Featured Articles Style 2
Featured Articles Style 2
Featured Articles Style 2
Voluntourism: Good Times and Good Works
Voluntourism: Good Times and Good Works
by Steve Kallaugher
Most people come home from vacation with a nice tan and a suitcase full of souvenirs. Carolyn Bentley returned from a trip she took with her 17-year-old daughter, Julia, with a new outlook on life and a renewed bond with her child.
“It was life changing,†says Bentley. “It’s an amazing way to grow yourself and develop bonds with others. You become part of the country, instead of just looking at it out a window.
Vacationing like Brangelina
Volunteers with the group Globe Aware are digging a trench to lay a water pipe in Costa Rica.Sarah McCall / Globe Aware
As the industry grapples with how to make money without compromising the results of the volunteer work, one thing is clear: more and more private citizens are ready to roll up their sleeves and lend a hand. "I was just so sick of just donating a gift at the end of the year," says Yates of his decision to spend a week volunteering in Costa Rica. "I worked my butt off."Getting in touch with your inner Angelina Jolie is easier than it used to be. The so-called voluntourism industry, which sends travelers around the globe for a mix of volunteer work and sightseeing, is generating almost as much praise and criticism as the goodwill ambassador herself. Are volunteer vacations--which have become so mainstream that CheapTickets recently started letting online customers book volunteer activities along with their vacations--merely overpriced guilt trips with an impact as fleeting as the feel-good factor? Or do they offer individuals a real chance to change the world, one summer jaunt at a time?
Double duty: Both sides reap the benefits of volunteer trips
KRASANG ROLEUNG, Cambodia - Andrew Krupp doesn't speak a word of Cambodian. And, for the most part, the dozens of happy-faced children racing across the dusty schoolyard to greet him don't speak a word of English.
But that doesn't stop Krupp from winning them over immediately.
It doesn't take much, after all, to get across the basics of the hokeypokey, which it turns out is just as big a crowd-pleaser in the poorest thatched-roof villages of Cambodia as it is in the manicured suburb near Chicago where Krupp lives.
"I'm like a novelty act riding into town," says the 39-year-old manufacturing executive, laughing as his frenzied "right foot in" sends the children into hysterics. "Everybody loves a lunatic."
Chris Gresback: East Dallas woman mixes work, play with volunteer vacations
- Source: Dallas Morning News
Was there a lull in East Dallas last week? My neighbors commented on how quiet it was on our block.
Maybe it had something to do with the "senior" spring break trip I took with 66 East Dallas neighbors to Mexico. Woodrow Wilson High seniors, that is. At least one friend heard it wrong and misunderstood it to be a group of senior citizens.
All the relaxation may have shocked my system. My days consisted of lounging on the beach and reading. The most difficult decision was what to eat. Next time, maybe I need to combine a little work with pleasure just to keep my body in sync.
East Dallas resident Kimberly Haley-Coleman, 38, might have just the combination for such a vacation. She is the founder of Globe Aware, a nonprofit vacation business that offers volunteer vacations in Brazil, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Thailand and Vietnam.
Globe Aware offers a one-week adventure in service with a focus on cultural awareness and sustainability. The trips are often compared to a "mini Peace Corps." All program costs, including airfare, are tax-deductible.
Kimberly holds an M.B.A. in international business from the University of Dallas. She is a recipient of the Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholarship Award, and has an M.A. from Southern Methodist University and a B.A. from Emory University.
As a third-generation White Rock Lake resident, Kimberly's love of international escape stems from traveling abroad as a young girl with her grandmother. The area known as Jackson Point at White Rock Lake was where Kimberly's grandparents, Margaret and A.A. Jackson III, lived for many years.
"Unlike a regular vacation, during which you may spend a good deal of time on a tourist bus and in lines at museums, our trips allow you to learn things such as how to cook local cuisine, sing with local schoolchildren, work side by side on local community projects," Kimberly said. "Few vacations provide a way to bond so closely with local cultures in so short a time. The experience will likely change how you see the world."
The road of life takes us to many destinations. Thank goodness sometimes the destinations are as predictable as a spring break excursion. With a little ingenuity and open-mindedness, the destination can be a life-changing experience.
For more information on Globe Aware vacations, go to www.globeaware.org.
Chris Gresback is a freelance writer in Lakewood.
Voluntourism - Volunteering on your vacation
Some vacations allow travelers to give back while they're away. CNN's Heidi Collins explains.
Volunteer Vacation Primer
By: Manya Chylinski
No longer on the fringes of travel, voluntourism has attracted increasing numbers of travelers looking to learn new skills, meet people, and give back to the global community. In a recent Travelocity poll, 38 percent of repondents said they planned to volunteer while on vacation; thats up from just 6 percent in 2006. "People tell me that a vacation with us is the most meaningful experience of their lives," says David Minich of Habitat for Humanity. Here's how to plan one.
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