Real Men Don’t Cry by Tony James Slater

I was climbing a tree. By itself this was fine – I like climbing trees. If only I hadn’t mentioned this fact to the boss of the animal refuge where I was volunteering… I never would have ended up in this situation.
I was climbing a tree with a bear in it. She grinned down at me from the uppermost branches, looking remarkably cuddly and unthreatening at this distance.
Only she weighed more than I did, had four legs and a mouth full of sharp things, and if she decided to come down she was going to have to do it through me.
Clinging to the smooth bole of the tree with my whole body, shaking just with the effort of holding on, I don’t think I would have offered much resistance.
It was about the hundredth time I had the thought; ‘What the HELL was I doing in Ecuador?”

Bear Up A Skinny Tree

I’d only been there a week.

Volunteering at Santa Martha Animal Rescue Centre had seemed like the perfect way to reinvent myself – until about ten minutes after I got there.
That was around the time I made my first recapture of an escaping animal – a small, snuffly, raccoon-like animal called a coatamundi. I caught the thing easily enough, because it had chosen to escape in the general direction of my feet; he clearly wasn’t the smartest of critters. Cute as hell though, with bright red fur and a ridiculously bendy nose, but about as bright as a beanbag.

 Apparently he escaped every day at some point – but he never made it very far because he was blind.
There were bears here, big cats, monkeys, parrots, and some things I had never seen before and doubted I’d ever see again. (I swear they had at least one live Pikachu). If anything bigger than a bunny rabbit escaped… well, what the hell would I do about it?

The answer: climb a tree.

That’s where the bear had gone, after somehow liberating herself from her high-security enclosure, so that’s where we were now; my boss, standing at the bottom, shouting at me to climb higher; the other volunteers, watching from a safe distance with a mix of dread and curiosity. Somehow we had to get that bear out of that tree – and quickly, before the boss’s men took matters into their own hands.
These Ecuadorians were Real Men. They didn’t do touchy-feely. When I’d suggested sitting at the bottom of the tree with a bowl of fruit, they’d look at me and laughed. And sent for axes.

A Coatamundi!

One way or another this tree would be bear-free by mid morning, and I wanted to be the one to do it. I had my reasons; for starters, I loved that bear. I’d sneakily fed her my jam sandwiches only a few days ago, while we were in her enclosure doing some cleaning. Also, there was the pride thing. By this time I’d worked at the refuge for over a month. Things that had appeared impossible when I first arrived – like cutting down a tree with a rusty machete the size of a bread-knife – were now easy.

My day started with feeding almost a hundred animals, plugging the narrow door to freedom with my vulnerable body whilst ladling out their gooey, fruity breakfast – yet none escaped. Not any more. At least, not during feeding. The point is, I was getting good. I was sure of it – and I could tell the Ecuadorians thought so too. I was slowly building a reputation for being strong, for being useful, and for being fearless… Or possibly stupid, depending on who you asked – but it amounted to the same thing. If I could get that bear out of the tree, all by myself…

It never happened.

After many clever strategies had been tried, we resorted to tying a rope to the tree (which was rather skinny) and pulling on it until the tree bent down to the ground. This was even more difficult than it sounds – seven grown men throwing all their weight into it, sweating, straining, cursing…
But we nearly had her!
Then she ran down, out of the tree, across the ground for a short distance – and up the next tree over.
It was days like this, when I laughed so hard I almost cried, that really made my volunteer experience. By the time I was done I’d been bitten, clawed, shot at and shaved, electrocuted, temporarily blinded, and had spent more time chasing monkeys than most people would consider healthy.
You know what though? I survived. And it was without a doubt the craziest, most incredible, most transformational experience of my life.

Chains I Removed

Not only had I become close to so many amazing animals, I’d also helped rescue them from cruelty. Taken chains from around their necks, nursed them back to health, and then – when the refuge was full almost to bursting – had driven with them clear across the country, to release them all into the Amazon Jungle.
Words can hardly do justice to the mix of emotions roiling through me on that day.

Elation.
Sorrow – it was like saying goodbye to a load of really good friends.
Awe – at the splendor and the majesty of the rainforest and it’s rivers.
And pride – because after all I’d been through, all I’d achieved, the boss had one bit of praise for me; ‘Now you’re a man,’ he said.

Coming from him that really meant something.
It was all I could do to keep from crying.
But of course, Real Men Don’t Cry…

Tony James Slater is the author of ‘That Bear Ate My Pants!’ – a comedy travel book chronicling his misadventures whilst volunteering at an exotic animal refuge in Ecuador. He now splits his time between doing ridiculous things all over the world – often involving animals – and writing about them. He gets hurt quite a lot.

That Bear Ate My Pants! Is available from:
Amazon.com (US): http://amzn.to/thatbearatemypantsus
Amazon.co.uk (UK): http://amzn.to/thatbear

You can get in touch with Tony via his website at Adventure Without End
Or on Facebook: Tony James Slater
Or Twitter: @TonyJamesSlater

Inspirational Series 

This is an ongoing series of Inspirational travel. If you have an experience in travel that changed your life, made you look at the world differently or an amazing moment that you want to share, please contact us for more details and we will email you right back.. You can also read more about submitting an article to this series at Calling All Writers, Share your Inspirational Travel Story

Read More Inspirational Stories

• How Virtual Tourist Changed our Lives
• Round Trip Ticket, Backpack and Curiosity
• What Happens When You Follow Your Heart
• From Little Englander To Travel Lover 
• Freedom Found
•  The Yoga Retreat That Made Me Quit My Day Job 
• Learning that it’s OK to be a Quitter 
• Zulu Memories in South Africa by Green Global Travel
• What I Would Tell You (If I Had the Words)
•  Charity for the Philippines a Birthday Adventure
• Habitat for Humanity in Alaska
• Inspired at the Summit of Mount Roy 
• Inspirational Travel: Fishing For Friendship 

Unfortunately, there are many children in this world that have never received a gift. They don’t know what it’s like to  go to school, play with toys or even have the opportunity to drink clean water.

But you can help to change all that.

The Intrepid Foundation has a holiday campaign where you can give the gift of hope. Global Gifts is an initiative that is a win-win for everyone. Give a gift that will change someone’s life and make you feel amazing.

For as little as $15 you can change a child’s life and Intrepid Travel will match all donations up to $400,000 dollar for dollar!

The holidays are all about giving back and that is exactly what we plan to do this year. Our families are lucky. They are healthy and comfortable. They have the means to buy whatever they choose and the children in our lives have all the opportunity in the world. Being born into Canada is a privilege and a gift.

Our Nephew Playing In Canada with Grandpa

I don’t know who up there decides who is born into freedom and luxury and who is born into poverty and suffering. It is all so random.

It is unfair that some children are born in a country that allows them to thrive and achieve greatness while others are born into a land filled with war and corruption.

A Little Boy Working and Tending his Goats in Ethiopia

It is up to us to help wherever we can.

Dave’s family has had an ongoing policy in recent years to give to charity rather than each other. We can always buy what we want or need but to give the gift of charity is an act where the money we would spend on each other can be put to better use by helping the people who need it most.

Children are the Same Everywhere

We have always been amazed with the resilience of children that have so very little when we travel around the world. They love to play and laugh and they are curious and smart, but they lack the opportunities that our children have in the West. We hate to see their wonder and innocence taken away so young by having to work or be exploited before they even have the chance to reach adulthood.

A Young Boy selling us Drinks and Beer during our Camel Safari in India

We have visited an Intrepid Foundation Project in China and have seen first hand the difference that is being made. It is part of many Intrepid Travel Tours to bring their groups to visit one of their projects. It has always been important to us when we travel to give back to the communities we visit and Intrepid Travel is setting the standard to show their customers that it is also important for them to give back.

Seeing something in person is the best education and after Intrepid Travellers witness the good that a project can do, they may be influenced to always give back during their future travels.

Dave Dances with Children at Intrepid Foundation Project in China

So What Can you Do?

There are several levels of donations that you can make. Starring from $15 going up to $160, Australian Dollars.

A Prosthetic Leg in Laos – 25 years after the Vietnam war and there are still unexploded landmines scattered all over the country. Innocent children step on these mines while playing and their lives are forever changed. But for just $60, you can give a child back the opportunity to play again by donating a prosthetic leg.We have been to Laos and witnessed first hand the amount of children missing limbs and suffering from unexploded ordnances.This is a very real problem.  Choose your Gift Now!

Educate a Child for an entire year in Vietnam - It is hard to believe that the basic right of an education is impossible for many children living in Vietnam. Families cannot afford to send their children to school. We have travelled through Vietnam and witnessed many children begging in the streets and working hard labour or selling trinkets and books to make a dime. Many told us about how they are trying to save enough money to go to school one day, but we know that this opportunity would not be possible for most. Change someones life and give the gift of education. $160 give a child schooling for an entire year .  Choose your Gift Now!

To browse more gifts and to read more about the Intrepid Foundation, visit their website today to make a difference in children, animals and communities around the world.

Last summer, having just graduated from college and looking to have one last adventure before I started searching for a full-time job, I decided to spend 1.5 months traveling to different cities within the U.S. as a congratulations to myself. Two weeks out of that month and a half was dedicated to my first Habitat for Humanity trip and my second time away from mainland America.

When I signed up for this trip, I knowingly went into it completely blind. I didn’t know anyone else on the team and knew very little about using tools to construct a home. Looking back, I realize that was the best way to do it. Just jump right in, eliminate my expectations, completely immerse myself in the project, journey, or destination, and have fun. Of course, when I was sitting at the airport impatiently waiting for my flight, all of these panicky thoughts were running through my head like “What if there is nobody else my age?” “What if everyone else knows what they’re doing?” so on and so forth. Sooner or later, I was forced to put those silly thoughts to rest, let go of the things I couldn’t control, and just go with the flow. But don’t get me wrong, for as nervous and scared as I was, excitement was as equally present.

Fast forward to when my team leaders picked me up from Ted Stevens International Airport where I immediately met some of my teammates, and it turned out that there were in fact people my age, teenagers, and even folks in their 80s. You can imagine my relief and immediate return to comfort. From the airport, we were escorted in an old-school Scooby Doo van back to the church where we slept on air mattresses and had a spacious communal dining area for everyone to eat and converse. It certainly wasn’t anything fancy, but it was cozy. The two girls I roomed with, Sara & Paloma, are a few years younger than me, but they both have the same sense of humor as I do which made it easy to get along. At night, we’d fall asleep laughing our heads off, and we grew close over the two weeks we had together. The room we slept in had two white boards on opposite walls, and every night before we went to bed, we wrote inspiring quotes on the boards to express our thoughts, gratitude, appreciation, and what we learned from the day.

At first, the days seemed to drag by, but after about five days, I didn’t want to go home. We worked at the construction site Monday through Friday from 8am-4pm for two weeks. During that time, I got a lesson on the proper use of power tools, helped paint the fence for the backyard, built storage sheds, worked on a bit of interior framing, and did so many things I never thought I knew how to do. We took half an hour out every day for lunch when our team leaders would take a few minutes to read an inspiring story, quote, etc. and then open it up for discussion. Those moments of unity, bonding, and sometimes vulnerability with complete strangers who have quickly become new friends are something I hope everyone can experience in their lifetime.

The evenings and weekends were saved for the fun activities including hiking, bike riding, mountain climbing, house visits hosted by National Habitat employees and leaders, and a myriad of other adventures. Our team leaders took us out one evening to go moose observing, and I was fascinated by how much they seem like such gentle creatures. They wander onto different paths much like geese aren’t afraid to stop traffic on a main road. It felt inappropriate to actually eat moose later in the trip, and for those of you who are wondering, it tastes just like a regular hamburger. I don’t think I’ll be eating moose again anytime soon, but since the unique opportunity presented itself, I had to take it.

Hailing from the flatlands of the Midwest, mountain climbing is not available as a recreational activity so it was a real treat to be up close and personal with such beautiful landscaping and scenery. Now keep in mind that I do exercise regularly, but I am not necessarily in shape for extreme sports. Given my lack of previous mountain climbing experience, you can imagine my difficulty getting to the top. At the halfway point, I was ready to stop, but there is something about traveling in a pack that motivates you to finish what you started. Climbing a steep path very fast made it difficult to breathe at certain points, but it was the best workout I’ve ever done. Being doubtful of whether or not I would make it, the sense of accomplishment once I finally reached the top was overwhelming and a real “wow” moment. I felt like I could do anything after that, if I continued pushing myself to new heights.

There aren’t any words in the dictionary that do justice to the beauty of Anchorage and so many other places around the world. I plan on visiting again one day along with a stop in Juneau.

All I know is that I grew by leaps and bounds as a daughter, a friend, and a human being. I learned more in those two weeks than I did in four years of college, and I am making it a priority to continue doing volunteer work whether it’s with Habitat or other charitable organizations.

Help me reach my goal of $7,000 to fund two Habitat for Humanity trips next August/September in Kenya and Zambia to help build homes for impoverished families. If you’d like to make a donation, please
click here. To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, visit their website here. To see photos from my first Habitat trip in Anchorage, Alaska in July 2010, click here.

“A girl with one foot in multiple worlds.

I am an independent Detroit native, stubborn New York City devotee, and working towards making every corner of the world a little slice of home. Aside from being a passionately curious traveler eager to learn about the world through my own eyes as opposed to the media, I am a pop music junkie, a big kid at heart, and a sucker for fresh, organic foods. Follow Kimi on Twitter at @WSouldier tumblr (whereintheworldiskimi.com) and google+.

For Charity

The Christina Noble Foundation is a project in Ulaanbaatar that helps homeless and abandoned children maximize their potential. We had the opportunity to visit the Blue Skies Ger Village upon the completion of the Mongol Rally to see how the donations will be put to use.

As soon as we entered the village, we witnessed an nurturing environment where children can feel safe and enjoy a healthy and happy childhood.

Our first stop was the computer room.

This ger was filled with modern computers and desks for kids to work and play on. I sat down to help a group find the hidden object in a scene. It’s an excellent way to learn English. They were learning such English words as squirrel, alarm clock, compass and many more as they searched for each piece on the screen all while learning to navigate their way around a computer.

Exterior of One of the Gers at Christina Noble

We then moved on to the other gers to check out the music room where we had a look at their traditional instruments such as Mongolia’s national instrument, the Horse Head Fiddle. There also separate gers used as a medical centre, dining room and kitchen and classrooms.

The Ulaanbaatar project houses 60 Students. 

There are 10 Gers to live in with 5 to 6 children in each Ger. Every Ger has a “Ger Mother” who takes care of her individual children.

It is a positive environment. Children have a sense of family here and they laugh and play like any other healthy well adjusted child.

We found ourselves at the Blue Skies Village on a beautiful day and everyone came out to play basketball and volleyball on the state of the art courts. There are playgrounds for the younger kids complete with swingsets and jungle gyms.

They even have a greenhouse where they can grow their own produce.

It was uplifting to see where the money raised from the Mongol Rally goes. It is one thing to raise money for a project and to be disconnected from the people you are helping but it is quite another to meet the children that your efforts go directly to helping out.

Team Social Media Syndicate raised $4898.62 to go to the Christina Noble Foundation.

We couldn’t have done it without all of our readers. Thanks to Sherry Ott of Ottsworld for her amazing efforts and for having the burden of collecting the money through her paypal charity account. Thanks to both Ottsworld, Mid Life Road Trip and ThePlanetD readers for helping us contribute nearly $5000 for a great cause.

If You’d like to donate to the Christina Noble Foundation, click the link below to make a difference in a child’s life.

Toronto has the most inspiring and friendly travel community on the planet and they are proving it again by banding together to raise money for a great cause.

Toronto Travel Massive Monthly Meet Up

It was at the last Toronto Travel Massive meet up this past Thursday that Katy of Intrepid Travel  announced an amazing initiative.  

They will be giving away a trip to India (flight included) to the person who raises the most money for Depalaya through the Intrepid Foundation. The 15 Day Classic Rajasthan Tour is a gem and what a way to motivate our fellow travellers to make a difference in people’s lives. We believe in giving back to the communities that we travel to and so does Intrepid Travel.

We had the privilege of working with Intrepid Travel on more than one occasion and are always impressed by their commitment to the environment and the community. It was on an Intrepid Tour to China last year and had the chance to visit one of their projects first hand. The Hui Ling school in Xi’ian is a project to help people living with disabilities. Established in 1990 in the town of Guangzhou it has extended it’s reach to cities all over China and Hong Kong and is committed to people develop their personalities to achieve independence and to become an active member of society.

It was a very moving and inspiring day and we are thrilled to do our part to help raise money for the Depalaya Project in India. We visited India for 3 months in 2010/2011 and saw the poverty that millions in the country face each day. We had read about the estimated 100,000 street children in Delhi alone and witnessed the suffering that many homeless and abandoned children face each day. Children are forced into child labour, prostitution, drug trafficking and begging on the streets.

Intrepid Foundation, Giving Children Hope

Deepalaya was started in 1979 to help these children through counceling and placing them in homes where they receive an education and hope for the future. They are also trained in tailoring, computer hardware and software, electronics, air conditioning and refrigeration.  So far, Deeepalaya has educated 44,000 underprivileged children but they need your help to keep going.

Your support for Deepalaya will help to provide: food and board, health care, meaningful education and vocational training, counselling and career guidance. But most important for any growing child understanding, friendship, warmth and solace in terms of loneliness for these children.

We have been to India before and spent nearly a month in Rajasthan. Udaipur was one of our favourite cities we have ever visited. While another trip to India wouldn’t be turned down, we are not joining this initiative to win a trip. We are simply excited to be able to help Intrepid Travel in raising awareness for a worthy cause. We believe in the Intrepid Foundation having seen the great work that they are doing and we believe in helping the children of India who are its future.

Let’s show the world what the Toronto Travel Community can do and how powerful all of our reach is together. All it takes is $5 to change a child’s life.

To Donate Visit Our Donation Page through the Intrepid Foundation. 100% of proceed go directly to the foundation. 

The winner is Lisa Papadopoulos. We rounded up everyone that left a message and put them into a spread sheet, we then used the random generator and Lisa’s number came up!

Congratulations! We will be sending Lisa a $100 gift certificate to use at Novica to purchase a one of a kind hand crafted piece by a local artisan.

A Second Chance to Win!

We were so inspired by the list of charities left on our facebook page, that we thought we would hold a second part to the contest. Novica was generous enough to give us our own $100 gift certificate to purchase a piece of art, clothing or jewellery of our choice from their extensive product list. We travel to many of the places that these local artisans live and work and we thought that since we can buy from the artist directly during our travels, that we should give our certificate away.

At a Plan Canada Project in Malawi

So, we are giving away another $100 Dollars!

All you have to do is leave a message in our comment below and share the favourite charity that you like to support. Let’s make a database of charity projects that people believe in where we can inspire each other to dig a little deeper into our pockets to help those less fortunate.

We had some very inspiring messages left on our facebook fanpage and thought that we would share some of the comments that people left to give you an example of how people are making a difference. Thanks to everyone that commented on Facebook and make sure to leave another comment here for a second chance to win!

Artist Weaving a Rug by Hand in India

In association with National Geographic, Novica not only gives artists a platform to sell their products, it also provides them with access to microfinance. Artists can borrow money for worthy projects at 0% interest. Even a small loan helps make a great difference and you can give right now to the project of your choice. When you visit their website, you will see a list of projects, how much of a loan is requested and how much is funded so far. Microfinance projects have been proven again and again as an effective business model.

Charities Supported by Our Readers

1. Easy Hiker - We have a yearly rolling donation to ActionAid and from time to time to SOIL.

2. Fogg Oddyssey –  have kept a Kiva account for the last year and half. I keep a $100 in it and when a loan gets paid back, I flip it again. So far all loans have been paid back and it’s been great helping people I would never have gotten to if it hadn’t of been for the Internet.

3. Lisa Papadopoulos - I like Kiva and have given loans to them. Any site like that is a fantastic idea!

4. Tina Decasaro - Every month I support the World Wildlife Foundation and the Barefoot Foundation with a donation and will be attending a photo shoot for the NOH8 campaign in a few weeks.

5. Maureen Tomson - LOVE your giveaway idea as well as the philosophy Novica. It reminds me of Kiva, to which I contribute monthly and just made my ninth Kiva loan.

6. Cruise Surfing - I support Kiva.org. For every 100 Facebook fans, I donate an additional $25. Not much but hey, it’s something. We say amazing to that! Now head over to Cruise Surfing on Facebook and help them get another 100 fans!

7. William Engel - We have supported the small clinics on the island of Roatan, Honduras for the past 17 years. These clinics help thousands of people that the health care system leaves behind.

8. Catherine Bodry - I donate a portion of my Permanent Fund Dividend to the Alaska SeaLife Center.

9. Tour Absurd - One of my favorite charities is the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund. I help send a girl named Bethlehem to school by paying the cost of her tuition, books, food, medical care, and uniforms. It’s amazing how little American or European money it costs to do so!

10. Dave and I give monthly to our favourite charities of WWF, WSPA and The Toronto Humane Society. Yes, they are animal heavy charities but we feel that animals who are suffering don’t have a voice to even ask for help. So it is up to people to give them the care that they need. As well as giving monthly to these causes, we do give regularly to different projects that we visit during our travels. We cycled through Africa while raising money and awareness for PLAN Canada and we are currently raising money as we drive to Mongolia for the Christina Noble Foundation. We try to visit projects wherever we travel and help to raise awareness about the many charities that are working so hard each day to make the world a better place.

• We will choose another random winner and announce it next week!
• Comments Close July 17 at 12:00 Midnight PST

Good luck!

Novica, in Association with National Geographic is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites. It is an incredible concept giving artist from around the world a place to express their talents and access the world market.

With products in home decor, jewellery and apparel, paintings and accessories, shoppers can access thousands of products while supporting a worthy cause.

African Mask is only $49.95, Portuguese Painting is $1162, Silk Fan from Bali is $29.95 and the Silk Batik Scarf is only $25.99

$100 can go a long way to buying several things or towards a larger purchase!

“These handcrafted pieces make for unique gifts that were crafted with great care.”

As I explored the website in more depth, I was intrigued by the possibilities of buying something with great meaning. The products at Novica are actual pieces of art made by hand, from people working towards making a better life for themselves.

There are African hand made masks, Andean rugs, and Balinese Wall Hangings. You can even find mens accessories for that hard to buy for guy in your life. Dave, that would be you!

Microfinance

What I love about the choices is that everything is authentic made by talented craftspeople from around the world. Many of whom are part of Novicas Artisan loans project.

This Microfinance program lends money to worthy projects at 0% interest! Even a small loan helps make a great difference. Anyone can give!

Visit their website at Novica Artisan Loans to see the list of projects already funded and the list of artists working towards achieving their goal.  You can even Donate to a worthy microfinance project while you are there for as low as $25.

Giveaway to A Lucky Reader!

To help promote their great products and spread the word about this fantastic project, Novica is giving away a $100 gift certificate to one of ThePlanetD’s readers. You can choose from anything you like on the website.  Might I suggest a Silk Fan from Java in or what about a handmade hammock from Mexico?

It’s up to you what you want, we’ll just send you on over a gift certificate once you have been chosen the winner to enjoy.

So What Do you Have to Do to Enter?

A giveaway wouldn’t be a giveaway these days without facebook involved, so here’s what you have to do.

Head over to our facebook fanpage and leave a message on the wall with the answer to this question. (note: to leave a message, you have to like the page)

“Tell us What Charity you have helped recently via volunteering, donations or promotion”

Leave the answer on our wall

• Rules:
• Comments will be close on Sunday July 10th at Midnight PST
• We will announce the winner on Monday via facebook
• Winner will be chosen at random via Random Generator – We’ll gather all the names of participants and have the random generator choose the winner
• Winner will be sent an e-coupon to be used towards anything they wish to buy on the Novica Website.
  

It was a simple tweet in Bangkok that led us to meeting up with Pamela of SpunkyGirlMonologues.  We hadn’t had a lot of contact with Pamela before.  We were mutual followers on Twitter, but we never had any interaction prior to this day in Bangkok.  Somebody suggested our names to her in a tweet.  She was looking for people to tag along with her while she visited the Immigration Detention Centre in Thailand (IDC).

We didn’t know what was expected of us but we were happy to come along if it was bodies she needed.

We met the smiling Pamela at 9:00 am and set off on the metro where she quickly explained what the project was all about.  Having come to Thailand before, she volunteered for the amazingly generous Dwight of InsearchofSanuk.

He is an independent organization that helps refugees living illegally in the city.

A Refugees Story

Most of the refugees come to Thailand from countries in turmoil. Many face persecution in their home lands and must flee their countries. They apply for a tourist visa for Thailand and instead of going home after it expires, they overstay their visa. Once they overstay their visa, they are on the wrong side of the law and are now criminals and fugitives. They live in fear of exposure and being turned into authorities.  They have no means of working or supporting their families and are stuck in limbo simply trying to survive on the streets of Bangkok.  If they are caught, they are put into the IDC while awaiting deportation.  The IDC is an over crowded, filthy and a miserable place to be.  People are fenced in like common criminals and lack the basic necessities like clean drinking water, proper food and sanitation.

It is impossible to think that there are people that have fled their countries for fear of their lives and once they arrive in Bangkok, have no hope.   Having used their entire life savings to flee, they are then forced on to the streets to live without citizenship, jobs or a proper place to stay.

They cannot go to anyone official to seek asylum. They will most likely be thrown in the Immigration Detention Centre where they could be held indefinitely. Many people have been held for several years.  Children have been born behind it’s walls, families have been trying to survive in crowded and unsanitary conditions and some people are separated from their loved ones to be held at different corners of the “prison.”

This is Where We Come In

Pamela was seeking our help. She needed bodies along with her for a visit.  The more people that tag along with her, the more the detainees the authorities will let out for a visit.  With the two of us in tow, Pamela would be able to reunite families if only for a brief visit.  If we can get three family members out together, they will be able to talk, find out how each other is doing and possibly give them the strength to endure their time at the IDC.

We followed along diligently as we went to the office across the street to have our passports photocopied. With all the proper paperwork in order, we made our way to the IDC to seek permission to enter.  They received the fax from Insearch of Sanuk the day before which made Pam very happy.  Things need to be official and if paperwork isn’t in order, we would be denied entry.

We walked up to the counter with friendly smiles pasted on our faces.  Pamela asked permission to visit the names listed on the paperwork and the guard looked at us.

He spent approximately 2 seconds thinking about our enquiry before immediately denying our entry.   “The fax came in too late.”  ”My superior says no.” “You cannot see anyone today.”

Denied

None of it made sense.  What harm is it visiting a refugee that has little hope?  We aren’t working to take him out of detention, we aren’t bringing anything in with us and it clearly states at the front of the building that all detainees are allowed one visitor per day.

We would be visiting one refugee each and that would be their one visitor today. But no, they have once again denied their basic human rights.

These people are not criminals, they are families and children, husbands and wives that fled from countries in turmoil such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Burma.  They have come to seek a better life in Thailand, but instead live in fear.

There are families all over the city, that live in fear every day.  If they are stopped by police without the proper paperwork, they are thrown in jail.  Just a week earlier, authorities rounded up hundreds of Pakistani illegal immigrants and threw them into the already overcrowded Immigration Detention Centre.

They will be confined for years before finally being deported.  It is a rare ocassion that someone will actually be granted asylum to another country. How can a person prove that they are in danger if they are deported back to their country?  It is not like a corrupt government would tell the UN that this person will be killed or imprisoned if they are sent home.  They will deny any act of human rights violations. Isn’t that the way it always is?

There is very little hope.  The only people that have true authority to help is the UNHCR. They can actually go through the proper channels and find families a suitable country and new home.  But very few are helped out of the thousands in the city.

What is Insearch of Sanuk

Dwight of Insearch of Sanuk works tirelessly to help make the lives of urban refugees in Bangkok easier.  He brings them food and money, he visits their loved ones that are in the IDC and brings them messages.  He recruits volunteers to come with him to help reunite families living separately in the Immigration Dentention Center.

He also helps refugees that have overstayed their visas and are hiding out in plain sight from authorities.  These people have no way of finding proper work and have to resort to begging.  He helps them by supplying food and basic supplies.  He brings them rent money when they have fallen short and he gives them hope.

This is his own charity and he is burning the candle at both ends.  He teaches English by Day, Runs his blog In Search of Sanuk by night and spends all his free time raising funds and visiting refugees and detainees regularly.  He has dedicated his life to helping others.

He Needs Your Help

If you are visiting Bangkok, why not get in touch with Dwight and offer up yourself to go for a visit with him to the IDC.  You may reunite an entire family. For just a few hours of your time, you will make a difference.

You can also donate to his cause.  Helping people takes time and more importantly money.

• To find out more about the great work he is doing visit his website InSearchofSanuk.com
• Follow Him on Twitter At InSearchofSanuk
• Or Visit His Donate Page to See how you can do more.

Owner and operator, Tuk is an ex boxer and true success story.   Starting out with very little as a child, he worked his way through the ranks of Thai Boxing and supported his family through winning prize money.

After meeting Diana, she encouraged him to open a gym.  What sets Rawai Muay Thai apart from other gyms is that it is owned and operated by a Thai Boxer that employs Thai Boxers and trainers.

When coming to Thailand why would you want to train with a foreigner?

Not only is Tuk born and raised locally, he knows the struggles that certain kids can go through in Thailand and offers poor kids a free place to train and learn.  For the serious students, he and Diana rent a house out of their own pocket to put the fighters up in.

Young local boy and girl training at Rawai Muay Thai

They receive free room and board and free training at the gym.  They even keep their prize money to be able to send home to their families.   For many poor children in Thailand, Thai Boxing is their only option to stay out of trouble and off the streets.  It gives them a discipline and focus and provides them with hopes and dreams.

A portion of all money received from students goes to supporting the Thai Boxers that cannot pay their own way.

Orphanage

Diana was kind enough to take us to an orphanage that they support as well.  Besides taking in orphans, and training underprivileged children, Rawai Muay Thai takes an active roll in the community.

In January they are even hosting a main event boxing match at Nahairn Beach in Phuket where all proceeds go to charity.

The orphanage that we visited was Child Watch Phuket.

It runs 7 different programs in the area:

• The Holland House – Program that looks after underprivileged children in the neighbourhood.
• The Baan Lung Pitak Prison Program – a Centre that helps children of prison inmates. It is located next to the Phuket Prison.
• Safe House – A shelter home open 24 hours for abused children or children or children who need emergency help, shelter, food, clothes and rehabilitation.
• Case Follow Up Program – Offers legal assistance and advice for poor families having to deal with the legal system.
• Mobile Teaching Program – Provides out of school education for disadvantaged children. Many children in Thailand do not have birth certificates, are slum dwellers or living outside the Thai system. They are not qualified and cannot afford to go to school. The Mobile Teach Program goes to them.

All these programs help families  and children in need and living in desperate situations.  Diana brings Thai boxing students regularly to the school where the children are given a chance to play and hug and laugh with their visitors.  She brings toys or toiletry supplies and donations.

Child Watch Phuket makes the bulk of its money from donation boxes set up all around the area and Diana is putting one up at the school as soon as they deliver it.

To find out more and how you can donate or help out, you can go to www.phuket.com/childwatch or email at info@childwatchphuket.org

If you are thinking about taking Muay Thai in Thailand, consider joining a school that makes it their priority to give back.

By choosing a gym that is owned by a local boxer, you can be sure he will give back to the community because that is where he came from.  Tuk knows the struggles that kids face growing up in Thailand. He was one of them and he knows how Muay Thai can give children with little hope an opportunity to do something great with their lives.  Be it a championship fighter, a coach or an entrepreneur opening their own gym when they grow up.

On July 11th 2011, four intrepid Travel Bloggers will be taking off on the adventure of a lifetime. Yes, it will be a wild ride over 1/3 of the earths surface and we are going to have an incredible drive through 15 countries, but did you know that we are doing this all for charity?

The Mongol Rally may be a thrill ride through deserts and over mountains but it is also a drive for a very worthy cause?

We will be buying a car to donate to the people of Mongolia.  Yes, whatever vehicle we manage to acquire, we will be giving to communities in need.  We are raising the bar and setting high goals to donate an emergency vehicle like an ambulance or tow truck.  These vehicles are in great demand and it would feel incredible to offer something that will truly be of great value to the country.

The Charity is Two Fold

We have 6 months to meet our goal of not only raising enough funds to buy our car to donate to Adventures for Development but to also raise funds for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. The foundation is building a ger village for street children and orphans in Ulaanbaatar.  This is a great program and we look forward to visiting the village when we arrive in Ulaanbaar.  You will see first hand the great work that your dollar is doing.

We need your help and so do the kids and communities of Mongolia. The reason we took on this adventure is to raise money for a great international cause. It is our responsibility as travellers to give back to the communities we visit and what better way than to introduce you to a country that very few visit in this world. Our Team mate Sherry Ott has already been there and as she puts it, “Mongolia is a fascinating country trying to rebuild after years of hardships.  The landscape is like no other and the people are some of the heartiest in the world.”  Yet many kids are homeless and orphaned.

Click on Image to Donate Today!

Adventures for Development was created to ensure that all vehicles driven to Mongolia are dealt with responsibly and that they go towards funding bonafide charitable causes and projects.  They work in conjunction with the Mongolian Authorities to protect the environment and the local car markets and providing the greatest benefit to communities in need.

What we need from you.

We are looking for donations, any donations. We propose a challenge to get as many people as we can to donate just $10. The power of 10 can go a long way. Ten dollars is a couple of Lattes at Starbucks, it is a little more than meal at McDonalds or less than renting a couple of movies.  If you could find it in your hearts to donate just $10 we could kick start our fundraising efforts and see that there is hope that we will be able to follow through with this zany idea of traveling across continents together to bring some good to people in need.

Click on image to donate today!

We have started a paypal donation charity page where you can easily give today.  Paypal is convenient and safe.  To give you an idea of just how safe it is, Dave and I do all our online business through paypal. That is how huge companies pay us to advertise and how we  transfer payments to our bank account.

We will be posting our money raised and will be documenting exactly where it will go. 100% of all money raised will go directly to charity.

The Christina Noble Foundation and towards our car that will be donated to Adventures for Development after crossing Europe and Asia to it’s final destination in Ulaanbaatar.

Better yet, you will see exactly where your dollar is going as we will be visiting our charity and we will be met directly by Adventures for Development y upon our arrival.  How often do you get the chance to see what your money is doing.  Through video, photography and writing we will tell you about the charities and adventures every step of the way.

New Website

Check out The Social Media Syndicate for more information about our team, the route, the rally and the adventure.  Sherry Ott, Rick Griffin, Dave and I will be blogging regularly from the Social Media Syndicate Website and you don’t want to miss a thing!

Xi’an may be known for the famous Terracotta Warriors, but there is more to this city than clay soldiers and golden chariots.  The Intrepid Foundation is doing it’s best to improve the quality of lives of children, animals, women, people living in poverty and people with disabilities.   In Xi’an their project is to help people living with disabilities at the Xi’an Hui Ling school.

Established in 1990 in the town of Guangzhou, Hui Ling has extended its reach to cities all over China from Beijing to Hong Kong.  The Xi’an branch was established in 2002 and is committed to helping adults and young people develop their personalities to help them to achieve independence and to become an active member of society.

We entered the school on a cool and crisp day in Xi’an.  It was cold out side, but the mood in the school was warm and welcoming.  Fresh banana’s and tea awaited us as we sat down to be treated to a show by the students.  They were thrilled to have us their and seemed to thrive on performing their hearts out for us.

From a dancing duo to a couple of singing sensations, we had our own private performance.  The final act had us all out of our seats dancing in circles holding hands with the students as we changed from a traditional chinese song and dance to the Funky Chicken. Yes, I said funky chicken, you remember the Chicken Dance that you used to do at all your friends and families weddings?

Dave doing the funky chicken with the students

It was an uplifting experience.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Not long ago, children with disabilities were shunned by society. They were hidden away from view and forgotten. Now, they are thriving. The school teaches them to read and use a computer, they learn how to take local transport, shop at markets and develop skill that will allow them to hold a job.

Social work is a new profession in China.

Our contact at the school told us about the work they are doing and how she has to explain to family and friends what her job is.  Social work is new in China. A few years ago the job didn’t exist.  In the new China, people are working to make the world a better place.  The disabled have a hope in their lives and with places like the Hui Ling school in Xi’an they have a bright future ahead of them.

One of the Hard Working Social Workers at Hui Ling School

After the performance, we were given the chance to walk around the facilities and look at the classrooms. The kids were doing their duties sweeping up the floors and wiping down the chalk boards before the end of the day. The ran up to us giving high fives and sneaking a hello or two and laughed until their hearts content.

We had the chance to browse their artwork and contribute in our own way by purchasing some handmade jewellery designed by the students.  They did some excellent work and it was a great deal.  We didn’t feel pressured to buy anything, but with such pretty jewellery on display we all bought an item or two and wore it back to our hotel with pride.

The staff at the school were grateful to have us stop by. They have a genuine respect for Intrepid Travel stating that Intrepid’s support helps the school to stay on its feet.

Intrepid Travel has always made it a commitment give back and support the communities that it travel to. In 2002 it officially launched the Intrepid Foundation and now matched dollar for dollar every donation made up to 300,000.

You can make your donation today at The Intrepid Foundation and see your money make a difference. Intrepid Travel pays all administration fees for The Intrepid Foundation so 100% of your donation gets to where you nominate it.

We saw the difference first hand that Intrepid is making and we can attest that they are doing great things for the world.

The Bicycle Factory has teamed with Cadbury Canada to raise funds to build 5000 bicycles for school children in Ghana.

As we all know, bicycles are great for your health and for the environment, but in places like Africa they are a valuable mode of transportation.   A bike gives people access to health care, school and other vital life services that they otherwise wouldn’t have to walk to.

The Bicycle Factory’s aim is to build 5000 bicycles for the people of Africa.  All you have to do is enter UPCs from your favourite Cadbury products on their Facebook widget or at theBicycleFactory.ca.

Each UPC equals one bike part and it takes 100 parts to build a bike. With a goal of 5000 bikes that’s a lot of parts, so let’s get to work and eat chocolate!

For Canadians.

-

The Bicycle Factory promotion is for Canadians.  So let’s show the world just how big of hearts we have up here in the Great White North.

About the Bikes.

The Bicycle Factory is doing a great job of reaching their goal, They have already built 1,661 bicycles.

The factory puts out single gear cycles with coaster brakes and a sturdy rack and basket on the strongest frame available. Each one comes with a lock and a basic repair kit, allowing owners to make basic repairs independently, if needed. The bikes are specially designed to hold up to life in Ghana and suit the needs of the Ghanaians.

Need Some Incentive?

Maybe chocolate eating isn’t enough for you. Maybe you are watching your waistline and need a little nudge to go out and eat a Caramilk bar. So, how about an opportunity to go to Ghana?

Once lucky builder and their friend will be flown to Ghana to help distribute the bikes. This 10 day trip includes airfare, hotels, transfers and spending money. But most importantly it will give you memories to last a lifetime.

What do you have to do?

Enter your UPC code at either the facebook fanpage or their website The Bicycle Factory. Every UPC is an entry, so the more you enter, the more chances you have to win.  And you have the added bonus of donating more parts because as you know, each UPC is a part of a bicycle.

What are you waiting for? Head on out to the nearest corner store and buy a Dairy Milk Bar, a mini egg, some gum, a Caramilk or any of your favourite Cadbury products and then head on over to facebook and give a kid a bike in Africa.

You will be changing a life.

ELIGIBILITY

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY – The Contest is open to all legal residents of Canada who have reached the age of majority in the Province or Territory in which they reside at the time of Contest entry.Notwithstanding the above, this Contest is not open to employees of the Contest Sponsor, its respective divisions, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotional agencies, contest suppliers and judges, members of their immediate families (parents, siblings, spouses) and those with whom they are domiciled.
2. HOW TO ENTER – To enter the Contest, you must first register by completing the online registration form at www.bicyclefactory.ca (the “Contest Website”) during the Contest Period. All fields on the registration form must be completed unless indicated as optional. After registering, you can enter the Contest by submitting a valid UPC code from the wrapper of any participating product of Contest Sponsor (including Canadian labeled Dentyne*, Stride*, Cadbury*, Maynards*, Trident*, Bubblicious*, Certs* Chiclets*, Clorets*, Jersey Milk* and Halls*, but excluding some seasonal products) with a net weight of 18g or more (“Participating Product”) and submit as instructed. Limit of five (5) unique UPC entries, per person/day during the Contest Period. A full list of Participating Products is available on the Contest Website.No Purchase Entry: UPC codes can be obtained without purchase by copying down the code from a Participating Product.By entering this Contest, you agree to be bound by these Contest Rules and the decisions of the Contest Sponsor and Contest judges, which are final and binding.

Today is a beautiful guest post from Pam Mandel.  We have known that the Travel Blogging Community has big hearts and Passports with Purpose let’s all of us see just how big they can grow.  A wonderful group of people have gotten together to help raise funds for American Assistance for Cambodia.  It builds schools in rural Cambodia.

We have been wrestling with the same feelings that Pam has written about here.  Right now we are in India and our heart breaks every day when we see people selling post cards and jewellery and even begging for money.   We have been asking ourselves, What can we do to help?   We asked ourselves the same question when we were in Cambodia a few years ago.  Like Pam we have felt helpless and overwhelmed with emotion.

What she writes about below is how she harnessed her feelings and went out there to do something about it.

Passports With Purpose: By Pam Mendal

Have you been to Cambodia?

It probably doesn’t matter if you have or not — it’s likely that if you’ve traveled far or to lesser developed places in the world you’ve come face to face with a sweet eyed child selling you postcards, asking for money, or just roaming about looking underfed.

It’s a blow to my chest every time. I know in my head that I am supposed to say no, that giving to street kids often means your money ends up in the hands of thuggish adults, that it rarely helps. I know that I am supposed to give to causes that help, that I should find a way to support local businesses, that the way my travel dollars are spent makes a difference. I have this conversation with myself and then, sometimes I get back home, make a big donation, and feel better. But also, if I’m honest, sometimes I get back home and I forget, the memory of a kid who should be in school but is, instead, standing in the dust trying to sell me bottled water out of a dirty cooler replaced by the wonder of antiquities seen or stories of the funny and strange stuff that travels are made of.

Except that when I left Cambodia, I could not forget. The carved dancers at Angkor Wat or the sheer wonder of seeing elephants — ELEPHANTS — as pack animals still sits right at the front of my mind, but the kids, they wouldn’t let go of my memory. No, I did not want to buy knock off copies of Lonely Planet’s guide to Southeast Asia. No, I did not want a dozen postcards of the temples. No, I did not want bottled water, Coca Cola, or beaded bracelets. I did not want any of those things. What I wanted was to wrap each child in a clean shirt and some sturdy shoes. I wanted to give them little backpacks and notebooks and to send them to school. I thought, can I get those kids in my luggage? Can I sneak them home in the overhead compartment on the flight? Can I put rows of bunkbeds in the den, trading in my evenings for homework and baths? What can I do to get them off the paths of the temples and into classrooms where they belong?

I’m not the first person to be struck like this, and sadly, I won’t be the last, I’m sure. Luckily, it turns out smarter, better organized minds than mine have had the same reaction — and they set about doing something about it. American Assistance for Cambodia was founded in 1993 and builds schools in rural Cambodia.

AAfC’s largest project, the Rural Schools Project, has helped build over 400 enriched primary and lower secondary schools in rural Cambodia since 1999. In this program, donors sponsor the construction of a school in a village that currently lacks one. Donors pay US$13,000 for a school, with matching funds provided by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, through partnership with Cambodia’s Social Fund and Ministry of Education. After the school is constructed, donors are strongly encouraged to enrich the lives of students by funding improvments for their school. School improvements include English and computer teachers, computers powered through solar panels, Internet access through a satellite dish or GPRS system, a well or water filter, a school nurse, a vegetable garden, and a bookcase of books.

Here’s where we overlap with the travelblogging community. Last year, four Seattle travelbloggers (Pam Mandel, Debbie Dubrow, Beth Whitman, and Michelle Duffy) founded Passports with Purpose and raised 7400 USD for Heifer International. We didn’t know what we were doing, we just knew that we could the power of travel to create positive change in the world. When we discovered AAfC, we all knew, instantly, that we wanted to do this. We wanted to build a school and we knew that our community would not only support us, but they would participate and make sure our efforts were successful.

Generous Sponsors

This year, we got a running start through the generosity of a handful of sponsors — Virtuoso, Raveable, HomeAway, Traveller’sPoint, and Got Passport. The rest is up to us. We’ve got the power of over 50 participating bloggers and our collective network. All we need now is for people to open up and give — a mere 10 dollar donation makes a huge difference — and to spread the word. We need to raise 13000 USD and we are already halfway there.

It’s hard for me to express my enthusiasm for this project. You have to imagine me sitting on an idling bus, my heart cracked open, watching the kids lined up along the edge of the road, all of them holding souvenirs instead of schoolwork. You have to sit next to me on that park bench in Phnom Pehn while I cry, overwhelmed by history. You have to have been there yourself, torn apart by frustration at seeing these kids working when they should be learning. And then you have to have the unbelievable sense of certainty that your community is right there with you, that they feel the same way, that they are going to work with you to make change. It’s how I feel about the founders group and how I feel about our travelblogging community at large. We are together in wanting to make change.

For me, this is something of a selfish act. I have been — what is it? Haunted is too strong a word. Obsessed, perhaps, is closer to the truth. I have wanted so badly to do something, anything, to mend the heartbreak that Cambodia left me with. Passports with Purpose is going to help me answer that question of doing something, anything, to help. It’s inelegant, I know, it’s philanthropy with healing my own heart in mind. I hope you’ll indulge me — and the others who are more high minded and bigger hearted than myself — in helping out.

To learn more about Passports with Purpose, including how to make a donation to AAfC, visit Passports with Purpose.

Pam Mandel blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd’s Eye View. She’s one of the founders of Passports with Purpose.

Follow Pam on twitter @nerdseyeview

-

-

This is an ongoing series here at theplanetd where people share their stories on how they give back to the world inspired by their travels.  If you have a story that you would like to share please drop us an email at theplanetd@gmail.com

Today’s post for our Giving Back Series comes to us from our good friend Narayana Reddy aka Nani.  Nani has the biggest heart of anyone we know and it is an honor to call him our friend.  Whenever we speak with him, we are inspired to become better human beings.  He is always there to give anyone a helping hand and is never too busy to assist a person in need.  People hold him in such high regard that they named our a cycling group after him ReddyRiders.

An activist, advocate and founder of the charity Bicycles Crossing Borders, Nani is a true humanitarian.  His compassion is contagious and I am sure that his cause and words will move everyone to give more to people in need.

It is so fitting that we are posting this article as we fly away to India, Nani’s homeland.  He can inspire us even as we leave to the other side of the world.

Cycling is Such a Great Idea – But Can Everybody Have a Bike!!!

Cycling is such a great utilitarian activity many of us take it for granted. And there are people that have one or two bicycles for each different kind of activity. A commuter to get to work and run errands, a road or racing bike for the weekend pleasure rides, a bike for touring, and oh… did I mention a bike for all the off-road bushwhacking.

Many of us are so fortunate, living in an affluent society like Europe or North America, to find so many bicycle stores and other suppliers of bicycles in every neighbourhood. Yet we fail to realize how lucky we are to be  able to buy a bike for under two week salary or for the cost of five or six months of transit passes.

Ever since my childhood, I used to think that a simple two wheeler can be an equitable possession for all the people around the world. Unfortunately it is not. Many of us simply don’t know how hard it can be for a person living in most parts of the third world to have access to a simple two wheeler. People who earn about one-tenth of our hourly wages in a whole week will have to pay the same price as we do to buy the same bike in their places. It is simply not fair.

Here comes “Bicycles Crossing Borders – Bicicletas Cruzando Fronteras” (BCB)

So, in an effort to do a small part to rectify the injustice, in the year 2000 a small number of us gathered into a small organization, had a meeting, brainstormed and founded the BCB and had this organization incorporated. It was a lot of work particularly for me. With some hard work, we got enough funding to kick start the project. We were also very lucky to get a free warehouse to collect and store the bicycles. It was pretty easy through all my contacts to get into an agreement with the most powerful local organization in Havana, Cuba the “Office of the Historian of the City of Havana” to help set up a bike shop, train the people and provide the necessary services to the cyclists of Havana. Thus was a small part of my dream realized.

It would be great to help all the poor people in the world. But we are a realistic bunch and are aware that it is an impossible task. However, we are open to help others to start up their own projects, and in fact offer help a small group of people from Sierra Leone.

Cuba was our chosen land, since I had lived there and have made the necessary contacts and it is a place, with little or no corruption to deal with. Bureaucrats are very pleasant, easy to meet and deal with.

January of 2001

In that month our project site was inaugurated in Old Havana by the Canadian Ambassador. It was a grand store in the prominent historical building, which once used to be a cigar factory. Marble flooring, a bronze statue in the middle of the hallway and big windows and our project had almost 500 sq. Meters of space.

It is sad that in Toronto on any given day, we can see bikes being discarded in the trash, or rusting in people’s backyards or just thrown into other kinds of waste-streams. It is extremely sad that such a thing should happen to a useful item, when one can have them repaired or just give it to some poor soul that does not have the means to buy one.

Through living in many places of the Southern Hemisphere I have made many personal experiences and seen the hardships people face to move from place to place in overcrowded pick-up trucks or minivans, or just cramped between their goats, chicken and other livestock. And I find it deplorable that people in our societies have lost the value for useful material.

In many countries, due to lack of sufficient schools even very young kids walk long distances to schools. My own experience was of walking a distance of upto 5 Kms each way to schools right from grade one. Owning a bicycle in our family was unheard of. We only knew walking everywhere, to run errands, to the local market, to the far and few medical dispensaries (as small clinics were called those days) and other places. Of course there was a local transit, but who could afford it.

My experience of living in Cuba in the middle of the worst economic crisis of that land from 1991 to 1993 called ‘Periodo Especial’, a land that has been made to suffer already through an unjust US blockade since the revolution, opened my senses to more issues and problems that one people can face not entirely due to their own making.

During those years in Cuba, people would wait for hours and hours for the very few functioning buses to get to work, to visit family or whatever. Even if they would manage to board an overcrowded bus, it was never assured that they would arrive at the destination. The buses constantly broke down and caused unlimited pollution.

Cheap Chinese made bikes, the Flyeing Pigeon etc., distributed to the people at a cost of $4 and $6, paid in installments would break down on their very maiden voyage. It was very hard to get them repaired. There were simply no spare parts or skills available.

Re-Use instead of discard

BCB’s idea is to lower the number of bikes ending up in the waste stream. We like to collect them instead and ship them down to Cuba and other places. This will easily cut down our over-burdened landfill sites and cut down the toxic materials getting into our water-table.

Many organizations have been shipping bikes to Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean etc. In Cuba I have been asked by many officials, why some organizations ship useless and rusty irreparable bicycles, which they end up having to discard into scrap metal.  This is a sad situation. One has to understand that “if we cannot repair something here, they cannot be repaired in other places”, in Cuba or wherever. The main reason being, that there are no bicycle repair shops and spare parts and appropriate tools are simply not available.

Bicycles Crossing Borders differs from others

At BCB we believe strongly in empowering the local people. Our goal is to “not only provide them with repairable bicycles, but also the skills, tools and parts to repair them”. They can be independent one day only by this means. Otherwise we will only create a total dependency – not a good cause after eliminating colonialism.

I am always very proud to tell people of our successes. But success does not come easily. This success comes thanks to our volunteer force, who are always ready to come out and help with the collection of bicycles and shipping and other work. Our volunteer friends and I are always proud to say also that we spend very little money on managing the project in Canada. We don’t have any staff, office etc., and all the work is accomplished by our volunteers using virtual means.

Over four years, in our first “Bicycle Repair and Service Facility” in Old Havana:

• we trained 22 women and 9 men in bicycle technology
• we shipped 7000 bicycles
• we shipped almost 4000 boxes of new and used parts
• our project site included one master mechanic work bench and
• four service stations
• tools worth over $20,000 were supplied

Among our other achievements:

• bicycles were distributed to all the local postal workers in Old Havana
• 100 good quality bicycles were dedicated for renting out, so the local shop could achieve financial independence
• our shop in Old Havana also stored and serviced bicycles for one Spanish and one German tourism companies, thus generating revenues

The Bicycles Crossing Borders starts a second phase of the project

The BCB would like to draw on the successes of the first phase, learn from the mistakes made and establish a similar but expanded project in a smaller city. By setting up such a project BCB hopes to be of greater service to the rural public.

Per capita cyclists in rural areas of Cuba far exceed those Havana. Almost 70% of the people seem to use bicycles as their principle mode of commuting. At present the rural folk in Cuba do not have any access to bicycle repairs or parts necessary for repairs. At the same time there is a lack of knowledge, tools and expertise to carry out such tasks. The first bicycle shop set up by BCB happens to be the only full-fledged bicycle repair and service shop in Cuba.

But Cubans do feel the challenges of going all the way to Havana for service or parts. Yet some Cuban service technicians do come to Havana from as far away as Bayamos to pick up parts at the BCB shop once every three months.

There is a need for a bicycle service and repair shop in smaller towns:

Each time I see a cyclist in Cuba struggling with the load on the bike, in the heat and up the hill, it disturbs me and I want to do whatever I can to help out. Worse even and I feel heart-broken when I see horses used in smaller towns to haul people instead of the engines of a bus, and these horses are malnourished and the owners beat them to run faster. It is just painful.

For the past two years, our group at BCB is working hard to set-up a central repair and service facility in Baracoa, Province of Guantanamo in early 2010. Guantanamo City, Bayamos could be next. At a later date, there will be also a “mobile workshop” that can visit outlying towns and villages on set dates, which will be announced by radio and other print media. A parcel delivery van will be converted to carry parts and tools and a couple of mechanics can visit a set number of villages on a regular basis. This would provide the badly needed support to the rural folk in terms of repair and service, that they can otherwise not get anywhere.

Project Scope:

A dedicated building in Baracoa will be renovated and the shop set up there. Potential candidates will be selected and trained in bicycle technology by local experts, who will be drawn from our previously trained and experienced technicians. By the fall of 2010 our new shop in Baracoa will be serving as many cyclists as possible.

“Volunteer Builders” an NGO from Oakville, Ontario have joined forces with BCB. Both of our groups hope to go down to Cuba with about 30 volunteers to help renovate and rebuild the dedicated building within about two weeks into a “modern bicycle repair facility”.

Environmental impact in Canada:

A project involving recycling bicycles has twofold effects on the environment in Canada and thus in accordance of the Kyoto Protocol. Each time a bicycle is recycled substantial amount of metal and poisonous items are removed from the trash. At the same time, it is proven that each bicycle added to the roads of Canada reduces GHGs by an average of 4 metric Tonnes per year, if only the cyclist commutes an average of 5 Km each way to work daily.

Environmental Impact in Southern Countries:

One of the main goals of BCB is to remove bicycles going into the waste stream as much as possible. Our goal is also to help the impoverished people elsewhere with a better means of commuting, thus contributing to the reduction of GHGs. However, it is also an important factor in alleviating poverty by means of creating employment. BCB aims to provide skills in a field totally ignored otherwise, thus providing better opportunities for employment and increase sustainability, productivity etc.

Challenges of the project:

If only BCB had the full power, we could achieve more. But, like everything else, it is only human to err. And we have learned from our mistakes and we like to move on to provide better projects wherever we can.

One of our greatest challenges have become getting the funding. I get emails on a daily basis from people from across Canada and occasionally from even the US offering us the bicycles. But not many people offer us the money. We need money, money to buy tools, to support the volunteers that come out to help for an entire day sometimes. Offering them lunch is the least thing we could do. And unfortunately for us, the shipping gets more expensive all the time. Cuban ships don’t come to Toronto anymore and thus we have to ship the containers to Halifax. The road freight alone is expensive. Just imagine paying almost $6000 for a 40’ container.

CIDA could help small projects like ours. But no, they like to help bigger projects in other places. And their conditions are out of this world. And of course some of our biggest supporters, the trade unions are weaker these days, thanks to the conservative politics of Canada.

I find it also very interesting, that I can get free storage space for collected bicycles in Amsterdam, Berlin or Chicago (notice the a b and c of the cities). Many of my friends in those cities have offered me to move there and work out of there. But Toronto is my home and it has been proven very hard to find a free storage space in our great city.

Can somebody out there please help us. Please help us with funds and help us find a space close to the local transit, here in Toronto, so that I and my friends who are mostly cyclists can get there easily at all hours and any weather condition.

Social benefits:

If past experience is any proof, we hope to draw on the successes. Most definitively there will be

• better awareness of the environment, the reduction of  the  GHGs  and the need for better use of bicycles, if we can effectively install a project and achieve our goals.
• Direct benefits to the project would be that several highly skilled professionals will emerge in a field, hitherto totally ignored by the society.
• Indirectly, some of the people that do undergo training may leave to establish their own shops elsewhere to service the cyclists.
• As with our past experience, there can be satellite and subsidiary sectors involved in providing service to the project and the public, thus gaining an economic sufficiency.

Supporters and Patrons of BCB:

BCB has had generous support from several sectors of Canadian society. During the past several trade unions and businesses have offered strong support to the project. Many individuals have supported us with money, free time and moral support.

The prominent trade unions that have pledged their continued support are: United Food and Commercial Workers of Canada, Communication, Energy and Paper Workers Union.

Among the businesses the Urbane Cyclist – a Workers’ Cooperative of Toronto have been our strongest supporters since the beginning. Others that have come up with sporadic support are Duke’s Cycles and various others. Bayview Cycle have collected bicycles for us. Canadian Tire stores at Keel and St. Clair have helped us by providing tools at their cost prices. In the recent years my employer the Mountain Equipment Cooperative has provided with donations of returned and other material. There have been many individual donors and highly skilled volunteers, who have pledged their continuous support.

Our recent collaborators, the Volunteer Builders are very enthusiastic and show tremendous energy to go to Cuba and help us renovate the building in Baracoa. Now all we need is sufficient funds and many of the material for the reconstruction of the project site in Baracoa, the tools and parts for the bicycle shop and training of people.

But it will be totally fruitless, if I end this without acknowledging the support I have received over the years from all the volunteers, many of whom have become my dearest friends. Without their physical and moral support, the project would not be where it is today. These are the greatest volunteers I have seen in my NGO years of the past 25 years in Toronto.

• To find out more about Bicycles Crossing Borders visit their website at http://www.bikestocuba.org/
• To see how you can get more involved email Nani at chittar99@yahoo.com
• To donate  send a cheque payable to:
• Bicycles Crossing Borders
  c/o Urbane Cyclist,
  180 John Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1X5

I was Born in Bangalore, India. Was skillful in languages and mechanics from a very early age and always wanted to be an engineer. So, I learned German and was fluent in it pretty fast, like I was fluent in Hindi, Urdu etc., besides my mother tongue Telugu and our provincial language Kannada.
Went to Germany at an early age and studied engineering in Berlin. While living there also worked in a couple of companies and traveled, mainly ‘hitch-hiking’ to many parts of Europe and even to risky areas such as the Basque region. Later, fulfilled my passion for the Maya and Inka cultures by traveling extensively in Central America and many parts of South America. Also, gained and learned a lot by living voluntarily in parts of Guatemala, Nicaragua where I was always among the peasant folk and worked on projects. Also gained some real life experience living in a rain forest in Costa Rica for six months. Later, I spent two years in Havana, Cuba and worked with some of the best Cuban designers and helped them with Graphic design on Macintosh computers.
Cycling and working with bicycles has always been a passion. Also design pedal powered machinery. But most of all, it has been my ambition and a passion to empower people in whatever fields that I am competent in. In Toronto I have been working on bikes quite a lot and also do a lot of charitable repair work for those that cannot afford it.

In the coming months, Tendai is planning a motorcycle tour  Starting in South Africa and ending in Europe where he will be raising awareness about the plight of children around the world.

Last year, Dave and I cycled from Cairo to Cape Town where we rode for Plan Canada; another charity that focuses on helping children live a better life.

We are happy to be able to help spread the word about this enormous undertaking and to  let people know about the great work that is being done by an inspiring human being.

The Trail of Hope

“We are no more important than the children we are standing up for.  Hoping that one day, through adventures like these, we will join hands and say enough is enough.  Poverty has to end and so must all forms of child abuse”

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

I have seen many faces turn red when they hear what I am planning. I have been to BMW Cape Town, KTM Cape Town and even here in Pretoria.  I remember the early days when I met a woman from one of Africa’s elite dynasties who told me that my plans and ideas were far from turning into reality.  How would a right minded African young man of my age, be found in the middle of conflict territories of Sudan in the name of charity?  But my heart told me I was doing thew right thing.  There was always going to be those who judge me and those who judge my ideas.

It has been a roller coaster trying to put together an adventure that will be remembered in Africa as one crazy idea that inspired a million. I know I still have a long way to go but the truth is, I am getting there.  Like Barack Obama said,  “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”

The Trail of Hope is a 3 month motorbike journey through Africa and Europe to raise awareness on the plight of children around the world. The campaign’s goal is to activate the international community against deplorable conditions that millions of children endure daily. I conceptualized this adventure as a former “street” child.  Trail of Hope seeks to create a platform that highlights the desperate struggles our children face to survive against poverty, HIV/AIDS, crime, addiction, war, human trafficking, institutionalization and disease.

Partnering with different organizations, corporations, foreign missions, governments, public figures, professionals and individuals the campaign brings to the forefront the dire situation of those vulnerable as they try to access the basic human needs like adequate food, education, health care, shelter and an environment safe from traffickers, pedophiles, and criminals.

Using the power of motorbikes, film and photography to document the journey, the riders also plan to visit critical areas along the route to expand the general public’s knowledge of programs working to alleviate the obstacles vulnerable children face.

Hence TRAIL OF HOPE can be broken down into[Trail of Goodwill][Trail of Inspiration][Trail of Humanity][Trail of Sustainability][Trail of Awareness][Trail of Smiles][Trail of Ubuntu][Trail of Peace]

We are no more important than the children we are standing up for.  Hoping that one day, through adventures like these, we will join hands and say enough is enough.  Poverty has to end and so must all forms of child abuse.

Trail of Hope Foundation (“T.H.F”) is a non-profit organization based in Pretoria, South Africa that empowers orphaned and vulnerable children to develop critical consciousness within their context of living.

It was founded by Tendai Sean Joe, former street child, now an international advocate for disadvantaged children and youths.

Tendai Sean Joe – Follow him on twitter @TendaiJoe
Activist/Dreamer/Humanitarian

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Impact of NGO’s and Voluntourism by Daniela Papi of Pepy Tours
  
• Ranthamore National Preserve, A Tiger’s Haven by Akila and Patrick of The Road Forks
• Volunteering Global, A Valuable Resource by Sarah Van Auken of Volunteering Global.
• Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas
• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

We have always been a little skeptical about who to choose to support, how our contribution will make a difference and  if tourists really can have an impact on the world.  When Daniela sent us this post I was pleased to hear that others feel the same way.  Especially from a person that is doing amazing work out there and runs a successful NGO.  She asks all of the right questions and raises important issues. It is an excellent article that teaches us all to think of our travels in a different way.

The Impact of NGO’s and Voluntourism

I am a strong believer that travel can be done better, as can anything else, if we come up with  new and creative solutions to the negative impacts that come as a side product of the actions that we take.  I think tourism can and has been a negative force in many areas and I feel the same way about Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) yet I have my feet in both of these worlds.  I run an educational non-profit organization (www.pepyride.org), and also a small adventure tour company (www.pepytours.com) too which funds the NGO in part, yet I am skeptical of the impact of tourism and NGOs.  How do I justify this?

Have you ever read the book “Forces for Good?”  If you work in development, or on any part of the spectrum of philanthropy work, you should read it.  If you have ever, or plan to ever, donate money to any organization, you too might want to read it.  The book highlights research done on some of the “best US number profits” and what some of the correlating factors are between them.  Although I don’t agree with everything in the book nor understand the intricacies of all of the top candidates they selected enough to comment on their NGO choices, I do love reading the themes they found which link these NGOs.  (Side note: it is also really interesting to compare this research with similar research done on top performing corporations in “Good to Great” as lessons can be learned from both)

For me, one of the points that stood out the most to me was how many of the NGOs featured in the book choose to collaborate with other NGOs and the corporate sector and many partnered with their “enemies”.  For example, Environmental Defense chose to partner with McDonalds to help them improve the environmental impact of their packaging.  ED got a lot of negative feedback from others working in the environmental protection sector for working with McDonalds and many viewed this as “helping the enemy”. It seems that from the ED perspective, the main goal and their mission was to decrease the negative impact we are having on the earth.  By finding ways to convince companies that eco-friendly decisions could also be lucrative, ED could help spark a range of changes in other groups as well.  Their focus was on reaching their mission: to create lasting solutions to the world’s most serious environmental problems.

On my part, the more I learned about voluntourism and the more I was able to compare this learning with what I was absorbing in my understanding of development best practices, the more I questioned the impact of voluntourism programs.  Many would respond to my by saying “Then get out of this work! Why are you working in a business sector you are skeptical of?” and my reason is in line with why ED chose to partner with McDonalds: because I think it can be done better.

In a different vein of skepticism, some of those same people would say “Why are you encouraging people to travel abroad and give money? Wouldn’t those people help the world more if they just sent a check?”  Both of those attitudes, yelling “Get out if you are questioning tourism!” and “Why ask people to travel when they could just give?” are blinkered in some ways as they disregard these facts: People will still travel and other companies will still provide for that, even if I go home.

I hear other critics of voluntourism saying “If you want to do good, and you want to call what you do volunteering or philanthropic, then it has to be at least 5 days of volunteering.”  Other will say “at least 5 months”, others will say “over 50% of your tour time needs to be volunteer focused,” and I think this effort to put volunteer travel in a framework is once again myopic.  If someone is planning to come and travel in Cambodia, where I live, for 10 days and they want to squeeze in one hour to visit our office to learn about our education programs, great!  I would hope that, because of our visit, their trip would be just that much better and that perhaps they will travel and give differently based on what they learn in their meeting with us.  If those same people wanted to pop-in to volunteer “playing with children” for that hour instead, I would argue against it and point out that, if their kids were in a school somewhere, I’m quite sure they would not like it if foreigners could come in off the street to play with their children.

What is my point? Don’t listen to the skeptics out there who tell you that volunteering has to be a certain length to do good.  Don’t be turned off and scared of supporting NGOs because you have learned about how some groups are not using your donations to help the people and the groups they claim to be.  DO start asking questions!

In an effort to share the lessons we have learned in voluntourism and responsible philanthropy, our team at PEPY Tours reached out to others working in this area to come up with a list of questions which travel operators can ask themselves to help improve their offerings.  These same questions are also questions that YOU, the traveler, can consider when choosing your travel provider.  You can download this tool at Voluntourism101.com and the full-site will be up and running there soon.

For those who don’t have the time to read the whole document now, here are five key areas I would consider when choosing a philanthropic travel provider:

• Is the travel company transparent about how much of your tour fee is going to the programs you are supporting?  Is there marketing consistent with the itinerary they are offering?  (As with the above, I don’t think length of time nor percentage of funding going to a project is a determinant of if the project is good or not. A tour company can be very responsible if none of your funding is going to support projects, if that is clear from the start, as long as the program is design responsibly.)
• What interaction with children is included in your itinerary?  Is the interaction described like a visit to the zoo?  Are there child protection policies in place?  If it was YOUR child, would you be ok with the type of itinerary an interaction being offered?
• How does the travel company choose the programs they support?  Ask questions about how your time and any additional support offered by the company itself is designed and what monitoring they do on the impact of these programs.  How is the community or NGO partner involved in designing the programs?
• Are you giving things away (school supplies, food, wells, etc) on your tour?  How are the recipients chosen?  Is the program designed to help empower people to be able to improve their own lives, or a small bandaid to a larger problem?  If the item is something that will need repair in the future, how is that being dealt with?  Is there community ownership built into the project plan?
• What about the REST of the trip?  There is so much focus on volunteer interactions and donations as a key to improving the impact of tourism, but perhaps the best way we can improve the impact of tourism is in the “everything else” category.  How does the travel operator choose their hotel partners/travel operators and how do they work to both support the local economy and improve the overall impact of their tours?

Hopefully thinking about these things will make us all better prepared to pick the best partners for our future travel.  You can read a lot more of my verbose thoughts on voluntourism and NGO work on my blog. (www.lessonsilearned.org).

Daniela Papi is the director of PEPY, an educational development organization working in rural Cambodia.  PEPY focuses on building the capacity of teachers and communities to increase access to quality education.  PEPY is funded in part through PEPY Tours, and edu-venture tour company offering cycling trips and service learning experiences in South East Asia. PEPY’s tagline, “Adventurous Living. Responsible Giving.” which highlights the dual mission of the organization. PEPY Tours has won the University of Notre Dame’s Social Venture Business Plan competition, CIMPA Humanitarian Travel Award, and was recently chosen as a winner in the National Geographic and Ashoka Geotourism Challenge.  For her work in developing PEPY, Danie was a finalist for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. Driven by a young group of social entrepreneurs, in the past four years PEPY has grown from a one-off bike ride which funded the construction of a rural school to a non-governmental organization working in over 10 schools and employing over 30 local staff.

Daniela is active in the “Voluntourism” sector speaking regularly on the both the negative and positive impacts of this growing trend and encouraging industry players to be self-reflective and proactive in measuring their impact. The team at PEPY Tours worked with a range of industry professionals to create internal monitoring guidelines for voluntourism which was just launched onwww.voluntourism101.com. Daniela grew up in New York but has spent the last seven years in Asia working in education and tourism. She currently manages PEPY from her home in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Ranthamore National Preserve, A Tiger’s Haven by Akila and Patrick of The Road Forks
• Volunteering Global, A Valuable Resource by Sarah Van Auken of Volunteering Global.
• Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas
• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

That is why when I read this post on from Akila of The Road Forks, I just knew that it had to be a part of our Giving Back Series.  Visiting a wildlife preserve is one of the easiest ways that a traveler can contribute to a destination having a very high impact.  By supporting wildlife sanctuaries, local people can learn that they can make money out of protecting their wildlife rather than destroying it, your money goes directly to helping the wildlife and you can easily inform the world about the plight of the endangered animals and what you can do.

I so enjoyed this post. And even though we have a long way to go in this world protecting our endangered species, it is good to know that there are places out there like Ranthambore that are working to make it a better place.

Ranthambore National Preserve in Sawai Madhopur, India

Despite my years watching nature shows on tigers and living in a football town where no animal bests the “Tiger,” nothing prepared me for my experiences seeing two tigers in the wild at Ranthambore National Preserve in Sawai Madhopur, India.  We stayed at Sher Bagh in Sawai Madhopur, a luxury permanent tented campsite managed by two leading tiger conservationists.  At the obscene hour of 6:00 a.m., a server routed out of our warm, comfortable bed, bringing us steaming cups of chai, and we bundled ourselves under thick blankets in our open-air jeep for four people.  For an hour, we drove around the park, watching the sun rise, hearing the birds lift their voices into the air, and glimpsing chital deer frolicking through the fields.  Around 7:30 a.m., two lordly nilgai antelope held themselves erect as our jeep drove by their path in the 390 square kilometer park.

And, then, we saw our first tiger.  I still get chills thinking about that first glimpse.  She lay about 40 feet before our jeep on the dirt path; our guide slowed the vehicle to a halt and then she began walking toward us.  She moved gracefully and elegantly across the path, with the swaying step of a house-cat, but with speed and power behind every step.  Within 30 seconds, she had come within 10 feet and the guide began driving in reverse.

After driving in reverse and watching her for ten minutes, we began to feel complacent and secure in our jeep.  Suddenly, we heard rustling leaves in the forest and the tiger gave a sudden pounce and vanished into the woods.  Only then did we realize the immensity of the strength she had within her; she crossed the dirt road in a matter of three seconds and, within a minute, we saw birds hastily flying away from the forest.

Today, only 2,000 Bengal tigers survive in the wild.  Thirty-eight tigers were recorded in Ranthambore in 2008, making it one of the largest population centers for this endangered species.  The tigers are less threatened today by poaching than they were twenty years ago because demand for tiger skins and bones has decreased.   The more immediate concern of tiger preservationists is the lack of prey.  Sawai Madhopur, like many towns in India, is a poor village in which farmers make their living and provide sustenance for their families by tending cows.  Farmers bring their cattle onto the lush Ranthambore preserve to graze, endangering the eco-system, and leaving less grass and foliage for the chital deer and nilgai antelope that would otherwise be the tigers’ natural prey.

an animal lover, I always wonder whether going on safaris does more harm than good to the wild environment.  In the case of Ranthambore, I think tourism has helped boost the Sawai Madhopur economy and led to an expanded park area.  We were lucky to see two tigers on our safari; most leave without seeing any.  But, even if we had not seen a single tiger, we were happy to help support a park dedicated to the preservation of these majestic animals.

Note: Sher Bagh is expensive but entirely worth the expense and we highly recommend this hotel.  Unlike many of the cheaper hotels in Sawai Madhopur, they guarantee that you can go on as many safaris as you want so we were able to go on one safari each day.  The tents are simply gorgeous; I want one of their granite and sunken stone showers in my own bathroom.

For more great parks to see Tigers in India check out Approach Guides at The Best Parks to See in India

I am Akila, a just-turned-30-year-old who once at a party, where I began the evening discussing cheesecake with one person and ended by proclaiming the best fast food french fry as   Arby’s Curly Fries to another, was asked by a federal judge whether I “talk about anything other than food.”  In fact, I do: I also talk about travel, dogs (especially my own), Lost, literature, and legal miscellanea that puts most people to sleep.  On our site, I am the writer, head cook, food photographer, and compulsive travel planner.

Akila and Patrick are two travelers who are cooking and eating their way around the world. Visit their website The Road Forks to find stories of unique places, delicious food and sub-standard restaurants across the globe. You will also find ramblings on writing, cooking, travel and any other tidbits that their brains churn up.  Currently they are in Sydney Australia exploring and eating their way through the first leg of their round the world trip.

• follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/theroadforks
• Join them on facebook at facebook/pages/theroadforks

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Volunteering Global, A Valuable Resource by Sarah Van Auken.
• Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas
• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

Many people want to volunteer abroad and help communities around the world but they often wonder if the organization that they have chosen is working for the greater good. Why do volunteer projects charge thousands of dollars to have you come out to lend a helping hand?

Volunteering Global is a wonderful site that researches host organizations around the world providing prospective volunteers with up to date information on types of work, openings, accommodations and costs. It is a site that every person interested in volunteering at home and abroad should visit and join. 

Not only does it offer valuable information regarding NGO’s, it also is an informative travel resource that I will be sure to visit regularly in the future.

Is volunteer travel a selfless or a selfish act?

On one hand, you’re serving a community that needs an extra push, but on the other, you’re traveling at your leisure to a destination of your choice.

Type “volunteer vacation” into a search engine and jot down how many hits you get. Now look at the first page of results and note how much those trips cost. Wait – they cost something? You’re willing to give your time and effort to a community project, but you’re expected to pay? And at $1,000 for a week, they’d better give you backrubs and ice cream, because your airfare isn’t even included.

This is what I encountered four years ago as I looked for a summer project. It was confusing and frustrating; these groups assumed volunteers had disposable income.

Accommodations in Costa Rica

After a month of researching, I came across a small group in Costa Rica.

They charged $6.00 per day for housing – not “other fees” that weren’t specified, and expected their volunteers to take their work seriously. They didn’t make turtle monitoring look glamorous; they emphasized that this was tough, physical labor, and we shouldn’t expect an immediate payoff. This was what I wanted: To know that I was giving my time to an organization that depended upon and respected its volunteers, rather than the payments the participants made.

About Volunteering Global

At the encouragement of my parents and friends, I compiled a list of every volunteer vacation I found, and wrote down where they worked, what they did, and how much they charged. Rather than taking a volunteer trip that summer, I built what now is Volunteering Global, a website dedicated to educating people about service opportunities worldwide.

Because I was a full-time college student, a teaching assistant for three classes, and a part-time work study employee off campus, Volunteering Global had a slow start. Research was relegated to the end of my fifteen-hour work day, but you know what? It was relaxing and inspiring to read reports from people in the field, to find another tiny group that taught children learn how to read, and to slowly realize that I wanted to turn volunteer support into my career.

So what’s the status now? Well, I make about 35 cents per day from advertisements, but I am more excited than ever about Volunteering Global. In the past five months, I turned a dreary little HTML site into an interactive one that’s engaging for its visitors. I’ve researched more than 600 international volunteer groups, narrowed the list down to 338, many of which you won’t find on other volunteer sites, and posted individual pages for each one. I created a membership option, where users can create blog entries and post in the forums, and in July, I released my first monthly newsletter. There’s even a general travel advice section to the site, and I post daily educational blog entries about statistics, safety, individual volunteer programs, and more. While it’s not my career yet, I’m confident that I’ll find a way to make this work my life’s focus.

The Volunteers

The best part of Volunteering Global is meeting the world travelers I strive to help. Here’s a story from Allison, who worked with Habitat for Humanity last year.

“…We arrived at a small light blue house owned by a young mother of six. As our group gathered outside to greet our house foreman, we got a sense of what we would be doing this day. Our foreman confirmed that we would be painting the interior of the house and preparing the floors for tiling the next day. After a brief speech, we grabbed our tools, paint and safety glasses and went to work. David, Elio and I started masking off the kitchen area and cabinets so we could paint the walls and windows. Others spread out throughout the home, picking their niche to paint.  Most of the day was spent painting. To pass the time, at one point someone mentioned Broadway tunes. We all started singing songs from our favorite shows. Then it turned into an 80’s one hit wonder name that tune fest. We had such a wonderful time and before we knew it, the interior was complete, the floors were scraped and we had extra time to plant trees in the front and side yards.”

And here are some pictures sent to me from Ruth, who worked with the Earthwatch Institute in Costa Rica and Mongolia – she’s traveling with them again to Kenya this November.

Volunteers working in Costa Rica

Taking a Break in Mongolia

Selfless or Selfish?

Now to come back to the original question. This, above all, has been the determining factor in how I’d like to operate my site. I don’t work on behalf of any group, and I don’t have an ulterior motive – I’m here to educate you, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.

I mentioned cutting 270 programs from the original 600. It’s because I want volunteers to see the “little guys.” They’re not popular groups, you won’t find them mentioned in travel articles, and they certainly won’t show up in the first 20 pages of a Google search for “volunteer vacations.” These are the organizations that prove they’re helping their community, and who, like that turtle monitoring group, depend upon and respect their volunteers. Participants’ living expenses are comparable to that of locals, and the establishments are up front about where the money goes.

Giving one’s time to help a community that one has never visited, or even knew existed before, is one of the most selfless acts I can think of. Yes, we start the search for an exciting destination, and even fantasize about being the Superman of an entire community. But when we travel on the project, we find something more. The experience of connecting with others across the world, knowing that we’ve come together to help people we’ve never met – that’s something we’ll forever take with us, and something we’ll always encourage others to experience.

-

Sarah Van Auken is the creator of Volunteering Global, a website that teaches individuals about international service and general travel. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she works full time in returned volunteer support.

If you’d like to join as a member of Volunteering Global, please click here — you’ll be able to post in the forums, create your own blog entries on the site, receive the monthly newsletter, and more.

Volunteering Global Scholarship Fund is awarded to a high school senior who demonstrates commitment to community service. To contribute visit  http://www.volunteerglobal.com/node/679

For More information about Sarah and Volunteering Global follow her on

• Twitter: @VolunteerGlobal
• Facebook
• Blog (updated daily)

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas
• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

Villas Tranquilas is a vacation rental property that is doing absolutely wonderful things for its adopted community. Located in Beautiful Qupeos, Costa Rica, it is an eco-friendly complex built with the utmost respect to its environment.  It has helped to rebuild the local elementary school and has even partnered with the conservation Alliance to protect endangered wildlife.

Please enjoy this post about a business that is not only succeeding in the tourism industry, but giving back to its community and giving travelers a chance to join in on the great work being done there.

Global Travel Slump Won’t Keep Villas Tranquilas Giving Spirit Down

• By T & C Marchesani

Ecotourism.  Sustainable tourism.  Charitable tourism.

Villas Tranquilas supports many eco-friendly practices.

New terms and new ways to combine an exciting and educational travel experience while giving back to the people and terra firma supplying the destination.  Nuances separate these new approaches to vacation travel but their essence appears similar:  an experience borne of mutual respect between traveler and destination and an attempt to exchange, to give as well as receive.  Destinations for such tourism are typically fragile ecosystems and goals include educating the travelers while making a low impact on the environment and local culture.  In addition, such tourism strives, in conjunction and partnership with the locals, to give back to the destination community in the form of time, monetary donations, and infrastructure improvements.

While the global economic downturn may be affecting private aid in terms of total dollars, some travel/tourism businesses continue to offer partnerships with their clients and the indigenous peoples to the benefit of all. Villas Tranquilas, a Costa Rica Vacation Rental Property is one such company that offers adventure travelers several opportunities to practice these new brands of tourism.  Villas, centered in Quepos, Costa Rica, is a collective of 16 town homes built on an old banana plantation site nestled within remnants of the rainforest.  The development was constructed without removing a single tree or clearing any new ground using local materials and local labor.  Villas has put several initiatives in place to reduce their impact on the local ecosystem, to foster endangered species, and to work in partnership with Quepoans on local infrastructure projects.

Attempts to reduce environmental impact include partnerships with Nature Air, the world’s first carbon neutral airline, as well as installation of energy saving appliances and fixtures in the townhomes.  Villas also aims to become certified by Costa Rica’s Certification for Sustainable Tourism this year.  In addition, by joining the Titi Conservation Alliance, Villas is attempting to help restore the endangered mono titi (red-backed squirrel monkey).  These monkeys frequent the villas’ grounds during early morning raids of local fruit trees.  Finally, one VT owner, Penny Williams,  instituted a program to aid the local Quepos School, just down the road from the town homes.

Ms. Williams, a founding member of Villas Tranquilas, set out to give back to the community she joined with the development of VT back in 2006-2007.  Canvassing local residents, she heard of the plight of the Quepos School.  It is a traditional elementary school with approximately 200 children ranging form preschool age to sixth grade.  The school had no books or basic materials, no printer for their computer, broken walls, leaky ceilings, and bathrooms without doors.

Quepos school before

Quepos school before

-

-

-

-

-

-

Penny, a resident of San Diego, CA, brought together about 50 donors to raise money for school materials and for volunteers to mobilize to Quepos and repair/rebuild the school.  Some of these donors were from local California communities.  Ms. Williams’ team researched what repairs were needed and mobilized the volunteers to effect them.  They brought in four contractors and hired an additional three form local Costa Rican firms.  The teams rebuilt broken walls [old hallway photo & new hallway photo], repaired the exterior roof structure, and gave the entire building a much needed coat of fresh paint.

quepos school after

quepos school after

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

But in addition to these traditional fund raising models, Ms. Williams spearheaded a program to combine travel to Villas Tranquilas with charitable donations and, more importantly, investments of time and interaction with the children of the school.  Individuals booking Villas Tranquilas have an option to be part of a cultural experience by going to help the school.  They receive ideas of what supplies the children need as well as an opportunity to meet the English teacher and deliver the supplies.  They may also share a project with the children or spend time with them after delivering the games, books, pens or paper.  Since VT caters so well to family travel, these opportunities often result in interaction between the children at the school and the children visiting from other countries.  The children can play together and learn from peers about life experiences very different from their own.  Such interactions are key to fostering mutual understanding between nations.

Says Ms. Williams, “People don’t really know how to incorporate something like this into their vacation, but when given the opportunity, many people are more that happy to help.” In addition to the Quepos School project and their sustainable tourism efforts, Villas Tranquilas continues to explore ways to partner with people of Quepos/Manuel Antonio for the mutual benefit of Quepoans, the Costa Rican ecosystem, and the travelers anxious to experience and learn about both.

To find out more about Villas Tranquilas, ways that you can contribute or to book an eco friendly vacation to Costa Rica visit their website VillasTranquilas.com

Follow them on twitter at villasmgmt

-

-

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference

The Global Volunteer Network is an organization that I can fully support. They have 25 projects all over the world working closely with local community organizations. From building schools to providing emergency food supplies they work with the communities to provide them with the resources they need.

After reading Erin’s post and doing further research on the Global Volunteer Network, we are inspired to look into their organization more closely and possibly volunteer with them during our next trip abroad.

Thank you Erin for inspiring us to help and for sharing these incredible experiences with us all!

Global Volunteer Network – What It’s All About

Peru Culture

I love my job, and I feel so lucky to be able to say that.  There’s no doubt, it’s a fantastic personal experience to take part in a volunteer program abroad, and through my work I feel even more privileged to be involved in and stay connected to our partner projects and volunteers each and every day.

Whether they are helping to build a school in Peru, providing nutritious meals for orphans in Vietnam, or teaching English in Kenya I am inspired and motivated daily by our wonderful volunteers and our in country partners.

My name is Erin Courtenay and I am the Communications Coordinator for Global Volunteer Network (GVN). GVN offers volunteer service opportunities in community projects around the world and currently operate in 21 countries throughout South America, Africa and Asia. Over the past 7 years we’ve built up strong ties with grassroots organisations and placed over 11,000 volunteers.

-

As well as being a staff member of GVN, I am also one of those 11,000 volunteers! I first bumped into GVN back in 2007 when I was looking do some volunteering.  I took part in the Vietnam Orphanage Program and spent my time doing arts and crafts and English lessons with children, teaching English to adults in the community, and cuddling, changing and feeding babies.  I met the most welcoming, genuine and kind people during my stay in Vietnam and enjoyed getting to know the precious children and their individual personalities immensely.

Another Big Meal for Kids in Vietnam

I guess this is one of the major reasons why I decided to get involved with GVN in the first place as a volunteer, as I wanted to be sure that the benefits were felt directly by the community I was working in.

The Big Picture

Volunteering abroad offers a unique experience that may otherwise be inaccessible to a tourist.  You have the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in a new country and culture and really get to know the community you are volunteering in.

Paige, who volunteered in Kenya with her husband, cherishes their story of making new friends on their walk to work.

‘Our walk to St Paul’s is about 15 minutes along the dusty road (think central Australia) directly in front of the farm. There are 5 or so different groups of children along the way who greet us every morning and afternoon with waves and the chorus, “how are you?” Which sounds more like, “howareyouhowareyou,howareyou?”  They run out and grab our hands and walk with us for 20 meters or so. Sometimes we have stickers for them, sometimes lollies and sometimes balloons. They are so excited each time they see us (whether we have a gift for them or not), and call us Muzungu, which means “white person”. When we finally make it to the orphanage we are covered in dust and quite hoarse, but we love it all the same.’

At GVN we are inspired by the words of Gandhi “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  I can honestly say that I have seen time and time again how one person can make a difference in the lives of those in need.

Through volunteering you can make a personal contribution and connection to the people by contributing to community aid projects in areas such as education, caring for children, health care, construction and conservation.

As well as providing benefits to our host communities, volunteering will provide you with fantastic travel and life experience, facilitating personal growth and inter-cultural awareness and understanding.

Feel the Love! Meet Your Students; Ghana

We recently heard the following from Minna from Denmark, a repeat volunteer in our Ghana Teaching Program.

‘The first thing any Ghanaian will tell you when he or she first meets you is “you are welcome!” Never have I met such warm and kind-hearted people! Teaching was so much fun and my kids made me so proud every single day. They are so smart, always happy and so excited that you are there as a volunteer.

I went to Ghana to make a difference in the lives of others, but as it turned out, Ghana and Ghanaians rather made a huge difference in my life. I walked away with a whole new outlook on life, as a matured and wiser person and most importantly I walked away with the greatest friends in the world and a whole new family.’

Minna in the classroom with a few of her students.

There’s no better way to gain a broader world perspective.  In today’s world isn’t inter-cultural friendship, understanding, sharing and learning something that we could all benefit from?

People Just Like You

I love the fact that our volunteers come from all walks of life, they are all ages, and all have different backgrounds and passions in life.  The absolute best travel stories come from our volunteers and they provide such a great insight into what can be gained from a volunteer experience abroad.

I remember a really sweet journal entry by Elizabeth, who volunteered for 6 weeks in our Nepal Health Education Program.  Elizabeth was reflecting upon her time spent in Nepal and had these words of wisdom for her readers.  I feel these words could apply equally to any one of our volunteer programs around the world.

‘I think I’m a different person than the one who left for Nepal 3 months ago…or at least a changed person. And I think that’s the best thing I could have hoped for.

Some things Nepal has taught me (in no particular order):

• - hot showers and flushing toilets are luxuries that should not be taken for granted
• - you can survive on an absolute minimum of clothing and no washing machine for months
• - you can always give something, even when you barely have enough for yourself
• - we need less than we think to be happy: simple food, a roof, family, and a generous heart
• - talk to strangers…we’ve gotten too used to passing the world by without smiling or saying hello
• - it is possible for religion to permeate every aspect of life in a peaceful and beautiful way
• - people who have very little are often the kindest
• - flexibility is a virtue
• - we should accept dirt as one of our closest friends
• - personal space is a luxury
• - immersion in a new culture has taught me more than any amount of education ever could’

At GVN we are inspired by the words of Gandhi “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  I can honestly say that I have seen time and time again how one person can make a difference in the lives of those in need.

You too can make a difference by volunteering abroad to help communities in need.  For more information on how to get involved today please visit our website: www.volunteer.org.nz

-

Erin in Vietnam

Erin Courtenay: Communications Coordinator, previously Asia Programs Coordinator

Initially, I came across Global Volunteer Network (GVN) in the same way any of our volunteers do.  Having just completed a University degree in International Relations I was searching for practical experience and a challenge.

Through hours of searching online looking for the right opportunity to match my availability, the region I wanted to visit and my budget it was the Vietnam Orphanage Program which spoke to me most.  I was drawn to it!

After returning from Vietnam I knew that this was something I wanted to become involved in for the long term.  My first step was to apply for a job at GVN (over 2 years ago) and the rest as they say, is history!

Links:

If you’d like to read more exciting stories from our volunteers around the world, check out our journals page here: www.volunteerjournals.org

The GVN Blog: http://globalvolunteernetwork.blogspot.com/

You can also join us on facebook and twitter.

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You

This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project

Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift

ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta

Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape

Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference