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Travel with Purpose: A Field Guide to Voluntourism
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About Travel With Purpose: A Field Guide To Voluntourism
Product Description Imagine yourself in a schoolroom in one of the most remote regions of one of the most hard-to-reach countries on earth. Nepal. The Lower Mustang region to be exact. To reach it takes a 14-hour flight from New York to Doha, Qatar. Then four hours by air to Kathmandu. Transfer at one of the world’s most dangerous airports to a 90-minute flight to Pokhara, followed by a jarring, eight-hour Jeep ride over a vertiginous dirt road – one side is a mountain wall, the other side a two-hundred foot cliff. Finally you arrive, but it’s not just any schoolroom. It has been converted into an operating room so that doctors from New York Eye & Ear Infirmary can provide the gift of sight to 24 Nepalis who were blind due to advanced cataracts. Jeff Blumenfeld witnessed this first hand. He was there as a traveler, but also as a volunteer. A voluntourist. People often wonder how they can explore the world and help the less fortunate even if they don’t possess specialized skills. These are people who make lousy vacationers. They’re bored sitting on a beach or touring umpteen churches on a cruise ship excursion. They want a meaningful role when they travel. That’s where voluntourism comes in – a mix of both travel and volunteering. Is it hard work building wells and schoolhouses or excavating dinosaur bones? Yes, it is. But voluntourism doesn’t take a particular outdoor skill, just plenty of sweat and the desire to see the world and leave it a better place. Travel With Purpose deals not with celebrities, nor the rich and famous. Instead, it relays examples from Blumenfeld’s travels and many others from Las Vegas to Nepal. From health care facilities to impoverished schools. These are stories of inspiration from everyday people, all of whom have definite opinions about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation. You don’t need to be wealthy to travel to foreign lands to volunteer; you may not even have to go to foreign lands, as opportunities may exist within your own state. Blumenfeld shows readers how to identify the right location and volunteer situation, how to go about planning trips and preparing for activities, how to reach out, how to help. Through vivid examples and first hand stories from both recipients of volunteer work and the volunteers themselves, Travel with Purpose may make you rethink your next vacation. Review Starred Review: Well-traveled expert Blumenfeld ( You Want to Go Where? , 2009) shares many ways to combine the spirit of volunteerism with a vacation. As he tells stories of his own good deeds abroad—being part of a medical mission in Nepal, chaperoning a high-school expedition to Antarctica—he also expounds on this booming sub-industry, its growth, how to select the right project, and the good and not-so-great sides of volunteering outside of the U.S. He writes well, with a good eye for memorable details, and provides a wealth of do’s and don'ts for starting to help readers learn new skills, lower expectations about what the work will be, avoid some of the darker issues (such as lack of sustainability and, unfortunately, human trafficking), and fund the project. Among his stories and advice are tales of a just-married couple who raised funds to enjoy a volun-honeymoon, and a young woman who fundraised through a unique combination of creative food-related events. Blumenfeld leaves almost nothing to the imagination, with appendixes on volunteerism resources, best travel applications, favorite travel books, and volunteerism videos, along with notes and a bibliography. Who wouldn’t agree with Albert Schweitzer? "Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you.", Booklist, Starred Review Blumenfeld places the rise of volunteerism into context, offers tips for choosing worthy projects and insights into adapting and tolerating suboptimal living conditions, safety advice, and examples of various voluntourist trips taken by himself, friends, and acquaintances. The author does not shy away from
