From November to January each year, the dry, dusty landscape of northeastern Thailand hides its secrets well. It’s in this setting that archaeologist Charles Higham stares out across an archaeological dig that he’s spent six seasons working on. “Once you’ve tasted archaeology here, it’s hard to go anywhere else,” he says.
Talk quickly turns to the people around him, as Higham points out a simple, salient fact about the dig: it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of volunteers. Over six years, that’s meant dozens of people working for a week or two over each of the three-month seasons. Volunteers from the nonprofit Earthwatch Institute help with manual labor. But in the case of this dig at Ban Non Wat, in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima, they also spend hours poring over shards of pottery, piecing them and their history back together. The dig begun by archaeologist Higham pieced together a Bronze Age burial ground dating back to 1200 b.c. uncovering human remains and pottery that help explain the transformation of small farming villages to the rise of empires in Southeast Asia. Volunteers work in excavation; curating, cleaning and processing finds, reconstructing ceramics, inputting data, and mapping the site for future work. At any given time there are 15 volunteers, an equal number of staff and 40 villagers.
While Higham is more than happy with the help he receives from volunteers, what he might not recognize is that it’s part of a growing trend in what’s been dubbed “voluntourism.” Based in the US, Earthwatch Institute alone offers 120 projects in more than 40 countries, all with the aim of promoting a sustainable environment. It’s only one of dozens of organizations offering the chance to give something back while on vacation. Aside from archaeological digs, there are trips with educational, medical, environmental and anti-poverty components. Some last a few hours, others extend into several months, but there is something for everyone.
Most volunteer trips aren’t archaeological digs. PEPY Tours specializes in fostering literacy by building rural schools and teaching in Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam. A cycling journey down the Mekong is typical of the type of trip on offer. Participants spend three quarters of their time touring, while the rest of the journey is given over to working on literacy projects. A hint: find out how much time is spent on volunteer work and how much on your vacation. Some trips consist entirely of volunteering, others very little. The PEPY (Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself) plan starts in advance of any trip. In addition to the US$975 for the 11-day vacation, participants are expected to raise at least US$750 before the first push of a pedal. Most get well beyond this benchmark: one raised more than US$13,000.
That brings about the key question of volunteer vacations: how much of the money actually gets to the charity? In the PEPY case, all of it. “This year, our funding will go to support a community in [Cambodia’s] Chanleas Dai commune,” explains Daniela Ruby Papi, “where we are expanding our educational programs to include Khmer reading classes for students, adding an additional staff member for the library and expanding our support to include secondary school as well this year.” That plan will cost more than US$50,000 by the time it’s completed.
Ruby Papi says that volunteering with a program that is involved in an ongoing project, rather than simply visiting the work of any given program, should be a key goal for everyone. For the most part, the more time a volunteer spends on a project, the more both sides benefit.
Teaching English could almost be considered a fallback option for travelers looking to scrounge up some extra cash on an extended trip in Asia. These days, there are more structured variations on the idea such as teaching English to park rangers and tour guides in Laos. That’s what a group called Open Mind Projects does in the far south of the country in the Xe Pian National Protected Area. Within this park are at least 13 endangered mammals, along with ongoing problems of poaching and logging. So Open Minds Projects combines education and environmentalism, aiming to teach the advantages of protecting wildlife and the environment, in essence promoting sustainable tourism to provide revenue for locals. In addition to learning English, which is then used to guide tourists through the area, volunteers help survey flora and fauna in the park, passing on this knowledge to the local population as well.
Where most volunteer vacations are open to anyone, some require expertise in a specific area. So always enquire how a volunteer group will be able to use your specific skills. For instance, the Mountain Fund offered a two-week trek to a remote corner of Nepal where medical professionals are required to staff clinics. The focus for doctors, nurses and paramedics is on disease prevention and public health training in this region that is susceptible to acute respiratory infections and intestinal problems.
Aside from a free day in Kathmandu both at the beginning and end of the trip, day clinics are interspersed with treks between villages in the Annapurna region of the country, camping in tents at night. The US$1,900 cost of this program covers all in-country expenses, though not airfare to Nepal.
Organizers are quick to point out that non-medical volunteers do sign on with this plan, working on logistics—on the last trip, up to 150 patients a day showed up at the makeshift clinics, while the trek itself is a project requiring management.
In addition to paying for the logistics of any trek, Mountain Fund also uses the money raised to pay for medicine and medical supplies, US$3,000 worth on the last trip. After that, the remaining funds are funneled into a specific project, the latest being a new health clinic in Thulo Syabru, a village of about 70 homes north of Kathmandu near Tibet, something that took three years to turn into reality.
Mountain Fund’s founder Scott MacLennan says the ongoing connection with the same people and villages is what makes the Mountain Fund stand apart from other volunteer plans. In some cases, those associations date back six years. “It’s a family affair and by the time you leave, they are your friends too,” he says. Volunteers often keep in touch with their newfound friends by e-mail and via a newsletter the fund puts out. As with any worthwhile trip, it’s not just the destination that is memorable, but also the chance to meet local people and learn about their lives.
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Guide to Volunteering
ResponsibleTravel.com
Handpicked inspiring holidays from all over the globe to give you a fantastic experience and make a real difference to local people and the environment.
www.responsibletravel.com
Earthwatch Institute
3 Clock Tower Place, Suite 100, Maynard, Maine, US; 1-978/461-0081
www.earthwatch.org
PEPY Tours
The 11-day Mekong cycling trip requires participants to raise US$750. Anyone interested should be able to cycle 60 kilometers in a day. P.O. Box 1235, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; 855/092 361-849
www.pepytours.com
Open Minds Projects
The Laotian program is geared towards those who have time on their hands. 1039/3 Keawworawut Rd., Nong Khai, Thailand; 66-87/233-5734;
www.openmindsprojects.org
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