Finland Makes a Difference After Tsunami Survival

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Sri Lanka has been one of those countries that has touched us deeply to the core. We have been so moved by the people and by their genuine affection.
As a woman from Canada said to us, “You can see the kindness in the eyes of the people of Sri Lanka.” They really do have kind eyes.

We have heard many stories about the Tsunami here. One surfer told us of his experience that you can read about on our post Remembering the Tsunami. We have heard many other stories as well and have been moved by the experience. We have also learned that over 50,000 people died here. Not the 30,000 that we first read and heard about. 1200 people were killed just up the road trapped in a train.

Tourists in the Tsunami

Eeva and Seerpa

We didn’t think that we would meet any foreigners that were here during the Tsunami.
But as time has gone on, we have met many that were here, and Eeva Kankainen, a lovely retiree from Finland shared her experience with us.

Here is her story and what she and her friends did to help.

Most people love this country and come back year after year. Eeva is no exception. She has been coming to the island for 14 years and has made great friends.
She had just come in from and early morning swim when the Tsunami hit. She wasn’t on the beach for long, because her Sinalhese friend was going to be here soon. But she was hot and went for only a quick dip in the ocean before running up to have a shower.
She remembers saying to a lady in the water that she can’t stay for long, she has friends coming.
When she got out of the shower, it was once again one of those surreal moments that we have heard so much about.

Nobody knew what was going on.

She heard the noises of destruction at one moment and then at the same time she heard her neighbour yelling to her that her company had arrived in a light and friendly voice.
They were 25 minutes early and had just come up the stairs.
The next minute everything was destroyed.
They were high up. I didn’t get from her what floor she was on, but she said, that if her friends weren’t coming to see her that morning, she would not be alive today. If her friends had not been early, they would not be alive today.

Incredible Luck.

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After the Tsunami, she stayed in Sri Lanka for three months to help.
Many of her friends from Finland stayed to help as well.
This group of people that we met so briefly for only a few days, are the most giving crowd we have ever met in our lives.
They got together and tried to decide what they could do to help more.
After working with Sabitha Amit (a Monk and principal at a local school) for some time, Maria and Pentti Oskal Kangas came up with an idea to open a school for orphaned, handicapped and mentally challenged children.
Lotus Hill is the organization and it is run by a private group of people from Finland.
Eeva and her friends were kind enough to invite us to come up for a visit.

Arriving at the School

When we pulled up in our Tuk Tuks, the children were so happy to see us. One little guy came out with his drum pounding it and immediately took my hand dragging me to meet his teacher and show me his room.
Another guy latched on to Dave and wouldn’t let go. Dave carried him around forever right up until snack time when one of the teacher finally had to pry him away so that he could eat.

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Oscar and Maria founded Lotus Hill, but Oscar was quick to tell us that Eeva raised half of the money to buy the land by organizing her friends back home to come up with the money.
It costs 300,000 Euro to run the school every year and while it is expensive, they say that they are managing just fine with their friends and contributors in Finland.
Many people donate 5 to 10 Euro a month and they have enough for now.

Oskall and Maria Founders

Oscar is a bit of a celebrity in Finland. A famous philanthropist in the country and he sends monthly updates to supporters to let them know how the project is going. He has a keen business sense and uses his influence to keep the program going.

Life for handicapped in Sri Lanka

Being there for us, was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time.
These children would otherwise be hidden in their house from society. Parents feel that they need to hide them and protect people with disabilities. They have no quality of life. Maria and Oskalla have given them hope.

We saw this first hand at Adams Peak when people of the restaurant that we ate at teased a poor man that was obviously mentally challenged. We yelled at them to stop and they did. They seemed embarrassed, so I hope they will think twice when they see him again.
We later saw the man being harassed by the police. They were throwing his bottles into the ravine. I yelled at them. (Dave tried to stop me because you just don’t yell at police in this country, but I couldn’t help myself) The police just laughed and told me he is a madman. I yelled back the he is a human being, not an animal. I was seeing red and I would have fought tooth and nail. I don’t think the police were embarassed or learned their lesson. They will go on wielding their power.

Progress

These boys have hope, that this man will never have.
One boy was very aggressive and afraid when he first came to the school. He would hit and punch, and now he smiles and holds hands.
Another only came and drew lines on a paper, now he is drawing flowers and rainbows.
One boy is making place mats and weaving them by hand. He is developing his skills to be a carpet maker and he was so proud to show us his work. They played a game of cricket and one of the boys was quite a talent with the paddle.

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The list goes on with their development.

The Staff

It is a dedicated group of individuals that work there. An 87 year old woman that they call grandmother works there to take care of the baby that was dropped off by its mother. The baby has down syndrome and she is there to change him, watch him and love him. She is his surrogate mother.
There are 2 women and a man that work there. They have a difficult job. I don’t think that I could do it. These boys can be a handful and to take care of 15 children with disabilities, feed them, teach them and stay with them has got to be very difficult.

The Staff and Students

Facilities.

The school has classrooms, lunchrooms, a medical room, dorms and a kitchen. It sits high on a hill surrounded by green pasture. It is airy and bright and happy. They have their rooms and clean bathrooms, they have balls and toys and of course drums.
They play and laugh and live.
The founders are beautiful people. Oscar said “we are not rich people, but we make it work”
We would have to say that they have certainly made it work and have changed the lives of these boys forever.

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Passports with Purpose: Helping the Children of Cambodia

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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

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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

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Giving Back: 12-Weeks of Inspiration

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As the time of our travels draws near, we want to reflect on our giving Back Series.  The diverse stories that we gathered over the past couple of months have been inspiring and touching.

It is a reminder to us to be more responsible in our travels and to revisit these incredible stories.  For those of you who are new to our blog, it gives you the chance to meet some fascinating travelers that have given back to the world while they explore it.

We were grateful for everyone’s contributions and we learned a great deal about different ways that one can contribute to the communities that they visit.

We hope that you are as moved by these stories as we have been

Our series was kicked off by a fabulous post by Keith Jenkins of VelevetEscape. He talks about Ngwena Glass in Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive. It is a company in South Africa that promotes and stimulates the local economy.  They help people in poor countries learn a new skill and contribute to poverty alleviation whilst embedding in them a greater awareness of the environment.

Marina Villatoro of the TravelExperta tells a touching tale about her time volunteering at ARCAS Guatemala in ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only. It is an organization that takes care of endangered animals and rehabilitates poor creatures rescued from horrific conditions of black market trading.  Not only does she fall in love with the animals that she helps, but she falls in love with the country and her future husband.

Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift talks about her time in Nepal Teaching Young Monks. It is a post that has made us look forward to our upcoming trip where we may take some time to give back there as well. It is an excellent article talking giving first hand information as to what one can expect when they volunteer and how it can enrich our lives while making a great difference to the young boys that touched her heart so deeply.

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A friend of ours from right here in Toronto has started her own charity and is making a difference at a grassroots level.  Rebecca Sweetman Founder and Executive Director of The Paradigm Shift Project bridges the gap between local communities and NGO’s from developing countries by filming and documenting their needs.  She then can help to find suitable donors to partner with. Read more at This Global Citizen is making a difference.

You don’t have to be a regular world traveler to make a difference. Teresa Wilson shared her experience volunteering for the first time in Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience.  Having never left the continent before it was a huge leap of faith and took courage to decide to go to a remote village and build a school and help a community in need.  She has since started blogging about her thoughts and wellness at TheWellnessInYou

Erin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network stopped by to talk to us about her organization in Make a Difference with Global Volunteer Network. 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.

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In Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back, Courtney and Tom talk about how this resort is leading the pack in resorts caring about their surrounding communities. It is an eco-friendly complex that has helped to rebuild the local elementary school and has even partnered with the conservation Alliance to protect endangered wildlife. When people stay at VillasTranquilas, they can feel confident in knowing that they are supporting the local community.

Sarah Van Auken of Volunteering Global, told her story  in Volunteer Global a Valuable Resource. She talks  about starting 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.

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Akila and Patrick from The Road Forks offered to write about their time at Ranthambore National Preserve in India. We are so looking forward to going to India next week and will definitely be stopping by this Amazing Tiger Sanctuary.  They offered great information and wonderful photo’s to boot!

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One of the most interesting posts that we received was from Daniela Papi of Pepy Ride. She runs an educational non-profit organization and also a small adventure tour company too which funds the NGO in part. She is skeptical of the impact of tourism and NGOs and talks to us about the Impact of Tourism and NGO’s and how she justifies having her hand in both.

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Tendai Sean Joe, Founder of The Trail of Hope Foundation is taking on an epic journey riding a motorcycle from South Africa to Europe to raise awareness about the suffering of children around the world.  A former street child, now an international advocate for disadvantaged children and youths he is truly an inspiration to us all. Read about his story at The Trail of Hope: A Motorcycle Journey

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Adrian Reif of Friendly Planet Blog challenges all Bloggers to give back in Your Own Two Hands. He donates half of all of his revenues to people in need. He mixes his adventures with giving back and has managed to meld his two loves in life, travel and making the world a better place.

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We have loved running the Giving Back While Traveling the World Series and hope to keep it going while we are on the road.  While it won’t be happening every week, we would love to feature a traveler monthly that is making a difference out there.  We have made a vow  to give back as much as we can in our up coming travels and we thank everyone for showing us all of the unique ways that people can travel responsibly while enjoying their adventures around the world.

As Tracy from Thirsty Boots said to us, “An Adventure is amazing, but it is better when you are making a difference” Sorry for the paraphrasing Tracy, I couldn’t exactly remember your profound works:)

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Your Own Two Hands

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Today’s post comes to us from Adrian Reif from Friendly Planet.  He is doing wonderful things combining his two passions, travel and making the world a better place.   I love this post so I won’t make you spend any more time reading my words. Enjoy what Adrian has to say.

Your Own Two Hands

“I’m gonna make it a brighter place. I’m gonna make it a safer place. I’m gonna help the human race…with my own two hands.”
- Ben Harper, With My Own Two Hands (listen if you haven’t heard it before)

“Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears?”
- Bono, in foreward for The End of Poverty

Let’s start with a quick thought experiment. It’s simple. I want you to stop reading for 15 seconds and pretend that you were born in another country, somewhere less developed – Peru, Bangladesh, Zambia, Haiti. Now, imagine what your life would be like today.

• Would you have the same comforts?
• What would your education have been like?
• Where would you be working? In the family shop? Roaming the streets?
• Would you be alive?

I wasn’t born in Bangladesh. I was born in a developed country as a member of the racial majority. I’ve had amazing parents and friends who have always supported me. I’ve received educations among the best in the world – both practical and academic [not that I exhibit it ]. I have the opportunity to travel! And I’ve realized at a young age that happiness stems from being a good person, not making stacks of money. I humbly say all of this, but I say it to point out a basic assumption – that I’m one of the luckiest people in the world. I’ve lived a life a sheer joy. I have everything I could ever want (or reasonable access to it). If you ever hear me complain, slap me – hard. Life is good.

A sad reality is that billions of people face the consequences of bad luck – they don’t have the same opportunities you and I have. Should ‘luck’ continue to determine how their life plays out? As Bono says in his foreward for Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty,

“We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies – but will we be that generation?”

My Basic Argument

Consequently, my fortunate life leads me to believe I have a responsibility to help others seek the same. I want them to have what I have, to experience what I’ve experienced. That’s it – I have no great ethical or philosophical argument to prove my point. It just feels like the right thing to do. And it feels good.

The Beginnings of a Lifetime Wanderer

In 2005, I traveled to Guatemala as a member of my university’s Alternative Spring Break for a week of volunteering. It was my first international trip – an eye-opening and addictive one. We swam in volcanic lakes and hot springs and survived on cheap, delicious foods. The main goal of the trip was assisting Primeros Pasos Medical Clinic, a clinic giving basic health care to rural, impoverished school children. We repainted a building, built makeshift soccer goals from 2×4s, taught a lesson on brushing and flossing teeth, and played lots of soccer with children. Here I began to realize that everyone has the same basic needs, but not everyone has access to them; and to opportunities that could improve their quality of living.

Children Playing in Laos Village

The adrenalin of immersing in a foreign culture, receiving the warm hospitality of the people, witnessing miraculous landscapes - it was addictive. And I was hooked on travel. But my interaction with the children helped me take my new wanderlust mentality a step further. I knew I could not consciously continue to travel without returning the favor. I set out to design a way to travel that was not only enjoyable, but also helps to enrich the lives of the people who would enrich mine.

Launching Friendly Planet - The Intersection of Passions

Friendly Planet was a tangled web of thoughts for many months after leaving the States in January 2009 to travel. While fighting for sleep one night, the ideas swirled so intensely in my head that I finally sat up at 2am and mapped out Friendly Planet. It seemed like I’d finally found a way to combine some of my passions: being a responsible global citizen, wanderlust travel, and entrepreneurship. Its a chance to share my travels, but also give back while I travel. Similarly, I wanted people back home to be able to give half-way across the world while raising awareness for issues we rarely give thought to back home. In the spirit of Ben Harper’s song, it’s how I use my own two hands, but I hope it also shows that each of us have a unique way to give back.

At Friendly Planet, we talk about:

• Being responsible global citizens
• Wanderlust travel stories, tips, and advice
• People, companies, and ideas changing the world

Here’s the cool part – and most rewarding for me. We give 50% of ALL revenues away to non-profits or needing souls each month in the countries traveled through. It’s a small ‘thank you’ – thank you for allowing me to experience your culture and landscape, for pointing me in the right direction when I was lost (which happens a lot!), for opening your home, for teaching me how to smile.

Another goal is to build a small business that does good while making money, in turn flipping the assumption that capitalism and being a responsible corporation are opposing ideas. They are not. In the future, the most successful companies will see the world around them not as something to fight against, but as a partner that will fruitfully give back the more they give to it.

The Fruits of Travel

Tsering Family in Manigango, Sichuan, China

At the beginning of August, I made the first donation from Friendly Planet. I had just spent three grueling weeks working my way down western Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, near the Tibet border in China. While strongly controlled by the Chinese government, the Tibetan communities and villages provided an immense experience different from the rest of the country. The landscape was captivating – snow-capped mountain peaks, lush river valleys, and endless grasslands pocked with nomads’ tents and shaggy black yaks.

The only thing more captivating is the greeting smile of a Tibetan. Thanks to them, I learned to truly smile.

During a random and supposedly short stop in Manigango, a half-kilometer long Tibetan town, I was invited to home of three Tibetan boy monks after a chance acquaintance. There, their father, Gongga Tsering, and his wife welcomed me with open arms and stuffed my belly with endless bowls of home cooked food. We could only communicate through a small Tibetan-English schoolbook I had picked up a few days earlier and hand (and body) gestures. We spent hours pouring through that book pointing at phrases. One night after dinner, one of the boys pulled out an old Michael Jackson DVD and put it in. Gongga attempted an impersonation and one of the boys tried to moonwalk. Here I am in a remote village in western China sharing the joy of MJ’s tunes and energy! Yet, I had to somehow communicate to them that sadly, MJ’s heart had failed not to long ago – news they hadn’t received.

Later, Gong Ga insisted [by pointing to the phrase "Don't refuse"] that I stay with them instead of the hotel. I ended up staying in their beautiful Tibetan home for 2 nights. The boys took interest in learning some English. Each morning, they’d grab the book and begin practicing, consulting me when they needed help with pronunciation or reading, and would end the night by practicing phrases in their bedroom. By the end, they could say “good morning” and several other greetings, which I could return in Tibetan. Gong Ga wanted to buy the book from me for his sons, so when I left, I gave it to them as a gift. It was the least I could do…

Clicking on Donate

After an experience like this, I wanted to give so much to the Tibetan people. Thanks to Friendly Planet readers, we were able to donate over $50 to Machik.org, a non-profit that works to empower people on the Tibetan plateau through education and job training. Even though $50 is a small amount, clicking the “Donate” button was met with a rush of adrenalin knowing that we could, in some small way, improve life for someone. It amplified the joy of my time in western China.

Over the last month, we’ve also been able to give $60 to Green Watershed, an organization based in China’s Yunnan Province where I spent 2 weeks that deals with water management for ethnic tribes and has done wonders to fight the impending damming of China’s rivers. Their Executive Director is surveilled closely by the Communist Party, which let’s me know he’s doing something good. Recently, we purchased over $80 in books from Big Brother Mouse, an organization in Luang Prabang, Laos dedicated to making reading fun for Lao children and giving many children probably their first book ever. After spending a little time teaching English here and meeting with Sasha, a retired American book publisher and BBM’s founder, I purchased over 60 children’s stories to take with me during a 2-day trek into the countryside. As we stopped in the last village, school wasn’t in session so my trekking guide introduced me to the teacher, who dutifully inventoried the books with a few other parents and thanked me. Interestingly, other adults curiously picked up a book or two and began to intently read through, probably the first time they’ve seen a children’s story on a page! Also, the trek was guided by Tiger Trails, a local guide service known for its “sustainable tourism.” About 30% of the trek cost goes into the Village Development Fund for the rural villages we passed through and is only used for infrastructure improvements. If I’m going to hike through their back yards and rice fields and sleep in their villages, I’m going to make sure they get a good chunk of the money!

After China, I’ve spent the last month and a half in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. For August and September, Friendly Planet will be making donations to Green Watershed, an advocacy organization in China’s Yunnan Province, and Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire (AFESIP), an organization working tirelessly to help women and children who’ve been or might be affected by sex trafficking in Cambodia.

After only 3 months, Friendly Planet has given away over $100 from ad-based revenue alone (i.e. readers clicking on ads to support the site). Another anonymous donor (even though I don’t solicit donations) has contributed $500 to be distributed over the coming months.

“Books for Laos” Campaign

Big Brother Mouse Books

Just like traveling, contributing to Friendly Planet continues to surprise and energize me. I recently learned about Big Brother Mouse, an organization that is increasing literacy in Laos by creating and distributing fun and educational children’s books. I’ve heard spectacular reviews of this country, but it continues to be one of the poorest in the region. Since I will be spending October in Laos and doing some work with Big Brother Mouse, I’ve decided to launch a small “Books for Laos” Campaign. For $250, we can sponsor a book party where Big Brother Mouse staff will go out into a village, teach 80-100 children how to use the books (probably their first ever books), and leave them with a small library. So, Friendly Planet will be giving all revenues for October up to $125 along with another $125 match to support this project. It’s an ambitious goal for such a small site, but I believe in the power of people.

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The Impact of NGO’s and Voluntourism

For the past couple of months we have been running a Giving Back while Traveling Series here at theplanetd.  We have been searching for different ways that travelers have given back to the communities that they visit and how they have helped the local population.  It has been a very inspiring series and we are learning a great deal on what we can do when we leave for India next month.

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 by Erin 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

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Volunteering Global, a Valuable Resource

Today’s Guest Post in our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference comes to us from Sarah Van Auken.

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.

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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 by Erin 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

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Make a Difference with The Global Volunteer Network

Today’s post in our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series comes to us from Erin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network.  I am absolutely in awe of the people that I am meeting in the travel community on the Internet.

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.

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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

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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

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