Volunteer Vacations Blog

Water for San Pedro de Casta – Gainesville women ‘vacation’ in Andean town for a cause

31 October 2011
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Water for San Pedro de Casta

Gainesville women " vacation' in Andean town for a cause

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

Globe Aware: Volunteer Vacation Take a trip that will last a lifetime.

1 July 2011
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“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."
 

Making A Difference: The World of Giving — Voluntour and Do-Good Vacations

27 June 2011
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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.

Enjoy:
Making A Difference: The World of Giving — Voluntour and Do-Good Vacations
Posted: 06/ 7/11 01:12 PM ET
It’s summertime and many of us are thinking about our vacation plans. With gas prices still rising and travel becoming even more challenging, I recommend considering a Voluntour Vacation or a Do-Good Vacation.
Voluntour vacations or do-good vacations are fast becoming a popular way to plan your excursions and volunteer. Though Americans volunteer in large numbers annually, using a vacation into a volunteer opportunity is a new phenomenon that, surprising to many, is are often tax-deductible.
Here are some reasons to consider voluntouring on your next vacation:
Voluntouring is rapidly gaining popularity. Some studies indicate that as many as half of the people living in the United States intend to take a volunteer vacation at some point in the future.
Voluntouring is thought of as a “mini-stint” in the Peace Corps — you will be working with a community and its residents side by side. It is a unique way to give back.
A voluntour vacation is about helping and learning both in terms of aid, and cultural experiences. Most voluntours are taking place in Third World and developing countries such as Peru, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Romania, Russia, Nepal, South Africa, Thailand, or Vietnam.
Remember it is very important, if you plan on doing this, to consider ways to respect and connect with the communities and people you are trying to help.
Your experience can last from 1 to 12 weeks.
Alternatively, Do-Good Vacations are money raising adventures combined with European vacations to Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland and Spain and include nights in historic castles and visits to lesser-known areas. Do-Good Vacations are about traveling to a distant land, working with a nonprofit outfitter to raise money for a cause — unlike voluntouring you will not be working with the local community and its residents.
You can start by finding a reputable organization that works in the area in which you want to explore. Here are a few for a voluntour vacation:
  • Cross-Cultural Solutions was founded in 1995 and has an outstanding reputation. Their tag states:
  • “Volunteer Abroad – work side-by-side with local people and experience another culture like never before. It’s the experience of a lifetime.”
  • They work with over 4000 volunteers annually, have a staff of more than 300, and work in 12 countries.
Globe Aware, which started volunteer missions in 2000 but has been working in this area since 1993, provides short term weeklong adventures in service, focused on cultural awareness and sustainability. Their tag line is:
“Have Fun. Help People.”
Their website states:
  • All costs including air fare are tax deductible
  • You need no special skills nor do you need to speak a foreign language.
  • People can go solo or with families such as multi generational trips.
  • Enjoy befriending people in new and interesting countries and experience the reward of helping them on meaningful community projects.
  • Promote cultural awareness and promote sustainability; cultural awareness means recognizing the beauty and challenges of a culture, but not changing it; sustainability is the idea of helping others to stand on their own two feet; teaching skills rather than reliance.
According to USA Today, Global Volunteers is the:
“granddaddy of the volunteer vacation movement”.
Their tag line is:
“travel that feeds the soul”
Founded in 1984 and facilitated more than 22,000 volunteers on six continents.
You can teach conversational English, care for at risk children, paint, build and repair buildings, provide health care services, work with young children including infants and toddlers as well as teens, adults and elders.
Families, students, solo travelers, Baby Boomers and groups are the types of people that participate.
You can have an experience in Europe, North America, South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
For Do-Good Vacations, consider these:
  • For a Cause’s mission is to energize and inspire people to make a difference in the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer so that no one faces these battles alone.
  • The World Bank runs a program called Stay Another Day that directs tourists via a website and booklets to pre-evaluated activities that benefit the local community. For instance, vacationers can tour an orphanage in Cambodia, playing with the children and, if they wish, purchase goods such as the silk products the locals have made. The visit is free, but tourists are asked to make a donation.
Here are five recommendations and tips on easy ways to Make A Difference (M.A.D.):
  1. Find the best organization that matches your passion and has a long standing commitment to that area.
  2. Select a trip that suits your abilities and interests.
  3. Speak with volunteers who have been on the excursion before.
  4. If traveling to a non-English speaking country, try to learn the language or at least some phrases; even though it is not required, it is a great way to begin getting prepared.
  5. Research local customs and mores, but recognize that reality can be different from what you read in a book or online.
Bonus Tips: Expect none of the comforts of home. In other words, you will be “roughing it” so go with an open mind and see how your heart is transformed. It can be the vacation of a lifetime!
By taking a voluntour or do-good vacation, here are some benefits to you:
  • You know you will be making a difference through your efforts.
  • Studies show that volunteering adds years and health to your life.
  • You will be traveling to places with unique cultures and in some instances, especially with voluntouring, you become immersed in the culture and community.
  • Your trip could be tax deductible.
  • You will make lifelong friends!
Doing something for someone else always adds value to our life! Consider adding a voluntour or do-good component to your next vacation! You just be might surprised at how vacationing can lead to making a difference! Are you M.A.D. today?
 

International Herald Tribune features Globe Aware

27 June 2011
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Globe Aware was featured in a June, 2011 spotlight in the International Herald Tribune:

For students longing to take time off before starting college or university or working people who would like a complete change from their daily occupation, taking a " " gap year' ' can be a rewarding, lifechanging experience, especially if the time is spent volunteering.
Teaching English, for example, is a huge help in poor communities in Asia and requires little training. Other projects may include sports coaching, community building projects and working with handicapped children.
According to studies by such leading universities as Harvard, students who take a year off before college are more focused and motivated when they begin their studies than those who don' t.
Globe Aware, a nonprofit organization based in Texas, organizes volunteer programs around the world.
" " Gap-year volunteering broadens horizons, strengthens résumés and brings the kind of perspective that can change lives,' ' says Catherine Greenberg, its vice president of volunteer communications. " " Kids who volunteer internationally realize how fortunate they are and gain insight into what' s truly important in life ' not money or greed or luxury items, but community, compassion and hard work.' ' Each project aims to promote cultural awareness and/or sustainability. Cultural awareness, explain the organizers, means learning to appreciate a culture but not changing it.
" " By promoting volunteerism,' ' says Greenberg, " " we' re promoting active civic engagement in disadvantaged communities in an exciting and different way.' ' Combining travel with volunteering has become popular enough that a conference on " " voluntourism' ' will be held June 28 in Denver, Colorado.
" " This is the first time there has been a conference held that focuses solely on voluntourism,' ' says its organizer, Alexia Nestora.
Subject matter for the conference will include the economic impact of voluntourism, how it has evolved and how to create sustainable projects, as well as industry sessions on subjects such as the marketing of volunteer travel.
Nestora is a consultant on the industry Though the company is American, Asian students participate, too.
WLS International is a London-based organizer of volunteer-abroad projects that focuses on Asia, specifically Cambodia, China, Nepal, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Volunteering abroad, says the company, is a way to make travel meaningful and have a simple, affordable vacation. Many of its projects attract those taking a gap year.
Ben Mattress, a young volunteer from Australia, says his weeklong project teaching English to young children in Siem Reap, Cambodia, was a life-changing experience.
The children are " " so happy and eager to learn, and very smart,' ' says Mattress, adding that he is eager to volunteer there again. An added benefit of this project is its location at the gateway to the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Young people may spend several weeks or months abroad, but will certainly return with experiences that will last a lifetime.
Says Greenberg of Global Aware: " " If our local young people can benefit from this experience, it' s one vital step toward reshaping our culture to be more green, more responsible and more caring.' ' and writes the blog Voluntourism Gal. She says that the industry has been very competitive and that conference participants " " are showing their willingness to move into an era of cooperation that can only better serve the sometimes-at-risk and always needy populations where our collective projects are concentrated.' ' In Globe Aware' s Laos program, volunteers have the opportunity to work with orphans and schoolchildren in Luang Prabang.
In a weeklong program, participants work with local monks and perform such tasks as teaching English, assembling wheelchairs from recycled parts and distributing them to the needy, distributing books and helping to repair schools. There is also free time to visit the temples, Buddhist caves and waterfalls of this charming Unesco World Heritage site.
Adventures Cross-Country, a Californiabased youth-travel company, has been leading volunteer programs for gap-year students for nearly 30 years. Its Asia Gap Semester, for example, takes students to China, Thailand and Tibet, and includes such activities as helping mahouts and biologists rehabilitate elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, and teaching English to Chinese and Thai students, some of whom have never met Westerners.
 

Volunteer vacation in Cuzco, Peru

7 April 2011
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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”

Volunteer Vacations during spring break

22 March 2011
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Travelocity’s Senior Travel Editor, Genevieve Shaw Brown, joins Al Roker on Wake Up With Al to share all the sweet travel deals for Spring Break.`Included in their discussions is Globe Aware`s volunteer vacation destination in Peru.

Spring Break a Chance to Give Back

24 February 2011
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Toronto-based freelance journalist Aaron Broverman examines how volunteer vacation opportunities are helping redefine how we view Spring Break.

Spring Break a Chance to Give Back

 
By Aaron Broverman
 

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?

 
If you’re not into the typical college vacation scene, the break provides an excellent opportunity to give back, lend a hand and ‘Be the change.’
 
Volunteering abroad can be an excellent way to make a lasting contribution to an under privileged community, while still kicking it in the sun and sand of exotic locales. Below are just a few of the destinations with a social conscience you may find yourself in during your week away from school.
 
Start with Your School
 
Alternative Spring Break [ASB] is a matter of course in the U.S., with close to every college and university offering some kind of international and community exchange program with the focus on lending assistance to communities in need.
 
Universities in Canada, particularly those in Ontario, such as Carelton, Ryerson and the University of Western Ontario also offer great opportunities. There are also programs offered from Concordia and the University of Winnipeg. Whether it be within the local community or at destinations abroad, the ASB projects change every year.
 
In 2011, Ryerson students are building a school, teaching students and feeding the homeless in Columbia. Carelton has decided to aid both the local Ottawa community and organizations in Mexico and Guatamala focused on poverty and homelessness. Concordia will be teaching at orphanages in Peru and the Dominican Republic, building houses with Habitat for Huminanity in Louisiana and stocking food banks at home in Montreal. The University of Western Ontario offers the most varied number of locations, including initiatives in Costa Rica, London, ON., Winnipeg, Peru, Dominican Republic, Louisiana and Nicaragua. The University of Manitoba is partnering with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) to help refugees and new immigrants.
 
All of these programs run during Reading Week in the last week of February at varying costs from $200 to $800 for the trips within North America and $1,500 to $3,000 for the international trips. These fees cover meals, accommodations and flights. But if you cannot afford them, don’t worry. Financial assistance is available with every ASB project. Also, most of these schools offer a second program in the summer, so if you miss your opportunity during spring break, you can apply for the summer program.
 
Eligibility requirements vary between each university, but for all of them you must be a student of the schools running the program and students who have already been on the trip are ineligible for a return. However, they can apply for leadership positions on their trip.
 
Organizations Offering Opportunities
 
Though the Alternative Spring Break movement is primarily an American one with organizations like Break Away hosting trips with schools exclusively in the U.S. Other non-profits like Free the Children and travel agencies like Globe Aware specialize in volunteer vacations abroad all year. One could simply schedule a trip near their Spring Break respite.
 
Global Aware destinations include countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, The Caribbean and Eastern Europe, with trips leaving from February to December. They come at a varying cost between $1140 and $2100 U.S. and could be booked by parties of any number — though groups of ten or more from corporate offices, to schools and others, receive a discount.
 
Though travelers pay for their week-long vacations, Globe Aware’s status as a non-profit organization means the cost of their vacation is a tax deduction. 12% of your expenses go to administrative costs and overhead, while the rest goes to meals, accommodation, on-site travel, donations to the various community projects, your orientation package, volunteer coordination, program development, country manager expenses, community team recruitment, logistical support, medical emergency evacuation, medical insurance and project consultants. Airfare is not covered and is an additional expense. However, Globe Aware will help with finding flights.
 
Free the Children offers Me to We volunteer vacations for those wanting to give back during the summer in places like Kenya, China, Ecuador, India and along the Arizona-Mexican border.
 
Trips are available for adults, families, youth and school groups for prices among $2400 and $4995. This covers flight, accommodation, meals, transportation and the cost of the program itself. Free the Children also offers a Joe’s Dream scholarship, named for Joe Opatowski — a former trip leader who was killed in a car accident in 2001, for those young people who don’t have the financial means for the trip.
 
Beyond these organizations, you can always turn to religion for opportunities to give back through missionary work. Many churches and individuals choose Habitat for Humanity on one of their many builds around the world. Most build trips cost $1,650 for airfare and the rest of the living essentials and insurance, plus another $1,200 for what is known as R&R. These are the cultural activities and tourism that fit between the build days. Only the build – half of the trip cost actually gets a tax receipt — the rest is just a vacation.

Experienced Volunteer for Cuzco Children

21 February 2011
Globe Aware
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Travelocity`s Travel for Good voluntourism grant competition is underway. If you are interested in applying for one of Travelocity`s $5,000 voluntourism grants, click here, to learn more about Travelocity`s eight Signature Trips and choose the volunteer vacation that inspires you.

In 2011, Travelocity is committed to supporting these special projects and helping each achieve its goals. You are also encouraged to vote on the video submissions made by individuals who explain which Signature Trip inspires them and why.

The $5,000 Travel for Good voluntourism grant gives individuals a chance to give back to the communities they visit on vacation–either for just a few days or even for a few months. This grant will fund up to $5,000 for the transportation to, as well as the cost of, a voluntourism trip. Just choose a Signature Trip from one of Travelocity`s partners, including Globe Aware, make a video of two minutes or less, upload it to Travelocity`s site, and then send it around to friends and family for voting.

Contestants must be legal residents of the United States to win the grant.

 

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