Happy Birthday to the Peace Corps, Student Volunteers from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Ghana, A profile of Globe Aware, and a short doc on New Orleans.
Happy Birthday to the Peace Corps, Student Volunteers from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in Ghana, A profile of Globe Aware, and a short doc on New Orleans.
By Evvy Struzynski
Correspondent
Published: Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.
The ideal vacation is rarely one where water is a precious commodity. Resort destinations don' t usually advertise vacationers digging a well, educating school children and traveling on a treacherous, one-lane road in the only vehicle in the village. But for some, to sunbathe on a beach just doesn' t cut it.
Three Gainesville women recently returned from a "volunteer vacation" to San Pedro de Casta, Peru, where they worked in rustic conditions for one week helping dig and build a well and teaching children English.
But their work just scratched the surface, and on their return, the women decided to host a fundraiser for the 999 residents of the small village. "Bring Water to San Pedro de Casta" is scheduled from 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 4 at the United Church of Gainesville.
Beth Karbe, an acupuncturist and herbalist, said she and her friends worked from dawn to dusk and stayed in a hotel with little water and no heat in the Andes Mountains.
"If you could call it a hotel, it was more like a building," she said. "There were no showers and the toilet only flushed every three or four times."
San Pedro de Casta, which is at an elevation of 12,000 feet, is only 50 miles east of Lima, Peru' s capital, but it takes 5 ½ hours to get there due to its remote location.
Karbe said she discovered the volunteer vacation after her first trip to Peru, where she traveled on her own to an orphanage that housed 50 young children. On her second trip in August, she traveled through Globe Aware, a U.S. based non-profit organization that arranges supervised volunteer vacations all over the world to "promote cultural awareness and sustainability," according to its mission statement. This time she traveled with two other Gainesville women, Judy Keathley and Carol Barron.
About 30 percent of San Pedro' s residents are children, and about 80 percent of them are malnourished, according to Karbe. The lack of water means little grass for cows to feed on, which in turn causes the animals to fail to produce milk.
The absence of water creates other difficulties as well, such as sanitation.
Two members on the trip were sick with dysentery, and had to walk a mile to the well to get fresh water, said Barron, the director of construction for Alachua County Habitat for Humanity.
"It was primitive and very intense," she said. "The people there that were 40 looked 65 because they' re so dehydrated."
Barron said that for more than 50 percent of their trip there was no running water, and for the other half of the time the water was freezing.
Karbe said the now dry town was previously a lush plateau, but climate change and global warming has resulted in water becoming scarce.
Karbe said the women were unsatisfied with their progress by the end of the week and wanted to help more.
"As hard as we worked, we didn' t really accomplish that much."
So to compensate, they' ve planned a fundraiser with a goal of raising $22,000 to bring an irrigation and water system to the town.
The "Bring Water to San Pedro" fundraiser includes wine and cheese, a silent auction and live performances of Peruvian music. Tickets cost $35, or for those who are unable to attend the event, a monetary donation can be sent electronically to the Bring Water to San Pedro de Casta Project at the Internet link, Globeaware.org/sponsor-volunteer-vacationer and enter "Bring Water to San Pedro" in the field.
The cost of the trip ' not including airfare to Peru, which the women paid for themselves ' covered food, guides, travel costs within the country, tools and their gift to the area ' a water heater for the local school.
Karbe said there are no volunteers scheduled for travel to Peru for the next year, likely due to the rustic living conditions.
"Every time I turn the water on to brush my teeth, I' m grateful," Karbe said.
Copyright © 2011 Gainesville.com
“The habitual characteristics of vacations are quite notorious: Stress relief. A hiatus from your accustomed duties. The effortless Pleasures of relaxation, or they can be used to simply revitalize a relationship. Although these likings may be essential, your short-term journey can also benefit the world around you,” writes Kimberly Haddad in Pasadena Magazine.
Ms. Haddad goes on to add that there are are a number of affordable volunteer vacations across the country that will allow the interested and inspired to travel to a unique destination “while giving back to the community. Whether it’s environmental assistance, lending a kinding hand to a child’s education or habitat restoration for wildlife,everyone has the opportunity to take part in an adventure with a purpose.”
Included in her list of top volunteer vacation providers is Globe Aware:
"Globe Aware is a non-profit organization that organizes volunteer vacations in various parts of the world including Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
Globe Aware allows volunteer travelers the extraordinary opportunity to be involved in a community while gaining valuable knowledge about cultures and the foreign environments we may not be accustomed to. Set goals for yourself and work alongside locals and other volunteers in elaborate hands-on projects like working with disadvantaged children in India, building shade shelters for elephants in Thailand, and working with youngsters who suffer from Down Syndrome in Cuba.
Some volunteer vacation organizations do not offer room and board, but Globe Aware is one of the few that do. Although it may not be as extravagant as you wish, the cost of the program includes housing accommodations and traditional style meals during your stay."
Globe Aware was featured in a June article written by Lisa M. Dietlin, CEO of Lisa M. Dietlin and Associates, Inc., philanthropic advisor, author, for the Huffington Post.
Globe Aware was featured in a June, 2011 spotlight in the International Herald Tribune:
Steven Learner Studio
project Globe Aware
site Cuzco, Peru
completion December 2010
“I’d been looking for ways to contribute beyond designing residences and galleries in New York so I took the opportunity provided by our office’s Christmas-New Year’s holiday to volunteer at a home where children from surrounding villages board during the school year. My team of five quickly learned to work without extensive planning, or demand materials, or task specific tools. Just purchasing polycarbonate for the greenhouse, where vegetables for the kids’ will be grown, became an adventure that Involved visits to three lumberyards, hiring a pickup truck and being stopped by the Peruvian police as I bounced around In back”
Toronto-based freelance journalist Aaron Broverman examines how volunteer vacation opportunities are helping redefine how we view Spring Break.
Thanks to Joe Francis and movies like The Real Cancun, when people think of Spring Break it’s all about beer, beaches and breasts, but what if it could be about something more?