The Kyaninga Child Development Centre, the KCDC, doesn’t rely on outside grants and funding (although when they get them they are overjoyed and make every penny count!). Instead they have come up with a number of ways to make the charity self-funding and therefore, sustainable long-term.
Running the Rift Marathon is one of them, here are the others and the stories behind them.
Kyaninga Lodge
The architectural feat that is Kyaninga Lodge was completed in 2010, after six years of construction by Steve Williams and his team of local workers. Steve, mastermind and owner of the lodge, is also Co-Founder of the KCDC and an awful lot of the profit from the lodge goes straight into the charity.
Kyaninga Triathlon
What do you do when you have a lodge perched above a beautiful crater lake. With a 5km trail on its perimeter and some rolling trails surrounding it? If you’re Steve, you make it into the base of Uganda’s first triathlon! In May, Kyaninga will host its NINTH triathlon – now also a duathlon and 5k fun run.
Kyaninga Dairy
To us, the most inventive and ambitious of all the self-funding strategies, the Kyaninga Dairy was started around the time of the first marathon, November 2016. And by the time of the second marathon, in November 2017, they had built the farm, employed 12 people, had 60 goats, and were producing goat’s cheese for sale across Uganda.
The goats were also a big hit with our 2017 runners!
Another of Steve’s projects, Kyaninga Dairy was created after the realisation that Uganda is brimming with goats, but goat’s cheese is produced nowhere in the whole country. It’s not been easy and they’re still learning, but Steve and his team have made Kyaninga Dairy into a successful business, all the profits of which go straight to the KCDC.
Ride the Rift Sportive
The newest addition to the KCDC clan, the cycling event is something we’re all very excited about! A new way to raise funds, to encourage sustainable tourism, to involve the local community and make fantastic memories.
