1. Who we are
This policy explains how Reclaim.Africa collects and looks after your personal information when you enquire about, book, or take part in a Reclaim.Africa programme (the “Programme”), and when you use our website.
For the purposes of South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), the responsible party is Mediate Now (registration number 2022/525377/07). Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies — for example to participants based in the EU or UK — we act as the data controller.
Our Information Officer / contact for privacy matters is Nikki Duchenne, reachable at nikki@reclaimafrica.org.
2. The information we collect
Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect:
- Identity and contact details — your name (as on your passport), email, phone, country and postal address, and emergency contact.
- Booking and payment information — your dates, the fee and payment records. Card payments are handled by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers.
- Travel information — passport and travel details where needed, and your travel-insurance confirmation.
- Health, dietary and wellbeing information — any medical or mental-health condition, medication, allergy, dietary need, injury, pregnancy or fitness information you share so we can keep you safe and adapt the Programme. This is treated as special / sensitive information (see clause 4).
- Information shared during the Programme — what you choose to share in sessions or journaling. Your journal is your own; we do not collect or read it.
- Images — photographs or video taken during the Programme (used publicly only with your separate consent).
- Website and enquiry information — the details you submit through our enquiry form, and basic technical information your browser sends when you visit the site.
3. How we use your information, and our lawful basis
We use your information to:
- respond to your enquiry and arrange your booking — to take steps at your request and to perform our contract with you;
- run the Programme safely, including adapting to health and dietary needs and responding in an emergency — to perform our contract, to protect your or another person’s vital interests, and to meet our duty of care;
- take payment and keep proper financial and tax records — to perform our contract and to comply with our legal obligations;
- improve and administer our programmes and website — for our legitimate interests in running and improving the business;
- send you marketing, and use identifiable images publicly — only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
4. Health and other sensitive information
Because the Programme explores grief and significant life change, and includes physical activity, we may handle information that POPIA and the GDPR treat as special / sensitive — in particular information about your health. We only collect what we reasonably need to keep you safe and to deliver the Programme, we ask for it with your knowledge, and we rely on your explicit consent (and, where relevant, the protection of vital interests) to handle it. You can choose not to share it, but this may affect our ability to host you safely. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us, although this will not affect anything already done.
5. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as needed to run the Programme, and with appropriate safeguards:
- Suppliers — accommodation, transport, restaurants and activity operators, where they need your details (for example a name list, a dietary need, or an operator’s own safety form).
- An independent practitioner — such as a grief counsellor supporting a session, where relevant to your participation.
- Service providers — our payment provider and any IT or hosting providers that help us operate, acting on our instructions.
- Professional advisers and authorities — our accountant or lawyer, or a regulator or authority, where the law requires it or to establish or defend legal claims.
- In an emergency — medical or emergency services, and your emergency contact, if we reasonably believe it is needed to protect someone’s safety.
6. Sending information across borders
The Programme takes place in South Africa, so if you are based elsewhere your information will be processed in South Africa. Where we transfer information between countries (for example to or from the EU or UK), we take steps to ensure it remains protected to a standard required by POPIA and, where it applies, the GDPR — for example by relying on adequacy, appropriate contractual safeguards, or your consent.
7. How long we keep it
We keep your information only as long as we need it for the purposes above — to run your Programme, to meet our legal, accounting and tax obligations, and to handle any claim. Health and sensitive information is kept for no longer than necessary and then securely deleted or anonymised. As a guide, we keep booking and financial records for 5 years to meet legal requirements, and delete or anonymise other information sooner where we can.
8. How we protect it
We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against loss, misuse and unauthorised access, and we keep sensitive information access limited to those who need it. No system is ever completely secure, but we work to safeguard your information and to act quickly if anything goes wrong. If a breach occurs that poses a real risk to you, we will notify you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.
9. Your rights
Subject to the limits of the law, you have the right to:
- ask what personal information we hold about you and request a copy;
- ask us to correct or update information that is wrong or incomplete;
- ask us to delete information, or to stop or restrict using it, in certain circumstances;
- object to us using your information for direct marketing, at any time;
- withdraw any consent you have given, without affecting what was done before; and
- (for EU/UK participants) ask to receive certain information in a portable format.
To exercise any of these, contact us at nikki@reclaimafrica.org. We will respond within the timeframes set by the applicable law.
10. Marketing and your choices
We will only send you marketing where you have agreed to receive it, and every marketing message includes a simple way to opt out. Choosing not to receive marketing will not affect your booking or how we care for you on the Programme.
11. Our website
Our website is a single informational page with an enquiry form. The information you enter in the form is used only to respond to your enquiry. If we add cookies or analytics in future, we will update this policy and, where required, ask for your consent first.
12. Children
The Programme is for adults only, and our website and services are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version, with its date, will always be available on request and on our website. If we make a significant change, we will take reasonable steps to let affected participants know.
14. Contact us, and how to complain
Reclaim.Africa · Mediate Now (reg. 2022/525377/07)
Information Officer / privacy contact: Nikki Duchenne · nikki@reclaimafrica.org
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to a regulator: in South Africa, the Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za); for EU/UK participants, your local data-protection authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office, ico.org.uk).
This Privacy Policy forms part of our Terms & Conditions of Booking.