Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Adventure philanthropy

It's been a very busy few days, so I am still not finished with my final Mexico entry. Rest assured, I will post it this week, and it will include my very own "how-to" section, so you find out some of my best travel tips.

In the meantime, let me tell you about my evening. Tonight, I went to a cocktail party fundraiser organized by Roadmonkey. What I was calling voluntourism, Paul von Zielbauer, a journalist for the New York Times, calls adventure philanthropy.

He is organizing a bicycle expedition in Vietnam that will include a volunteer project where participants build a playground for HIV-positive orphans.

This trip sounds awesome! I wish I could go, but I just won't have the vacation days. I was in Vietnam in 2001, and it was a beautiful and fascinating destination. I'm sure it would be an even better trip with something good to do like this.

So check it out! Here's another opportunity to travel AND make a difference.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great blog!
I set up Hands Up Holidays to make it easy for people to have enriching voluntourism experiences (or Adventure Philanthropy if you will) that blend amazing sightseeing with a taste of volunteering.
You can experience meaningful interaction with the local people and make a positive impact through volunteering projects such as being a one on one reading partner in South Africa, helping repair an orphanage in Thailand, building a house in Guatemala, or conserving sea turtles in Australia - to name but a few!
What's more, the accommodation on most of our trips is 4-5*...luxury volunteering is possible!
We do a lot of tailor-made volunteering trips to ensure that we provide you with a meaningful adventure that counts that meets your exact requirements.
Check us out at www.handsupholidays.com
Christopher Hill
Founder
Hands Up Holidays

Holly said...

Thanks, Christopher. I hadn't heard about Hands Up Holidays. I like that you offer all different lengths of tours. Long weekends are great for us Americans with limited vacation time!