I first met Kelly Campbell at the 2011 Travel & Adventure Show in Atlanta where I was the speaker. She & her sister, Anne, had a booth for The Village Cooperative selling fair trade jewelry & handicrafts. They also founded a travel company, The Village Experience, that organizes socially responsible tours all over the world. We became friends instantly sharing a mutual passion for travel and giving back.
Over the years, we have partnered on a Go Eat Give a trip to Kenya, Destination Kenya in Atlanta, & more. I recently spent a few days at her home in Lamu, Kenya, where I got a deeper glimpse of her lifestyle. Here is an interview with this woman changing the world, one village at a time.
Hanging out by the pool at The Majlis Resort
What was your inspiration for founding The Village Experience?
Safari Doctors – Lamu, Kenya. This organization operates medical clinics in twelve remote villages throughout the island archipelago that have little to no access to healthcare. I’ve been on many of the medical sails myself and have seen firsthand the obstacles these communities face on a daily basis just to care for their families. I knew the first time I sailed with Safari Doctors and met CNN Hero and founder, Umra Omar, and her team, that we would be partnering on many projects together. Fast forward 3 years and The Village Experience has helped to fund monthly medical sails and provide essential equipment such as satellite phones, vaccine refrigerators, solar panels, privacy tents, and medical examination costs. We’ve even built the first playground on Pate Island for the kids being served by the medical clinics.
Women’s Interlink Foundation – Kolkata, India. This organization works to root out human-trafficking, prostitution, and abuses against women by working on prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, and repatriation back into the community. They run several rescue centers for vulnerable girls, red-light district after school programs for children of working mothers, street children drop-in centers in the slums, vocational skills training programs, and a rural community-based tourism program. I love their holistic approach to tackling injustices against women, and I’m constantly inspired by the hard work and dedication of Aloka Mitra and her entire team of strong women. The Village Experience has provided Women’s Interlink Foundation with dormitories and new playgrounds for the rescue centers, sewing machines for their tailoring program, administrative support for the entire street kids program, funding for their artisan development program, and we even built the entire Tribal Village Home Stay for their community-based tourism program in Shantiniketan.
Vamos Adelante – Esquintla, Guatemala. This organization works in 24 rural villages along the slopes of Volcano Fuego. Most of the communities survive on seasonal work from the coffee plantations and sugar cane fields, and utilize the children in their families to help bring in extra income. Vamos Adelante works to educate the families on the importance of school, hygiene, nutrition, and healthcare. They provide medical clinics, distribute food to the elderly and malnourished, provide access to eco-stoves and clean water filters, build and improve schools, and work to empower the women in the villages. After traveling three hours up the side of the volcano, through multiple rivers and winding streets, the people I encountered captured my heart. There was no going back! The Village Experience has assisted Vamos Adelante in building new classrooms, renovated current schools, built a recreational center, started a women’s tailoring program, installed concrete floors/tin roofs/rain catchment systems for families in the program, and even provided a brand new cement mixer for the construction teams.
View from Kelly’s home in Lamu
You are on the road how many days a year? How do you balance personal and professional life?
Most years, I am on the road approximately 270 out of 365 days of the year…either leading socially responsible tourism trips, scouting new destinations, fundraising, or working alongside our NGO partners. We are getting busier and busier, so it is getting harder to carve out personal time. What I find works best is to arrive to my work destinations early to rest and prepare for the passengers. Then, if time permits, I like to stay 3-5 days longer on my own to explore the destination at my own pace – sit at coffee shops and people watch, book hotels with beautiful views, scour the markets for artisan treasures, and try all the popular restaurants. I also made a commitment to myself to visit several new places each year to ensure I am continuing to see the world and growing in my knowledge. This year I will experience Greece for my 40th birthday – just my family and friends with me in private villas sitting back and watching the sunset over beautiful Santorini.
What do you do for fun?
