Family Voluntourism for Vacations

Consider contributing to your host community on your next family vacation with an act more precious than buying locally made knickknacks: give your time. One of the fastest-growing travel sectors, “voluntourism,” is a way for vacationers to participate in socially conscious volunteer projects during their travels. Help repair weather-damaged homes, build eco-friendly stoves, plant trees or teach at an orphanage on a voluntouring trip.

With endless project opportunities, flexible timeframes and a whole world of sites to choose from, voluntourism is an ideal family travel option that creates lasting memories, fosters cultural exchange, and ultimately, makes the world a better place for us all.

Teach Your Children Well

The educational aspect of voluntourism is a key factor for prospective voluntourist families. Indeed, when Debra Cummings and her husband began planning their global family adventure—10 years in advance—cultural education was on their minds. Globetrotters and longtime backpackers themselves, Cummings and her husband, Scott, hoped to share the world with their kids.

“The whole impetus was to shake the kids up,” says Cummings, “and turn them into little global citizens.”

Cummings, her husband, and their son and daughter—then, aged 9 and 13—traveled the globe for one year, from July 13, 2006 to July 6, 2007. But they wanted to be more than nomadic tourists; instead, they made four major stops along the way, to volunteer and to connect with local communities.

 

• Dancing with Samburu women in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

Debra Cummings

Starting in their hometown of Calgary, the family toured Europe, fundraised for Operation Eyesight in Kenya, worked at Elephant Nature Park sanctuary in Thailand, helped children at an orphanage in India and worked on an Australian ranch. The experience was life-changing for the whole family, says Cummings, but especially for the kids. Cummings recalls the children’s moments of epiphany during the trip when faced with glaring cultural contrasts. In Kenya, when they assisted in administering vision tests to local families, the kids were shocked to discover something for which they’d always taken for granted: no one could read.

Cummings also watched her daughter, Siobhan, become a vocal activist against elephant cruelty, while her son, Quinn, became an expert in Southeast Asian geography. The family wrote about their travels on their blog, Cumming & Going, which Quinn’s school followed diligently.

Almost a year after returning home, Cummings’ family is still riding the voluntourism wave. Quinn’s school adopted the Darjeeling orphanage in India as their primary charity, and the family continues to run fundraisers for it and Operation Eyesight in Kenya.

Trends in Voluntourism

Granted, not everyone can just up and leave school and work for a year. But short-term family voluntourism trips are quite feasible, and demand for such vacations is on the rise, according to voluntour service providers. Industry surveys and studies confirm the trend. An April 2008 UC San Diego study found that 40 percent of United States residents wanted to participate in service-related vacations, which mirrors a February 2008 msnbc.com and Condé Nast survey that found more than half of respondents wanted to partake in volunteer vacations.

 

• Get the best views on a camel safari in Rajastan’s Thar Desert.

Debra Cummings

Voluntourism is not a new concept. The Peace Corps and Volunteer Service Overseas programs instigated volunteer travel back in the 1950s and ‘60s, and Earthwatch ran ecotourism volunteer programs starting in 1971. Since then, study abroad programs and gap years for pre-college students have accelerated the popularity of service travel. 

In recent years, the tourism industry jumped on the charitable bandwagon, too, says Family Travel Forum editor and co-founder Kyle McCarthy, who’s seen the mainstream travel industry coalesce around the growing demand for family travel with a purpose. “Voluntourism has certainly entered the travel vernacular,” she says.

Family Voluntour Vacations

Voluntour groups today cater to families with young children who have short timeframes, by providing short-term programs and programs appropriate for children. Dallas-based Globe Aware hosts one-week voluntouring excursions to more than a dozen countries, including Peru, Laos and Costa Rica. Globe Aware’s Sarah McCall says in recent years the non-profit industry has seen a huge surge in family participants of all ages.

“We’re unique in our peer group because we don’t have any age restrictions,” says McCall, recounting a recent Jamaica trip with participants ranging from 4 years to 102 years old. There is something for everyone to do, says McCall, whether it’s teaching English to Cambodian Buddhist monks, to river restoration efforts in Jamaica, to preserving ancient Aztec ruins in Mexico.

The short term of service doesn’t mean volunteers’ work is all for naught. “I’ve personally been pretty surprised with how much we’re able to accomplish in one week,” says McCall.