One of our volunteers in Ghana this summer – Liz from Newton, Massachussettes – raised over $10,000 USD for orphans and other children in the town of Kpando and surrounding communities.

During her two-week stay in Ghana, she volunteered at an orphanage, while working with local orphanage directors and child advocates establishing plans for the money. We are happy to report that the funds are being used to provide things like health care and tuition scholarships for over 100 children.

One of the orphanages where we send volunteers was also able to purchase a car, to assist the directors with their work with the children, including taking them to doctor visits.

Elowyn is currently in Delhi volunteering with street children. She also volunteered with Cosmic last year in Ghana. Here is one of her recent blog posts:

Yesterday was my first day of work [in Delhi]…I’m working in a PCI shelter for street boys between the ages of 5 and 18. Until the 28th, there will be two other volunteers working with me: Druvahl and Kavi, Londoners of Kenyan descent.

One of the things we did yesterday, after teaching in the morning, was an outreach trip to the local bus center. There we saw and talked to (those of us that spoke Hindi talked to) about 20 street children aged between 8 and 12ish, most of whom we weren’t allowed to take into the shelter since they were drug addicts. As we spoke to a group of them, they passed around a cloth which they took turns sniffing. We found some perspective children, but since they looked like foreigners (they were runaways from Nepal) they were prime targets for the pimps that were also looking for children, and wouldn’t trust us. This is apparently normal, and we’ll go back almost every day to build up a reputation with them.

Around 3:00, we took the kids out to play soccer in a nearby field. There were 15 of us from the shelter, and more neighborhood children joined in part way through, so we ended up with a game of over twenty. I, as the only woman and obvious foreigner, drew looks as I whooped and yelled and got covered in mud. It was clear, after, that the boys respected me for it, as well as for jumping up and down and waving my arms as I taught, and systematically beating them all at arm wrestling.

The monsoon season started early this year, with the first storms coming on the Sunday before I arrived. This is the earliest they’ve begun in 108 years, which makes the weather a legitimate topic of conversation.

There’s so much to write about: my host family, the kids, the language, the roads, all the oxymorons of life here, the buses, the heat, the humidity, the other volunteers, I don’t know that I could ever do it all justice. Ask me about it in seven weeks. I won’t be able to describe life here. If I start really trying, I won’t be able to stop. Everything here is such an amalgamation… without touching on the whole, each point I make, however true it may be, is looking at close surroundings through a telescope: distorted, inflated, and by omission, nothing like the real world. I’m happy, if that’s the most important point. I feel genuine, genuinely liked, and strong. I care enormously about the individual people here, much more than I anticipated I would. There are major imperfections, but the workarounds are part of what I love most about being here. There is a constant flood of activity, the result of which, for many of the people I see daily and work with, is survival.

In the slums it is impossible to doubt life. Not only are there constant reminders of our own physicality–the sweat literally dripping off of us, the heat, the dirt, and, as the day passes, a mounting exhaustion–but no one shelters any doubts as to what the lack of life, however transient death may be here, looks like. The flies swarm dead rats and dogs in the streets, and although the closest I’ve personally come to seeing human death so far is the occasional procession of men carrying a body covered in flowers on a stretcher, other volunteers have talked of seeing dead children in bags on the side of the street.

Of course it bears mentioning that there are areas and aspects of Delhi to which none of this applies. There is a strong upper class which is intellectually unparalleled by most of what I’ve seen at home or while traveling. There are beautiful bookstores and small cafes, gleaming parks and breathtaking temples and monuments, tombs and gardens.

I, working in Old Delhi, simply don’t see affluence as much as I do its counterpart. I’m trying to describe again. There’s no hope for narration, as I explained earlier, but I can give you facts. In response to a comment on my last post (and I’m sorry I can’t remember all your questions, who ever you are), the children, with one exception, speak only a few words of English each. We communicate by facial expressions and body language. They’re teaching me Hindi, but I’m painfully slow.

At the moment, I’m working with a British man named Alex. He’s a great guy, very easy to get along with. This is his first stop on a round the world trip he decided to take after quitting his job. I’m living in South Delhi, and working in Old Delhi. I take the bus most days, but it took a bit of getting used to; on one of my first days of work, I was lifted about six inches off the floor by the pressure of bodies around me, and almost lost a shoe to the crush as I got out.

When Alex and I don’t want to deal with the bus, we take an auto rickshaw. Cycle rickshaws are also widely available. Udit (a brilliant poet my own age, who also happens to be a wonderful person) and I walked in the first Delhi Pride Parade last weekend. Homosexuality is illegal here, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In surrounding countries, it is met with the death penalty. There have been minor pride parades in India before, with 20-30 people, but ours, expected to bring in about 200, was closer to 1,000. The next day, there was a front page article on it in The Times of India, the photo for which featured, among others, a very cheerful me.

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Charly Nguyen and Prima Sung recently completed a three-week volunteer teaching program in Peru.

They were assigned to a service in El Rimac, north of downtown, teaching English to a group of about 15 children.

Charly is an MBA student concentrating in international business. Prima, from Hong Kong, is also a graduate student living in Hempstead, New York.

Charly just sent us some feedback and photos about the experience:

I had a wonderful time in Peru, especially with the kids. They were absolutely wonderful. This experience definitely has changed me and I hope to impact some of the kids in some way. I would love to volunteer again.

The host family was amazingly nice and fantastic. Prima and I had such a great time with them. [Our Coordinator] Celia was such a great help with everything.

We did have time to do some sightseeing and traveling also. We had a chance on the weekends to see much of Peru. One weekend was dedicated to Lima, the next was up to Churin and the last weekend we spent at Cuzco (where Machu Picchu is). Thank you for a wonderful experience.

The U.S.-based staff of Lonely Planet has named their top three hotspots. The No. 1 choice was China, cited for its varied topography, interesting culture, affordability and emergence as a high-profile world power. According to Chinese statistics, there were 1.56 million travelers to China from the US in 2005, up 1.9 percent from 2004. The US is the fourth biggest source of tourists to China.

Many organizations, including my nonprofit Cosmic Volunteers, charge volunteers fees to volunteer abroad in their programs.

This might seem strange or unfair at first glance, but take a look at how volunteer organization Cross-Cultural responds to this issue on it website:

> The local organizations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing, feeding and transporting you, among numerous other things.) If they did have the financial resources to pay an international volunteer, it would almost certainly be more beneficial and cost-effective to hire a local person instead, someone who already knows the language and culture and is likely to stick around.

> Identifying appropriate host organizations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.

> The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap. Additional services such as health care, re-entry assistance, travel medical insurance, and more, all add to the expenses of a program.

> The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.

Sun Herald
Sunday March 13, 2005
by Michael Gebicki

A suntan might be a positive holiday symbol, but doing good is far more satisfactory, Michael Gebicki reports.

DESPITE the tremendous misery wrought by the Asian tsunami, the event has also demonstrated that the world has a big heart. In the aftermath of the biggest natural disaster in living history, people everywhere have reached deep into their pockets and contributed massively to assist those whose lives were torn apart. Along with cash, many volunteered their skills and time to help the afflicted, and in the process focused attention on a very different kind of travel experience the holiday with a heart.

From working in a Romanian orphanage to documenting vanishing wildlife in Madagascar, the world is full of people wanting to help, and anyone can do it. If you want something substantial from your holidays, the light that shines from a small face when you’ve just brought some magic into his or her life surely beats a suntan and a souvenir T-shirt hands down.

Here are some organisations that can help you do something good for the world.

EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE

Dedicated to conserving Earth’s natural resources and cultural heritage, the Earthwatch Institute takes ordinary people along with scientists on its field projects. This year Earthwatch will support more than 130 expeditions in 47 countries, sending almost 4000 paying volunteers into the field to work alongside ecologists, botanists, zoologists and archaeologists. While involvement is pricey, the expeditions are straight from the adventurer’s book of dreams. Sign up with the Earthwatch Institute and you can spend your next holidays surveying coral reefs in the Bahamas, working on a cheetah conservation program in Namibia or unravelling the threads of the Khmer civilisation in eastern Thailand.

Earthwatch Australia
126 Bank Street, South Melbourne
Victoria 3205. www.earthwatch.org.

AIDCAMPS INTERNATIONAL

AidCamps International allows volunteers with no specialist skills to participate in short-term, Third World development projects while experiencing local culture. This is practical, hands-on assistance that gives some of the world’s most impoverished people the chance of a better life. Without AidCamps’ assistance, these projects would not happen. Typically, volunteers work with skilled locals. Project work usually takes place in the mornings only, to allow volunteers to experience local culture and to visit regional heritage sites. The cost of joining an AidCamps operation is moderate and participants are required to donate towards a minimum fund-raising target, either through a personal donation or fund-raising activities. This year AidCamps will run programs in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Cameroon, with the focus on building primary schools.

AidCamps International
5 Simone Court, Dartmouth Road
London, SE26 4RP, England.
www.aidcamps.org.

BIOSPHERE EXPEDITIONS

Fancy a fortnight counting snow leopards in the mountains of Central Asia’s Altai Republic? Or what about surveying macaws and other wildlife in the Peruvian Amazon? Biosphere Expeditions promotes sustainable conservation and wildlife preservation projects in all parts of the globe, operating expeditions that link keen amateurs with local scientists. These are not tours or photographic safaris but genuine scientific expeditions that aim to benefit wildlife as well as local societies and environments. No special scientific skills are required to join and there are no age limits, and expeditioners can sign on for varying lengths of time.

Biosphere Expeditions
Sprats Water, near Carlton Colville
The Broads National Park
Suffolk NR33 8BP, England
www.biosphere-expeditions.org.

ORANG-UTAN FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL

The orang-utan is in trouble as it is threatened by logging, poaching and the loss of its habitat to agriculture. Established by Dr Birute Galdikas, the world’s leading orang-utan authority, the Orang-utan Foundation International supports conservation and research programs on the orang-utan and its rainforest habitat and also cares for animals freed from captivity until they can be returned to forests throughout South-East Asia. The OFI’s field volunteer program enables volunteers from around the world to help develop infrastructure in Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan, in Indonesian Borneo. Teams of volunteers build and expand trails and work on other structural enhancements that support conservation field operations. Teams spend a minimum of six weeks in the field with the option of an extension. An 11-day study tour with a similar hands-on feel is another option.

Orang-utan Foundation International
4201 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 407, Los Angeles, CA 90010 USA
www.orangutan.org/tours/volunteer.php.

COSMIC VOLUNTEERS

Founded by an American teacher who had his first helping-hand experience in Nepal, Cosmic Volunteers gives support to local people in Ecuador, Ghana, India, Nepal and the Philippines, while offering volunteers the chance to learn about those cultures. Cosmic Volunteers’ programs are run entirely by local professionals and a wide choice of work is available in these countries in teaching, medicine, orphanages, social work, business studies, environmental action and HIV/AIDS, both in rural and urban frameworks. Except for the medical program, which requires volunteers with formal training, Cosmic Volunteers simply requires fluency in English, enthusiasm and an open mind. Volunteers stay with a local host family that provides a private room and all meals. The cost is $200 a month and a placement lasts anything from 10 days to a year. Language classes and sightseeing tours enhance the experience.

Cosmic Volunteers, Inc
PO Box 11738, Philadelphia,
PA 19101 USA.
www.cosmicvolunteers.com.

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS

Global Volunteers is a US organisation that provides assistance to community projects in about 20 countries, including the Cook Islands, Romania, Tanzania, Ireland and the US. Formed to assist small, deprived, rural communities to become self-reliant, GV has expanded its role to include working with infants in Eastern Europe, teaching English in Ghana and assisting Down syndrome children in Quito, Ecuador. Although most volunteers come from the US and Canada, all nationalities, ages and skills are welcome and no special language or professional skills are required. Service programs last between one and three weeks, although those who wish can usually sign up for longer. Free time in the program allows volunteers to explore and experience their location and its culture.

Global Volunteers
375 East Little Canada Road
St Paul, MN 55117-1628 USA.
www.globalvolunteers.org.

PEACE TREES VIETNAM

More than a quarter of a century after the Vietnam War ended, US landmines continue to maim and kill at an average rate of almost one a week in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Tri. Most of the victims are children. PeaceTrees Vietnam is a grassroots humanitarian project of the Earthstewards Network, which is helping to reverse the legacy of war in the province. Although its main thrust is raising funds for the clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance, PeaceTrees also organises diplomacy trips which allow volunteers to participate in restoration activities mainly tree-planting field trips with Vietnamese villagers, with whom they share meals and cultural evenings. There are also sightseeing tours and visits to schools. Trips last from 16 to 18 days.

PeaceTrees Vietnam
PO Box 10697, Bainbridge Island,
WA 98110 USA.
www.peacetreesvietnam.org.

© 2005 Sun Herald

Penny, an American who works in Africa for Habitat For Humanity in Africa, volunteered in our turtle program in Costa Rica in the spring of 2003. Here are some of her thoughts on the experience:

I loved being in Costa Rica! I loved it soo much I am considering going back this summer for another few days. Seeing the beautiful majestic animals is an experience you soon won’t forget. The Turtle Project is a diamond in the rough, very grassroots, community people helping themselves. Turning what could be a tragic thing (turtle poaching and killing) into something positive. Walking the beaches at night was very centering and peaceful. The time just flew!

I do not speak Spanish and most of the time it wasn’t a problem. Jason, the young man who started the project, has an American mother. She has lived in the community for over 25 years (she’s a former Peace Corp volunteer). She was a great conduit to between American (westerner) culture and Costa Rican.

The community is very small (450 people). There are no cars. The only way to reach there is by boat. I know, hard to imagine, but worth experiencing for yourself. The family I stayed with I recommend you stay with them as well.

I did not speak Spanish and it worked out really nice. Their names are Oscar and Ida with their 5 year old daughter. Every day Ida showed me something new. We went horseback riding for 2 hours, walks through the rain forest, meeting her family in another community. Worth it!

The transfer to the site was seamless. Eta was very informative and attentive. She spoke decent English.

I would Highly recommend that you go and enjoy Costa Rica. It was my first trip to that part of the world and it was amazing. I am pretty well travelled and work outside the US. Basically, it takes a great deal to get me excited but travelling to Costa Rica did that.

Things you should bring with you that are not mentioned in the list. Pack dark clothes to wear on the beach. Light clothes can cause the turtles not to lay their eggs. Also, long pants to wear while walking. The sea fleas bite so the more covered you are the better.

It is not advisable to walk barefoot on the beach. There is some debris, so nice comfortable walking beach shoes are a must. Oh, something I didn’t bring, that I wish I had, items from home: pictures, magazines, items from your home town, etc.

The community is very out going and friendly. The community will visit you, this is a good conversation piece.

Oh, if you are staying a long time, more than 2 weeks, you may consider doing some other activities outside the community and to see more of Costa Rica.

One last thing, Scott Burke [from Cosmic Volunteers] is very responsive to your needs. I did feel there was a safety net while I was in Costa Rica.

Good luck…

Take a Walk on the World Side
Sunday 17 August 2003
The Observer
by Oliver Mann

An estimated 50,000 18-year-olds will leave the country after receiving their A-level results this year, either to take a break from academic study or to get over the pain and rethink their options. Either way, gap year travellers have never had a greater choice of activities. Follow in the footsteps of Prince Harry as he heads off to Australia, the most popular destination for British gappers, or go seal spotting in the Falklands – the possibilities are endless.

According to Gapyear.com, the average gapper spends around £3,000 on their trip and stays off British soil for four months. Tell your parents that statistically it’s safer to go on a gap year than to go to university, and you’ll be on your way to Borneo before they can say Bristol.

Teach English in Nepal
Move from one side of the classroom to the other by teaching Nepalese children English, or anything else you are proficient in. According to Cosmic Volunteers, a Philadelphia-based charity, they even had a volunteer teach circus acrobatics. You won’t be alone in teaching the children, aged between six and 17, as all the classes have permanent staff and their own lesson plans. If you can’t handle living in a farming village without TV or McDonald’s, perhaps this is not the one for you.

Where? Chitwan, five hours outside Kathmandu, Nepal
How long? One to three months or more
How much? From $450 for one month to $1,025 for three months, $200 per extra month, including travel within Nepal, meals and accommodation with host family and some sightseeing
Contact: Cosmic Volunteers

Here are the visa requirement for Cosmic Volunteers host countries:

Costa Rica: No visa required for visitors of most western countries. Maximum stay of 90 days per visit.

Ghana: Visa required. Must be obtained before arrival. Three-month initial visa. Visas can be extended while in Ghana.

India: Visa required. Must be obtained before arrival. Maximum stay of 6 months (180 days) per visit.

Nepal: Visa required. Can be obtained at airport upon arrival. Maximum stay of 5 months per calendar year.