LAGUNA WOODS — Even as she watched a leopard outside her lodge window drag a gazelle up a tree by the neck, Judy Pavlik never felt more at peace.
“There’s something about being out in those African savannahs, those vistas, that is very settling –– it really is like you’re returning home,” the 66-year-old Aliso Viejo resident said. “I don’t know who made that up, but it’s true.”
When she and her 12-lady crew returned from the day’s adventure, Pavlik she looked out, to notice only one leg was left, dangling from the branch that the full-bellied she-leopard resigned to a “food coma.”
“How do you explain that, what you’re seeing?” she said. “There are just no words.”
This experience was brought to Pavlik and the rest of her fellow female travelers on an international safari trip via a local start-up program, Travel with a Purpose. For eight days — from Sept. 30 through Oct. 7 — the women participated in philanthropic projects and indulged in African luxuries in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi.
Founder Sonia Marsh, 61, designed the female-centric travel program to inspire travel and challenge minds to think on a global scale. Travel With a Purpose officially got its start in August of this year, Marsh said; however, the story goes back much further.
In 2015, Marsh’s 28-year marriage was ending. Like many divorcees, the Laguna Woods newcomer felt the weight of her fresh, blank slate.
To Marsh, that manifested as moving to London to pursue a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate, shacking up in an AirBnB with three college-aged men and pursuing her mid-20s dream of joining the Peace Corps. Once accepted, she taught elementary English to African orphans and developed a social media-based donation strategy to fund school renovations in the impoverished area of Lesotho, South Africa.
“I needed a getaway, (but) the impoverished areas of rural Africa was not my first choice,” Marsh reflected on her eventual change of heart. “I just fell absolutely in love with it.”
While overseas, she blogged about her experiences abroad and noticed an incredible community, particularly women, interested in her story.
They gave feedback –– mostly of a positive or curious nature –– and sent books and clothes for the orphans. Marsh’s followers reached out to her seeking help in booking Lesotho-bound trips and asking questions about obtaining a volunteership.
In a matter of months, Marsh acquired several hundred readers. It was at that moment she knew she was onto something.
“I like to inspire people to get out of their comfort zone,” Marsh said of her program’s mission statement. “I think that we (Americans) get so stuck in our little rut. We forget that there’s a whole world out there. I want to take away the fear of Africa and traveling –especially for women — and help people realize that there’s so much good we can do for ourselves in doing good for others”
“The more you travel,” she added. “The more you realize that we’re all the same.”
From there, Marsh used her existing network of nonprofits, foundations and community leaders to craft an itinerary with women in mind.
On day one, the jetlagged women visited two schools, Fanaka primary school and Mt. Olive boarding school. They handed out 300 T-shirts and were greeted with an afternoon of children performing song and dance.
Both schools are run by a man Marsh referred to only as Father Henry. In addition to teaching general education and life skills, he told her that the schools act as a shelter for the children, providing food and protection from violence, with emphasis on rape –– a statistic that decreased by about 51 percent in Nairobi since consent classes were conducted by global rape-prevention organization No Means No Worldwide. In Nairobi, one in four girls has been raped every year and victims are usually under the age of 15 — statistics that inspired the organization’s beginnings.
Marsh said much of the cost she charges for the safari — around a $7,500 all-inclusive price-tag, minus the international flight — goes toward nonprofit groups and donation-based programs, like Father Henry’s schools and scholarships for college-bound students. In addition to automatically forwarding $500 per head for a cause, many of the lodgings they book fund local wildlife conservation programs and endangered species projects, Marsh said.
Expanding on female-centric culture, the group ventured to the cities U.S.-export factories, where Kenyan women make clay beads to earn a living and support their families.
The women bobbed over the Maasai Mara from a hot air balloon to witness the world-famous wildebeest migration, a warm-welcomed break after days spent regularly bouncing around in topless jeeps.
“Meeting these amazing women with such artistic talent and these darling, beautiful children in person really added to the purpose of being there — to help in whatever way we could — in the first place,” Melanie Scherzer, 66, of San Juan Capistrano said. “It’ll be a purpose we continue on after the trip.”
Scherzer found herself looking for “some good” after the recent death of her 27-year-old son. Though it’s a severe trauma she admitted may never heal, Africa reminded her of her own bravery.
“I wasn’t fearful of living in the dirt, of taking risks, of making new friends,” Scherzer said, noting her intentions to return as soon as she can afford it. “I’m never going back to Europe.”
For Pavlik, the proximity to wildlife at all times was the highlight of her trip.
A few notable stops for her included visiting an elephant and rhino conservation, where she adopted a 2-year-old elephant named Jotto Riley in honor of her friend’s son who died of an overdose. Later, they visited an educational giraffe center in the capital, where they would feed the long-necked mammals — by mouth.
“I kissed a giraffe,” Pavlik said. “How many people can say that?”
But most nights, she mentioned, ended with cocktails in hand, staring out into the golden-grass savannahs to soak in “sundowners.”
“It’s like you exhale the whole time you’re there,” said Pavlik, a well-traveled woman who found the program to be a much-needed distraction after her husband’s death in February. “Africa is different. It feeds your soul.”
The next opportunity to “Travel with a Purpose” will be next year, from the end of September through early October, Marsh said. In between trips, she holds monthly meetings in Laguna Woods that feature talks on topics ranging from travel to philanthropy efforts, and from writing to community development.
On Friday, Nov. 16, a psychologist from Newport Beach will be speaking about their trip to Kenya in the late ‘90s, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in 19 Restaurant and Lounge in Laguna Woods Village.
Those interested in joining her program can attend an upcoming meeting, reach out to Marsh via her blog, Gutsy Living, email her at sonia@soniamarsh.com or call her at 949-837-5200.
