THE COMMUNITY – The Red Pepper House

"The Community"

The Community

The Red Pepper House was born from the union of a wonderful idea by the Spanish architect Urko Sánchez, expert in local traditions and architectural techniques, and the desire of the owners to create something truly unique and influenced by the Swahili and African way of life, in order to attract tourists and to make people more aware of this magical place.

At The Red Pepper House we feel that Africa gives us so much and that tourism should in return make a positive contribution to the local community in a number of ways:

Our Staff

Respect, motivation and training.

Most of the staff in the house are native to Lamu or the surrounding area. We put a great deal of effort into their training, fostering a relationship of deep respect and motivation, and pay salaries that permit all of our staff to provide for their families and to save.

The staff area, known in Swahili as «KIJIJI KIDOGO», was built to allow our personnel to work in facilities that are comparable to those found in Europe. Everyone that visits them tells us that they had never before seen anywhere in Kenya a place for workers so well looked after. The area resembles a kind of Swahili, Sudanese or Omani street, complete with accomodation, laundry facilities, kitchens, etc. and ending with the water tower, serving as a kind of symbolic mosque or church.

Community

Here at The Red Pepper House we consider it our obligation to help and to collaborate with the local community, quite apart from the indirect work that is generated by the house, such as fishing, maintenance, etc. We collaborate with the NGO Anidan, which cares for more than 250 children, with dining rooms, schools and a hospital, and provides help for the nearby village of Wyoni and a Borana tribe.

We give our full support to Anidan, a small NGO founded by Rafael Selas, a Spaniard who has dedicated himself entirely to helping the children of this area. There are practically no administrative or structural overheads – 98% of everything donated goes to the children, who are always delighted to receive a visit from our guests.

Anidan meets the educational needs of the children, with its students achieving the best grades in the area. Regular, healthy diets take care of the children´s nutritional needs whilst Anidan´s Pablo Horstman Hospital takes care of their healthcare, serving a population within a radius of 300 kilometres, providing various prevention and care programmes.

Among other aid, The Red Pepper House has recently built a pavilion for orphan girls which is already up and running via Anidan.

More information about this NGO in:

Near the house is the town of Wyoming with which we collaborate in cleaning and collecting trash and providing water to families in need.

Ecology

The Red Pepper House aims to achieve the maximum level of comfort for its guests whilst also minimising the impact upon the environment; a challenge for the owners.

We have a state-of-the-art solar power system for electricity and hot water, giving us a clean supply of energy.

Similarly, we employ all the necessary elements to take care of the forest and the beach that surround the hotel, so that the only effect that we have on their maintenance and care is a positive one.