A unique volunteer opportunity
LeeAnn Webster spent a week in Costa Rico in August 2007 working side-by-side with members of a village painting a community center and digging irrigation ditches.
She ate lunch and dinner with the village residents, and learned first-hand about their culture.
In 2008 she volunteered in an orphanage in Peru. Families living in the nearby mountains used the orphanage as a place for their children to live during the week so they could attend school. She also helped build clay stoves for those families.
These trips were possible because of her involvement in Globe Aware, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) develops short-term volunteer programs in international environments that encourage people to immerse themselves in a unique way of giving back.
Every activity is intended to promote cultural awareness and/or promote sustainability, according to globeaware.org. Chosen projects meet several criteria: safe, culturally interesting, genuinely beneficial to a needy community, and involve significant interaction with the host community.
The organization has no political or religious affiliation, and volunteers help to empower the host communities in creating renewable, sustainable programs, according to the site.
Webster, assistant director of marketing and business development at Mayer Brown, said each trip really changed her and how she lives her life. She typically spends one week working with Globe Aware, and a second week traveling on her own.
Most programs, she said, cost about $1,100 a week, and that includes accommodations and food for the week. But those who participate must also pay for airfare, but it’s tax-deductible.
She said Globe Aware really strives to put the money it receives back into community the volunteers are working in. She plans to go this year back to Costa Rico, but this time will work with a coastal program involving sea turtles. And she will bring her nephew, who just graduated from high school.
Globe Aware could be an option for those lawyers in-between jobs.
“It’s going to give them a unique experience, especially if they’ve never traveled somewhere like that, and an understanding of how these people live, how a different government structure or different supply structure can affect what you’re able to do,” she said.
“As a new attorney you suddenly get on [your firm’s] timetable… Your life really becomes usurped by the firm. This is their last opportunity to do something totally for them to help them gain a different perspective, and I think give them a different view of the world at really unique time. It’s hard to break away after you start practicing.
“And in the jungles of Costa Rico your BlackBerry doesn’t work. That is another reason I like these trips. You can really get away.”
GlobeAware’s Catherine McMillan interview on Breakfast with Champions
Ghana with Grace
by Megan Quitkin – When I promised to take Grace to any country she could conjure up, I intended to fulfill my end of the bargain. But I was worried and, as such, rational thought went out the window. I imagined the worse case scenarios: Grace would contract a mutant form of malaria; civil war would suddenly break out; my family would disown me for endangering both of our lives. I wanted Grace to see the “real” Africa, but I could not schlep her around the continent as if I were traveling solo. At the same time, I didn’t want to take her on a luxurious safari where we’d encounter the big five but be deliberately sheltered from the pervasive poverty that plagues some of the world’s most beautiful countries.
Travel Good: Voluntourism Trips
A previous and fantastic intern left my former 9-to-5, where she was making mere peanuts researching in an office, to take a job in Costa Rica and make a difference in the world. Since then, I’ve had a major crush on the country, and write it up whenever I can.
Of course, Costa Rica is one of those destinations that, because of underdevelopment, is a pure, natural place to see, but also a difficult place to wrangle. Sure, there are tons of beach getaways, but if you’re looking for more of a rainforest or cultural trip, many tour companies are a little lacking. This also makes it an expensive trip. Not to mention there are areas of the country that are so underdeveloped the locals are in desperate need of help. On the other side of this equation, greedy land owners buy large amounts of Costa Rican property to harvest the natural resources, leaving nothing for natives, and barren holes behind. Costa Rica remains a conundrum.
Luckily, I was tipped off to a voluntourism company called Globe Aware which organizes trips to Costa Rica, Peru, Romania, Nepal, Vietnam, Jamaica, and more, with a catch- you do community service while there. The tasks are more experience than labor and range from providing language conversation to Peruvians studying English, to assembling wheelchairs in Cambodia. Lodging and meals are provided on most tours, which last an average of a week and cost around $1200 (10% discount for minors).
And if you’d love to take one of these trips, but just don’t have the money, Travelocity has, from time to time, offered a $500 grant to deserving individuals who would like to spread some love across the globe. Their voluntourism page highlights tours saving Leatherback Turtles in Costa Rica (yay!), assisting medical operations in Tanzania, and even cleaning up US parks.
Read the original story at Frill Seeker Diary.
Rewarding volunteer vacations for the whole family
Shawna Bohan – If you’re looking for a rewarding vacation experience for your family this summer or fall, there are excellent opportunities to be had.
Travelocity Change Ambassadors visit Cuzco, Peru
Every quarter Travelocity’s Change Ambassadors program gives away two $5,000 grants for volunteer vacations – one to an employee and one to a deserving traveler. You can enter as an individual or a team so I tossed my hat into the ring for an employee grant last year and won with a group of friends.
We chose to take a trip to Cuzco, Peru with voluntourism provider, Globe Aware. Cuzco is perched at 11,000 feet and is the closest major city to Machu Picchu. We lived and worked at an albergue, a kind of dormitory for poor children from the small towns surrounding the city.
Watch the video below:
Direct Capital Helping to Pay It Forward
Espanol en la Naturaleza
Kate Sommers-Dawes finds Spanish natural in Costa Rica
Excerpt below from the August 2009 issue of Language Magazine:
With Globe Aware, students can begin their own adventure in service. It’s “Costa Rica Road Less Traveled Rainforest Village Experience” program offers a unique way for volunteers to earn service hours while immersing themselves in the language and culture of Costa Rica. All volunteer projects are sustainable in nature and focus on both building infrastructure and preserving the natural environment. Planned cultural activities include, but are not limited to, learning how to make trapiche with the village elders, traditional cheese making, and incredible nature hikes. Globe Aware also offers a new program on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, the “Caribbean Community Experience,” in which vol- unteers can engage in recycling programs, school building and mainte- nance, and sea turtle conservation projects while also taking advantage of the distinct Caribbean culture that this area of Costa Rica provides. Take a boat ride through the canals to view wildlife, join in a coconut oil and fish salting demonstration, or simply learn the art of salsa and meringue. Globe Aware offers one of the best ways to immerse oneself in another culture: volunteering to make a difference.
What a Trip!
Volunteer vacations are a feel-good way to spend a summer break. Here’s how to turn your family’s kick-back time into a give-back experience.
by Alia Akkam – What has been your favorite family vacation? Sitting on a beach, perhaps, watching the kids make sand castles? Or maybe that fun trip to a water park? If you’re like the Hatfield family of Provo, Utah, you might be reminiscing about mixing concrete and lugging around corrugated metal roofing. That’s because they spent one particularly memorable holiday together in Guatemala, helping families turn their dirt-and-wood houses into sturdier homes.
For people who’ve devoted their time off to volunteering, there’s nothing like the chance to combine travel, education, and service. What a way to see the world with your kids â€" and show them compassion in action. “Voluntourism,” as its known, can expand your family’s worldview, change people’s lives, and still be a fun break from the everyday.
The Give-Back Vacation
The Hatfields set off for Guatemala through CHOICE Humanitarian, a volunteer organization that sends workers to Bolivia, Kenya, and other countries. The family spent their days helping the local people, and their nights sleeping in a schoolhouse. Not your typical theme-park vacation, but an extremely valuable one for them all. “My wife and I thought for a long time that we’d like to let our children see how other people live â€" and not just from a vacation point of view,” says dad Harlan Hatfield. “You leave thinking you’re helping those in poverty, but you come away realizing that you’ve also nourished yourself. All of the things we’re accustomed to, all the conveniences, they aren’t necessary for being happy.”
Laura Kuykendall, a mom of two in Andover, Massachusetts, also found that her family’s volunteer vacation had long-lasting effects. It was her daughter, Ariel, who inspired the trip” During a school break, she’d traveled with a group from her family’s church, which had been working with the Christian group Harvest Hands Ministries to help build an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico. Her mom was so moved by Ariel’s experience that she went along the next year, and brought Ariel’s brother, Joseph, too.
During that weeklong trip, the Kuykendalls worked on various building projects at the orphanage, conducted a Bible school for local children, and cooked for residents. Kuykendall describes herself as a workaholic and says her kids were startled to see her without a Blackberry or cell phone in hand. She, in turn, was amazed that, without their iPods and televisions, her children amused themselves by making up games with rocks. Kuykendall says it was extremely satisfying to see tiny glimpses of change in her and her children’s daily lives based on what they’d experienced in Mexico: “I was the most tired and dirtiest I’ve ever been, but the most fulfilled I’ve ever felt about anything. And to do it with my children was pretty amazing.”
Voluntourism: Getting Started
If you’re thinking of giving up the breakfast buffet for a volunteer vacation, check out these organizations:
Globe Aware
Globeware.org
The one-week volunteer vacations in Peru, Thailand, Cuba, Laos, and 11 other countries have no age restrictions. Kids as young as 2 have taken Globe Aware trips and helped with planting, building, and more.
Can You Swing It?
The truth is, voluntourism isn’t cheap. Prices can run into the thousands, and while interest has been up in recent years, it’s still a hefty price tag for most families. The website Travelocity, though, has one way to help. Through its Travel for Good program, which helps connect do-gooders with voluntourism opportunities, it awards grants of up to $5,000 to “change ambassadors,” people who want to travel and volunteer but can’t afford to do so.
“We know that when you visit a place, you don’t always really get to see what’s happening there,” says Amy Ziff, Travelocity’s editor-at-large. “We believe that travel can build bridges between cultures. We can all be change ambassadors by helping others in need, even while on vacation.” If you’re interested, check out travelocity.com and click on the Voluntourism button on the home page. There are four application deadlines throughout the year.
Keep in mind, too, that this kind of vacation isn’t right for every family. Some kids are simply too young. Many voluntourism trips are best for preteens and teens (though it’s worth checking, especially if you have one older and one younger child). The upside? By the time your child is old enough for a volunteer vacation, perhaps money won’t be as tight and you’ll have made a head start on planning (and even saving).
If swimming pools and fluffy towels and the chance to put your feet up are important to your family (and, hey, who doesn’t love those things?), you might think voluntourism isn’t right for you. That may be true; your family may be happiest doing other kinds of volunteering, and only you’ll know best. But don’t underestimate your kids’ â€" and your own â€" ability to adapt.
Volunteering with kids doesn’t just help others, it brings families closer together. When you can share a meaningful project â€" or a desperate need for a long, hot shower! â€" there’s a feeling of connectedness that’s often hard to find in day-to-day life. And whenever you can achieve that kind of bond, it’s the best vacation of all.
