In 1996, SCI members delivered mosquito nets and other medical supplies to villagers in remote areas of Namibia. This inaugural step started SafariCare, a volunteer healthcare outreach program serving people in need of services in remote communities around the globe. SCI and SCIF, like so many organizations, put forth enormous effort each year to help improve the quality of life throughout the world.

In 2009, SCI member-participants (affectionately referred to as our “Blue Bag Brigade”) in this program, took 332 “Blue Bags” overseas, up from 262 the previous year. Shipping these bags would cost hundreds of dollars apiece, and filling each bag would cost anywhere from $150 to $300. However, they are filled by chapters or individual members with medical, educational, and other relief supplies, clothing and toys, which are then taken to remote areas of the world by hunters who have planned hunts in these regions. The supplies are delivered directly to villages, clinics, schools and orphanages for villagers, doctors, teachers and caregivers to utilize. Please refer to SafariCare under HS Projects listings to see and read about the many destinations to which they have traveled and the rewarding experience it has been for both givers and recipients.  Click on the link above to read quotes about the SafariCare experience from some of our "Blue Bag Brigade" members.

In 2008, SCIF Humanitarian Services collaborated with the Friedkin Conservation Fund and Tanzania Game Trackers to construct and outfit two solar-powered clinics in that country—one each in the Kigoma and Monduli Districts.  Please visit our home page at http://www.sci-foundation.org/ to see three video segments illustrating this humanitarian project. 

In 2009, SCIF Humanitarian Services undertook a non-hunting destination: Kenya, the poster child of environmentalists around the world.  Our SafariCare efforts focused on running nearly three miles of waterline into the village of Elementaita, where we were instrumental in putting together a medical clinic to be used by all the villages bordering the Soysambu Conservancy.  Clean water, maternity care, vaccines, and general medical attention had never been provided in this region.  A second goal was to manufacture and distribute fuel-efficient, portable jiko-type stoves for some of the surrounding villages, thereby reducing de-forestation by over 70%.  Our third goal was to distribute medical, educational and recreational materials to schools surrounding the Soysambu Conservancy.  A documentary of our efforts ("Kenya Outreach 2009") has been posted on our home page at http://www.sci-foundation.org

Another part of SafariCare is the "Footsteps" program of SCI's Central New Jersey Chapter.  In the past decade, they have supplied over 34,000 pairs of shoes and shipments of prosthetics to individuals of all ages in countries to which their members frequently travel.  Read more.

For more information on SafariCare, or to request a copy of our Guidelines for SafariCare Missions (with helpful tips and suggested items to pack), click on the link above or contact Humanitarian Services Manager Eva Wilson at (520) 620-1220 Ext. 480, ewilson@safariclub.org.