Today’s Vacations are Meaningful Experience
Volunteerism Makes Impact as Way to See the World
The Signal - Business Section, March, 2005
Travel can be a life-changing experience. This is especially true when taking a vacation that includes volunteerism. Build a few houses in Thailand, learn to ride an elephant, entertain the locals, and make a huge difference in individual lives and a lasting impact on the strength of a community. Take a vacation that really matters.
To do just that, several charitable, non-profit organizations now offer travel adventures throughout the world. Volunteers sign on for a condensed Peace Corps-style vacation of sorts where you fly to a destination to spend the next two to four weeks living like a local, working like a carpenter, and taking Sundays off.
Habitat for Humanity is one such group that encourages travelers to “think global and act global.“ Through the Habitat Global Village program, volunteers gain a unique experience living, traveling, working and eating together in one of their many worldwide locations. The Global Village work trips are offered in Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the South Pacific, Canada, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and yes, the United States too.
This type of giving back through travel is catching on as a way to vacation and volunteer. Most of us are too pressed for time and deadlines to add charitable efforts to our schedule. Sure, we’d feel much better if there were more hours in the day to spend helping make a difference in other’s lives. But it just isn’t so.
Thanks to Habitat for Humanity and other similar organizations, we have the opportunity to vacation differently. Since vacation is actually defined as a change in regular routine, building a house in a foreign country would qualify. We leave our everyday lives as teachers, attorneys, business owners and parents, and visit a faraway place where people need the essentials. We help construct homes and buildings, mix with the locals and eat and live together as a community. This is a powerful vacation experience for people of all ages.
While there is an application process to get accepted to the Habitat Global Village program, most adults of good health are welcomed to the work/travel adventure. Teenagers on through seniors work side by side hammering, painting, cutting and carrying supplies. The weather of a particular location may be hot and humid, sunny and blistering, cold and windy, or rainy and wet. But still the work continues. In a two week vacation, a 15-person work team can usually build about five homes, making a significant contribution to the well-being of the local town.
From a travel point of view, these trips fill up fast and require at least a six-month lead period to get in. The costs to travelers include airfare from your home to the volunteer meet-up city - usually this is the country capital - and a fixed amount to the host organization. With Habitat for Humanity, the fixed fee covers the hotel, meals, in-country travel, entertainment, cultural experiences and a donation to the local chapter of the organization to help pay for building supplies and support staff. A knowledgeable travel consultant can assist with flights, itineraries and any additional excursions before or after the Global Village program.
In this type of vacation environment, you work hard to find the end result a greater reward than imagined. Travelers experience a country up-close and personal, and gain a sense of community that is much more fulfilling than being a tourist.
After the work is done, most vacationers take a few extra days to see more of the surrounding area before heading home with memories and photos of an unforgettable travel adventure. A vacation that includes volunteerism is indeed a life-changing experience.
Commentary provided by Eric Maryanov, president and founder of All-Travel.com, the Los Angeles-based travel management company with an office in Valencia. He can be reached at 661.775.7511..
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