop while they’re in Arusha so they can learn about our work – it’s such a beautiful, welcoming place. Visits usually last at least an hour and start with a brief sign language session so you’re able to greet our team. We’ll take you through the workshop to each of our departments, which include weaving, beading, glass blowing and woodwork. Everything is made from recycled materials, be it wine bottles or shredded paper, we even use cooking oil to fire our furnaces.

There are lots of activities you can take part in too. Sit with a team and make a bracelet or shopping bag and try trickier tasks like weaving, Ting Tinga painting and glass blowing. Guests love the face-to-face interaction with our team and seeing how happy they are to work at Shanga. At the end of the tour, you can browse our gift shop. All the profit from sales goes straight back into Shanga and gives us the chance to employ more people with disabilities in Tanzania.

The main focus of our tour is to remove the stigma that people with disabilities often face. One of the best comments I ever received from a guest was that she didn’t notice anyone with a disability while touring the workshop – that means we’ve achieved our goal. We love to highlight our team’s capabilities and encourage them to reach for their wildest dreams. For example, one of our team, Masoud, has always wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and with the help of an organisation called FAISR, we made that happen. In September 2020, he summited Kilimanjaro and we were all so proud.