Community work

The Majlis works closely with members of the local community to conserve the environment and improve quality of life. Our aim is to build a brighter future for the local people, environment and wildlife. The Majlis is involved in several community projects in Kenya, including:

• Active contributor and sponsor of Wamba e Athena Onlus (WAO), an international association that sustains project in the sanitary and social sectors. In Kenya, WAO founded in 1969 the Catholic Hospital Wamba (CHW) which is located 400 km north east of Nairobi. The hospital provides invaluable sanitary services to about 200.000 people in the area. On top of being an hospital, CHW has a school for nurses and also offers secondary school education. http://wamba-ong.ning.com/page/chw-progetto
• Active contributor and sponsor of ANIDAN, an NGO founded to care for the needs of young children in Kenya. On the island of Lamu, off the northern coast, ANIDAN has a Shelter where they house one hundred children but they also feed, dress, care for and educate over two hundred. ANIDAN not only takes them off the street but also tries to develop their family and social environment. http://www.anidan.org/en/
• Over 95% of the Majlis 75 people staff is Kenyan. We are committed to hire local talent, to train and to support the local community. Each member of staff has a family of 2-3 kids. Hence, the Majlis supports a community of about 300-400 people.
• The Majlis supports the local soccer team of Shela village called “Bright Stars” and makes contributions to the local orphanages directly and with the kind generosity of its esteemed guests.

Policy on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation

The Majlis has signed the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. The hotel condemns all forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children and supports every child’s right to a safe and secure childhood. The Majlis is committed to the principle that everyone has the right to grow up and develop without fear of exploitation or harm. The protection of children from sexual exploitation is a moral imperative, and socially responsible business policies and practices must reflect this principle.

The Majlis will strictly comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the prevention of the commercial sexual exploitation of children, including the prevention of the use of its premises for such exploitation.

Eco Friendly Resort

New Hybrid Energy Power System
Located on Manda Island (Lamu archipelago) with no public power supply, the Majlis has been relying on its generators to produce electricity for the resort. In line with the environmental policy of the hotel, The Majlis has decided to reduce its dependence on gasoline and to invest in alternative energy with the objective of reducing carbon emissions below 30%, and eventually to zero. The Majlis has installed solar panels and wind turbines. The combined hybrid energy system of 40 KVA covers over 50% of the energy needs of the resort and allows running the daily operations of the hotel such as the kitchen, laundry and administration. With no guests or limited number of guests, the hotel can run 100% on alternative energy.

In addition to the hybrid energy power system, the Majlis promotes energy conservation and energy utilization. We have undertaken energy efficient measures to reduce energy consumption such as utilization of low consumption bulbs and we time the utilization of all utilities that require energy as to avoid concentration at any one time. The staff is required to pay attention to reduce energy consumption and to switch off any appliance that is not being utilized or needed. Most critical garden lights work on an independent solar battery system.

Other Eco Friendly policies, solutions and actions
In addition to the hybrid energy power system, the Majlis follows a policy to avoid wastage of resources and to preserve the environment. Main highlights are:

• The Majlis aims at reducing the utilization of chemicals for its needs. Among action plans undertaken, the Majlis utilizes an eco-friendly technique to tackle the issue of mosquitoes and sand flies. The island is full of Neem trees, of Indian origin. The leaves are boiled and the essence sprayed into the ground. This technique has proven to make sand flies sterile, eventually stopping their reproductive cycle. Over 90 percent of the sand flies have been eliminated at the resort.
• The Majlis was built entirely with local produced material. The 3 villas are built using coral blocks sourced at the Timboni quarry located 2 Kms from the resort. All doors, windows and furniture were built on the back of the resort by 24 Kenyan skilled carpenters. Curtains, uniforms and restaurant tablecloth were sewn by our local tailor. The Majlis continues to rely on local workforce and source materials locally.
• All fresh ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, rice, bread and drinkable water are sourced exclusively in Kenya.
• We aim at sourcing most fresh deliveries locally to support the community and to avoid packaging and transportation costs.
• We train our staff in green thinking to eliminate, reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• We are focused on adopting an environmentally sound transport strategy. There are no cars or motorbikes in Lamu and all transportation is done by boats. We are shifting our reliance of 2-stroke outboard engines for our boats to 4-stroke engines because they are more energy efficient and less noisy.
• Water is a scarce commodity in Manda Island. We recycle some of the water for garden use. We have also trained our staff to reduce consumption of fresh water and use instead salt water, whenever possible. Our pools have salt water. Finally, we are using water efficient washing machines to minimize waste of fresh water and we heat the water with a solar hot water system.