The Battlefields Holidays

In isiZulu, the word khula means to grow, and that was the vision when David and Nicky Rattray set out to found the David Rattray Foundation, now known as KHULA Education.

In the local communities of Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana, 60% of the families live below the poverty line, so acknowledging this, in 2007 they decided to do their part. Aside from employing local staff at Fugitives’ Drift, they set up the foundation in the hope of contributing, not only to provide a good academic education for disadvantaged children but also life skills and job readiness – a programme helping final year students apply for tertiary study and prepping them for life after school.

In the foundation’s embryonic stages, the project supported local infrastructure through repairing school buildings as well as constructing classrooms and libraries. Upon witnessing the work first-hand, guests who visited the lodge and their family friends, began to contribute to the cause which allowed them to finish the building work and focus on the education itself.

Today, KHULA supports 21 schools, 6,000 children and 200 teachers. The results speak for themselves. Despite having limited to no exposure to English when they started pre-school, 80% of KHULA’s preschoolers were fluent by the end of their two years. After they graduate, the students consistently rank in the top 20% of the grade when they graduate from primary school. These statistics alone demonstrate how much the foundation has influenced the lives of the school youth in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

At Fugitives’ Lodge the cost of your stay incudes a charitable contribution split between KHULA and Fugitives’ Drift Game Reserve. This helps ensure the development of schools as well as the sustainability of the surrounding environment and wildlife.