CGA Ambassador Fund Sponsors Tacugama FC

02.08 - Chris Garthwaite, Founder & CEO, CGA

Tacugama FC is a group of keen young sportsmen who approached a conservationist, Bala Amarasekaran, for support to keep their team up and running. Bala is an amazing guy, Sri Lankan by birth, he’s lived in Sierra Leone for over 30 years. He made a major career change in the 1990’s from management accountancy to become the director of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary . The Sanctuary cares for almost 90 chimps orphaned as the result of hunting, the pet trade and human encroachment for logging and farming. Caring for the chimps is only one part of Bala’s work. He’s equally determined to tackle the root causes of the problem as well as lobbying to protect Sierra Leone’s amazing habitats; the Sanctuary supports the surrounding communities through direct and indirect employment, environmental education and provision of relief supplies.

In return for Tacugama supporting the football team by providing kit and match fees, the players all have to help with local community projects such as clearing up the environment around their village and repairing roads. With youth unemployment close to 70%, learning skills to increase their chances of employment is also something that the team are committed to, and Bala’s working with them to identify ways to achieve this. The CGA donations are used to support the team operating in the league but more fundamentally to forge the players and those following into a stronger community youth enterprise aiming to create not only a successful football team but also credible opportunities for employment and community development. Through this the team can become self sustainable and the youths productively occupied. The sanctuary also benefits, in that the long term aim is not just to care for the orphaned chimps but to address the reasons for their displacement, which include poaching/logging done by those desperate for income and no skilled opportunity to earn.

You can find out more about the sanctuary by following the links below:
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary Website
Tacugama Blog
Tacugama on YouTube
Adopt a Chimpanzee


If you know of a worthy cause that would benefit from the support of the CGA Ambassador Fund, please email us at info@cgaexperience.com today.