Global Volunteer Vacations for Women

I recently spoke to two women who had experienced Global Volunteers programs. One of the women had been in Costa Rica, the other in Romania. It was apparent that although they participated in different programs in different countries, their feelings about their experiences were similar.

What struck me most was the excitement in their voices as they told me about their trips.

The Costa Rica program entails more in the way of manual labor, like painting, landscaping and constructing cement benches outside a women’s community cooperative. While this was hard work, the other volunteers were committed, giving people. This group quickly bonded, worked together as a team, jointly created a great local travel experience on their weekend off and acted as a support system for each other. The local people they worked with were, in her words, “just amazing.”

Romania offers two programs; teaching English to middle and high school aged children and caring for displaced children. The volunteer I spoke to spent her time caring for displaced children. The children are abandoned and at risk babies and toddlers. The volunteer’s job was to interact with the children by talking to them, holding them, hugging them and playing with them. There is a book kept for each child so the volunteer can note, for example, what toys they played with and which ones they enjoyed the most. What is particularly uplifting about this experience is response from the children.

The excitement in her voice as she described her “job” was contagious. Her description (paraphrased) was, ‘I got to play with and care for children all day and I just never thought I would enjoy this as much as I did. I want to go back to Romania.’ This program really needs male volunteers to to play with children. This program also has one of the highest repeat volunteer rates because the volunteers become committed to the children.

Check out the various Global Volunteers programs. I think there is something for almost everybody.

Filed under: Volunteer Vacations, global volunteers, women's travel

A Unique Honeymoon

I’ve been identifying honeymoons that are unique and out of the ordinary.  A Volunter Honeymoon is one such experience.

 Global Volunteers has been sending volunteers on community development projects since 1984.  To date they’ve sent 20,000 volunteers to more than 19 countries.  Global Volunteers has been granted Special Consultative Status with the United Nations and has always sought work projects that were locally initiated and maintained.

Can you mix travel AND volunteering and end up being happy and satisfied?  It’s an exciting way to experience a destination as a “non-tourist” while serving as a valuable resource in the host community. For volunteer-spirited clients, this truly is an unbeatable combination of two “loves”: International travel and service.

When a couple spends all or part of their honeymoon participating in a volunteer service program, they give and take from the experience. First and foremost, they have the ability to help others. In addition, they believe that they have grown on a personal level as well as a couple. A volunteer service program offers the unique opportunity of observing a side of life that most of us never see.

Because of my travel company’s partnership with Global Volunteers, We have been able to offer two different volunteer honeymoons to our customers.  One project is in Italy and the other is in the Cook Islands. Details can be found at TravelEco.

Volunteerism allows us to give back to society.  Global Volunteers helps us to give back in unusual and unconventional settings and the life experiences we gain are invaluable. 

Filed under: Cook Islands, Italy, Specialty Travel, Travel Industry, Volunteer Vacations, honeymoon, unique honeymoon