About Friendly Gecko!
Development
The Friendly Gecko Guest House in Malawi is our second Guest House in East Africa. After having built up the Friendly Gecko Guest House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, we felt ready for the next step. We chose to focus our efforts where we thought it was most needed; although Malawi is a beautiful and very peaceful country, its poverty level is extremely high (it is ranked 171st on the Human Development Index). We feel the people can really benefit from community building projects. We aim to improve living conditions and make a difference in the lives of the children and community where our Guest House is located. We are convinced that: Tourism can contribute to social contributions and be the path to a better future.
Tourism Concept
We strive to provide an enriching adventure and safe accommodation for a reasonable price. We aim to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere where like-minded people can meet and experience the community. Travellers and volunteers are welcome, long and short-term. An international management team shall ensure that a good standard of accommodation is permanently provided.
Friendly Gecko & helpk2ids: "stay a night, support the community"
The NGO help2kids shall be enabled to run several community projects in the neighborhood of the guest house in Leopard Bay, Malawi. For this reason the guesthouse shall donate profits to the NGO and by sharing costs the infrastructure to run the charity shall be reduced.
Our Awesome Team!
Chndy Rogel (Philippines) is the Field Manager for help2kids in Malawi. Chndy has been working in the field of research, monitoring, and evaluation of international development projects in Asia and most recently in Washington, DC. Her areas of interest include education, rural development, and micro and small enterprise development. In her role as Field Manager, she manages the implementation and monitoring of education and health projects in Lifuwu Village. She holds an MA in International Policy and Development with a specialisation in monitoring, evaluation, and design and a BS in Development Communication.
Mercy Mvula is an economist and Certified Women Economic Justice Advocate and peer educator with over three years of practical experience in advocacy for gender equality, women and girls empowerment, youth mentorship and empowerment and the protection of Children’s rights. Currently she is the National mentorship coordinator for the network (Youth to youth empowerment). In 2014 she started an initiative called Basic Life which aims at women economic empowerment and girl child education by connecting sponsors to needy and brilliant girls to stay in school. She is also part of women in Development in Africa.
Patson Mtalimanja(Malawi) is the Assistant Manager of the Friendly Gecko Guesthouse. He started working for us in July 2012. Patson is a bricklayer and builder by trade and assists us with many different kinds of work at the guesthouse and at our help2kids projects.
Anette Gomani(Malawi) is our wonderful cook and housekeeper. She has been with help2kids since the very beginning and is an excellent chef. If you're lucky, you'll get to experience her incredible pizza!
Lekeleni (Leke) Phiri(Malawi) is our Cleaner and Assistant Cook. She has been working at the Friendly Gecko for several years. Leke has one child and is a beautiful singer.
Isaac Gomani(Malawi) is one of our guards, and he is no stranger to the Friendly Gecko since he is Annette’s husband! In the past, Isaac has run businesses in fisheries and agriculture.
Amidu Sigere James(Malawi) is one of our guards here at the Friendly Gecko. He loves to paint, and you'll never miss him due to the amazing hats he tends to do during the day while working!
Christopher Kaunda (Malawi) is our resident Judo master and one of our guards at the Friendly Gecko. He teaches volunteers some basic Judo moves during his free time. He enjoys meeting new people and teaches them some Chichewa words when he gets a chance.
Jonathan Darwin Banda (Malawi) is our newest guard at the Friendly Gecko and lives just a few steps away from the compound. He used to work at COOPI, an international development organisation with an office in Lifuwu.
The team of the Friendly Gecko