There’s work and there’s play. And if you so desire, there’s the work vacation or work-ation as a volunteer that gives you the best of both the worlds, be it language lessons in Africa, community projects in the Caribbean, women’s charitable work in Morocco or cleaning up a lake in Idaho. Not only are today’s itinerant travelers seeing hidden gems across the world, but they are enriching their lives with work ethics and paving their way to see new worlds to broaden their horizons. Living like locals, touring cities on buses, taking hop-on-hop-off tours, or sailing on a yacht is like browsing a picture book at best, but these people want to get under the skin of the country they are in, understand its people, culture, language, food and way of life. So these volunteer vacations are the best way to feel like a local. And since a gap year is something that most Indian parents would find appalling, the next best bet is to take a volunteer vacation. Although, this new trend is still at a nascent stage in India, many are taking this route to embellish their wanderlust. And the lessons one can learn are truly wonderful. Volunteer tourism might be just what you’re looking for this summer.
Under the ghanaian sun Volunteering in a different country, for at least one summer should be a mandatory part of every educational institute’s curriculum feels Bengaluru-based Tara Khan, entrepreneur LBOF: A Little Bit of Fabulous. Tara volunteered as a primary school teacher in a village in Ghana for two months, while exploring Africa and also backpacked to neighbouring countries after the job. She shares, “The primary reason I volunteered while on a holiday was self-exploration. Being in the comfort of our homes, more often than not, we are mangled with responsibilities, expectations, obligations and sheer routine.
Our thoughts and judgements get clouded with preconceived ideas that we need to come up for some air every once in a while to actually stick your head out and give yourself a chance to understand what you are actually looking for.”
While teaching English at a local primary school in a mountain village in the Volta Region of Ghana for two months, Tara also volunteered to build a teachers block for the same school. “I would walk two miles to the river bed to extract wet sand to make red bricks. After a long day at work, letting your hair down with locals, dancing to Amy Winehouse and bonding with other volunteers from different countries was an enriching experience. I would teach from 8 am to 12 pm and head to the construction site and after two hours of manual labour under the Ghanaian sun, I would devour local lunch, take a nap and later explore the city and party. While I didn’t get any money, I got free accommodation with a local family and local food. It’s like all the life lessons you can possibly learn put into one single summer; we ‘get’ more than we ‘give’. You live with people who are complete strangers and become a part of their daily social fabric. This really makes us look at the world without our rose tinted glasses and helps put things into perspective. You learn to respect simple things like a hot shower or clean sheets. You break bread with families you never would have imagined existed,” recalls Tara who has also taken luxury holidays, but found this experience a class apart.
Into the deep, blue sea The trend of taking up volunteering jobs is catching up in India. Although some volunteer for social causes, many are volunteering at restaurants, treks, resorts where they stay, cafes, farms, homes, islands, stores, fashion houses, scuba diving clubs, schools, colleges and more while exploring the city they are in during their free time. There are many websites that one can register themselves to find a suitable job like voluntourism.org, wwoof.org, mindmyhouse.com, caretaker.org, volunteerhq.org, working abroad.com, truetravellers.org, independentvolunteer.org, volunteersouthamerica.net and many more.
Shaista Arora, a 27-year-old Delhi-based corporate lawyer on weekdays, explorer on every other weekend is also bitten by the travel bug. “Remember when we were kids everybody had a million things they wanted to grow up and be Volunteering gives me the opportunity to do whatever I want, although on a short-term basis. I’m going to be a volunteer at a scuba diving site in Madagascar in June this year. The best part about volunteering is that you live like a local. It gives a whole new perspective to travelling.”
Voyager who volunteers Another thrill seeker is Astrid Chasse, a 26-year-old public communications officer who is single and has been working for five years, while studying on the side. She decided to step outside her comfort zone and try another way of earning her living, that wasn’t a 9 to 5 desk job. She reveals, “I set out to work, live with people, not to do tourism, but to learn more about culture every three and a half months. I wanted to do long trips originally, but decided to do a series of short trips instead, so as to experience more. I went to Vietnam and then Cambodia and it was fascinating to live with local people rather than just hop, skip and jump to tourist sites. There were many ways to earn a stipend and I tried a few. While I was in France, I was stuck to finding a job only in my field of study but now I’ve realised that there are many ways I can earn money and enjoy doing it. Eventually, I might have to get back to the social pressure of finding a job in my field back home. I’ve also volunteered in the US, but my best experience has been volunteering in Cambodia and Vietnam. When I was in France, I saw many people doing volunteer tourism and I used workaway.com to stay with local people for free and discover how they live, how the world is outside my safe comfortable environment, how it is to be a woman in another country.”
Travel, the best teacher Doing something out of the ordinary is on 25-year-old marketing professional Claire Masalski’s mind as well. “I’m not married, nor have children or any such ties and the thought of exploring another culture and adapting to another country was an exciting prospective. I wanted to improve my English, while I was living in France, but I also wanted to do something different and feel useful. I lived with a Vietnamese family and discovered Vietnam like a local. I get five weeks of holiday every year in France and I want to explore a new country through volunteer tourism every year now. It’s a great learning experience. Of course, one needs to be flexible and be open to adapting to different people and cultures.”
Track record Mumbai-based blogger Sachin Bhandary who writes for eccentrips.com, also makes money from Airbnb. “My apartment in Mumbai is on Airbnb and it helps me get some money while I’m on the move. I started hosting people many years ago, but since the time I started using the site, I’m able to rent my apartment even while I’m travelling, managing the app on my phone. But more than half of the expenses are paid for by my savings. I collected about '1 lakh through crowd-funding for the project called 12 Project — 12 months, 12 countries, 12 challenges. I swear by volunteer tourism and have just finished learning salsa in California, and now I’m heading to Mexico where I will live in a village to learn cooking and scuba diving, then I’m to Cuba for some cycling and will be doing stand-up comedy in New York to earn a stipend, this year.”
