December 32, I'm outta here!
- Schedule the dog sitters...check!
- Book the flight...check!
- Pack the clothes...check!
- Instruct nephew on furnace operation...check
- Ask neighbor to watch house as said nephew will be alone (?)...check!
And off I go on another relaxing sunny island getaway...check. Well, not really relaxing...shall we say another tension-filled, crazy-making, sunny island getaway to Haiti? (yeah, I know I wrote about Haiti last weekend, but this was scheduled, and...)
Beach near Jacmel
Come with me on a jaunt to the lands of volunteer tourism - travel with a purpose. I'll share mine if you share yours...
Welcome to another travel diary. This was begun as a franchise diary. I am the guest-host this weekend. Please leave a note in the comments to sign up for a slot. At the end of this diary is a growing list of us folks who are interested in hosting visitors. This list will grow, and anyone who hosts should include it. Again, if you would like to be added to that list or removed, please leave a note in the comments.
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I've never been a good tourist. Once I've skimmed through a guide book, I'm no longer interested in seeing what they describe. I don't sit on a beach comfortably, and am not awed by cathedrals. I want to see what's around that corner, down that other road, I want to see what's growing in that garden, see how other people spend their days, and I really want to have something to do. Just can't sit still very well.
Over the years I've been blessed with travel to some great locations - Europe, all the way across Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Mexico, and lately Haiti. All but three of these trips had a purpose and I had a reason to be where I was, beside the pure and wonderful fascination of travel.
My first expeditions were for IZE conferences, which as a zoo docent, I volunteered to go to (no - I had to pay my own way). This technique led me through the Netherlands, Belgium, Eastern and Western Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, southern Australia (including a week in Tasmania) and New Zealand. I was on a mission everywhere I went to see the zoos, meet the educators, check out children's programming, see the animals.
Next I traveled to the USSR and later Russia as part of an exchange program, staying in homes, swapping culture, language faux pas, and plenty of laughs.
These days I just want to be useful, and thus found myself, along with thousands of others, traveling to the Gulf Coast to help with Katrina Relief:
And for the last three years I have been going down to Haiti to spend time with friends, and yes, help out a bit. I have mixed feelings about why I go, and whether we are helping, so I wanted to open floor to any thoughts about volunteer tourism, and share some of the info I have found.
Beyond the Peace Corps, there are more and more opportunities to have an active and productive travel experience. Here is a random list of websites offering info and opportunities: http://www.hodr.org/http://www.serveyourworld.com/, http://www.i-to-i.com/, http://www.transitionsabroad.com/..., http://www.volunteerinternational.org/, http://www.idealist.org/, http://www.drh-movement.org/, http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/.... I don't vouch for any of these groups, it's just a reflection of how many people are interested in volunteer vacations, and how many places offer that as an option. I do know many of the opportunities ask for specific skills, long-term commitments, or a large bundle of money (admin fees?) in addition to travel expenses. I have none of the above. Many faith groups sponsor mission/volunteer trips. I have run into people from all over who are traveling with their fellow worshipers, mucking houses after hurricanes, cleaning up after floods, building school desks and digging wells, checking blood pressures. In my experience, these groups may be open to non-parishioners, as is the case with Nechama, a Minnesota-based Jewish community's disaster response organization. 'Voluntourism' is also a growing business, many, many companies springing up offering a chance to dirty hands while in a unique environment.
So what do I do? Nothing earth-shattering - I help change diapers and feed children at a feeding center run by the Sisters of Charity in Port au Prince. Sorry - no photos are allowed of the children. I don't have too many skills (I'm a landscaper by trade), so changing diapers is really about my speed. I also help at the Sister's street clinic cleaning and bandaging the most god-awful wounds. Again - no fancy skill set here.
I also help with the water truck deliveries, though I'm really more in the way and understand that we blans are just being humored.
I bring down seeds to give to gardeners, try to connect with groups doing reforestation work, and try to facilitate some minor relief efforts for a smattering of small projects. Not wanting to completely miss the place I'm in, I take walks by the ocean and up into the hills, check out the local arts (great carvings, masks, sequined voudon flags, metalware, amazing paintings and basketry), do a little salsa dancing at night, share a rhum punch with friends, eat the street food (mmmm - rice and beans, rice with a bean sauce, grilled chicken or goat, all served with a tangy, hot 'pikel'), and stumble along in the language. And, oh how I can butcher kreyol!
In the mountains near Furcy
A restaurant and a crazy music truck blaring kompa for Carnaval
Carnaval getups in Jacmel
Lots of my activities are based from my home in Minnesota, where there seem to be a lot of efforts based. But what am I really doing? Any thing of value? any good at all? or am I simply making myself feel better? Getting a donor's high?
In a place like Haiti is it easy to think you are making a difference, small as it might be. Money, medical supplies, children's clothing, food, seeds, tanker trucks and bobcats all get used and absorbed into the system. In a place like Haiti, with the poverty and desperation so blatant, guilt can be overwhelming: the contrast between my life in the States, and their life in truly abject poverty is so clear, most people are easily influenced to do whatever they can. But then you run into the cons - literally - people who run elaborate scams to sucker you into giving money. Everyone has a sob story and most are real. Or perhaps you step back a bit and notice that year in and year out, nothing really changes; bureaucracies, corruption, and even NGOs and aid groups maintain a self-perpetuating system of 'charity'. Everyone wants to feel good about helping the orphans, poor, disabled, sick, homeless .... just fill in the blank. Am I contributing to that? Am I helping to maintain a culture of entitlement? Gak.
I don't have an answer, but I am trying to work with more sustainable efforts, and projects that focus on children and education. I admit that I feel better about my life when I am engaged like this, but don't want to be sucked into a do-good mentality. I think there is a balance that can be found; experiencing the challenges and wonder of travel, getting dirt under your nails volunteering, and using my time and meager resources to facilitate helpful change in this small world.
Okay - now it's your turn - tell us where you've been, or where you are dreaming of going! I'm all ears!
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Volunteer hosts, by country and state (in the USA). If you are traveling to a city, please contact the person listed to see what they can do for you.
They may be able to host a person, or have a meal, or just offer advice. Note (although it seems obvious) they are not obligated to anything these are just people who have told me what cities or areas they live in. Also, any arrangements you make are between you and the person you write to.
USA:
Alabama - left my heart
Arizona
Phoenix - Leftcandid
California
Northern Orange County - Seneca Doane
Sacramento - tgypsy
San Diego - SDChelle (can offer advice)
Southern - Jbeaudill
Colorado
Lakewood/Denver - carver
DC area
lulu57
Florida - ObamOcala
Oceanview
Panhandle area - panicbean
Hawaii
Purple Priestess (can give information)
Indiana
Southern part of state - kathryn1812
Maine
Coastal Islands - ksingh
Massachusetts
oceanview
Boston - tnichlsn
Minnesota
Minneapolis - parryander
New Jersey - Blue Jersey Mom
New Mexico -
Santa Fe and north - claude
Albuquerque - votingformydaughtersfuture
New York
New York City - plf515, LarryinNYC, DrSteveB
North Carolina
Charlotte - eeff
Chapel Hill - chunyang
Oregon
Portland - arenosa
coastal - Jbeaudill
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh - Pandoras Box, housesella
Lancaster - spedwybabs
Central PA, Harrisburg - wishingwell
South Carolina
Charleston – CamillesDad1
Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains - RantNRaven
Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth - drchelo
Vermont
North-central - 4freedom
Virgin Islands Caneel
Washington
Leavenworth - marlakay
I-90, WI-MN border - 1864 House
Other countries:
Canada
Alberta – TexMex
Montreal - dragOn
Thunder Bay - Howth of Murth
Vacounver - Purple Priestess (can give information)
China
Shanghai - mweens
Colombia
Bogata - bogbud
Costa Rica - Alice Olson
Croatia - seenos
England
London - shazzbot
France
Lyon - melanchthon
Germany - lizah
Italy
Rome - lizah
Mexico
Cancun, playa del Carmen, Tulum - davidseth
Colonial Mexico - TKWow
Jalisco (SW Mexico) - mango
Scotland
Edinburgh - SDChelle
Thailand - anniesamui
Bangkok - Shunpike
Upcoming Contributors:
Dec 21 - Ed in Montana
Dec 28 - TKwow on colonial Mexico
Previous Diaries:
Dec 7, 08 - http://www.dailykos.com/...
Nov 30, 08 - http://www.dailykos.com/...
Nov 9, 08 - http://www.dailykos.com/...