7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE BECOMING A VOLUNTOURIST

Despite the recession, many are still traveling. Today's traveler's, however, are looking for more than a few days on the beach. Tough times have prompted many to opt for volunteer vacations. These vacations allow visitors to combine leisure activities with time helping communities in need. If you're thinking of going on a volunteer vacation abroad, here's what you should know before you go.

1. It's important to keep an open mind. Unlike a stay at a resort, volunteer vacations allow for a more immersive experience by enabling one to work closely with locals. This means there are more opportunities for cross-cultural interaction; and therefore, cultural sensitivity is a must.

2. Local knowledge and local solutions are to be respected. Make sure that your volunteer program has built a partnership with local organizations and recognizes that volunteers are not bringing the solutions; they are there to support and lend a helping hand.

3. Your volunteer program or sending agency should aslo have an established relationship with the staging community, know the country and have done a great deal of logistical planning. For example, before Beyond Travel launches a volunteer trip, it spends several years building relationships with host country organizations and community leaders to ensure that volunteers will be well received, protected, and accepted.

4. Your volunteer project should be interesting to you and have a clear benefit to communities. You wouldn't want to do boring work with no impact, would you? Ask your program about the goals of the project and its sustainability. Ask about your role, your tasks, and how they will support the community or the project's overall goals.

5. Its's still your vacation, so ask your program about free time and opportunities to explore local culture and take part in leisure activities. Beyond Travel allows plenty of free time, and situates volunteers in areas that will peak the interests of even the most seasoned traveler. Beyond Travel programs also feature a rich itinerary of day trips and excursions.

6. You've worked with locals, but upon returning home you want to do more or to connect with people who have had a similar experience. Ask your progam about tools and resources for returned volunteers who may want to share their experience with others.

7. Some may question the very idea of paying to volunteer or may expect the cost of a volunteer vacation to be less than a regular one. The truth is that the cost of volunteer vacations are comparable to and at times more expensive than your everyday getaway. Why is this? Well, a portion of your fee is usually donated to communities to support their work. If this is not the case for your program, then it's time to find a better one. Beyond travel goes beyond donations and provides grants, ongoing technical assistance, and material resources to Partner organizations with proven track records of success and involvement. Make sure, that your program fee includes support or grants to local organizations and that there is a monitoring and evaluation process set up to ensure that your contribution is used for the right purposes.

Volunteer vacations offer a rewarding experience, unforgettable memories and even chances to make life-long friends-not to mention opportunities to see the world from a different perspective. Before, you book a volunteer vacation, however, make sure you are doing it with an organization that understands both your needs as a traveler and those of communities in need.

Become a Voluntourist in HAITI

LET'S GO TO HAITI! AND WHY NOT?

When you think of Haiti, do you think of dictators, poverty, and boat people? If your answer is yes, then it's time for you to go there!

We at Beyond Travel have a reputation for choosing destinations based on their potential to offer participants more that a vacation. We want you to have a wondrous experience that goes beyond stigma or trends and connects you to our global community, gives you insight into undiscovered culture, and nutures your appreciation for the gifts of nature. That is why we have chosen Haiti as the destination for our 2010 Global Action and Awareness Programs.

Whether it's helping communities curb deforestaion, educating young people about AIDS, fostering entrepreneurship among women and girls, or rebuilding hurricane hit homes; you can have a worthwhile, rewarding and unforgettable experience in Haiti.

Indeed, safety is often the main concern of would be travelers to Haiti. According to recent UN data, the country is in fact among the safest in the Caribbean region. So forget what you've heard about Haiti and open your mind to an enchanted country waiting to welcome you with open arms. Don't jut take our word for it. To find our more click here.

RUM FEST SHOP TALK AND ART

How many times have you walked past a place and never gave a second thought to what could be inside. I cannot count the number of times I have walked up and down Lafayette Avenue to attend shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music or to track down new haunts in the ever trendier Fort Greene neighborhood and never gave a thought to the unassuming building across the street from BAM.

It wasn't until a friend introduced me to Joe Cesar at a local restaurant that I discovered what lay behind the white Façade of 35 Lafayette Avenue. Joe, psychologist turned art collector, has transformed what was once a bakery into, if not the hottest, definitely one of the most innovative galleries in town. Joe, patron and mentor to many a local artist, is proud to offer exhibition space to painters, sculptors, and even performance artists whom the more dollar minded and established galleries in the city would summarily disregard.

Appropriately named Shop, Talk and Art, the welcoming space equipped with a charming garden is home to the Fort Greene Collection: an eclectic mix of work commissioned by Joe from local artists, but surprisingly includes a number of artifacts from Brooklyn’s glorious past.

This September 4, Beyond Travel and Shop Talk and Art invite you to close out the summer with us at our first ever Rum Fest.  This will be a unique opportunity to view the Fort Greene collection and participate in the launch of Beyond Travel’s first wave of Global Action and Awareness trips to the Caribbean. Where does the rum fit into the picture, you ask? Rum, being a signature spirit of the Caribbean, offers opportunities to explore the history of the region, while indulging in end of summer libations. The event will feature a tasting of exquisite rums and other refreshments. Not a rum aficionado? All are invited to partake in the event, as it will be a unique opportunity to meet Beyond Travel staff and ask questions about our programs- not to mention a chance to soak up some of the Brooklyn scene. Space is limited for this event.

RUM SHOPTALK AND ART
Date: Friday, September 4, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm
Place:  35 Lafayette Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11217 (across from the Brooklyn Academy of Music)

GPLT has been working in the area for over 18 years and is responding to the problems of famers impacted by the storms. Despite the scale of crisis, they are hopeful of the potential to rebuild an even better future for the farmers and the entire community.  GPLT has implemented the use of the corve, a Haitian tradition in which community members work together for the benefit of one community member. Corves have helped rebuild 17 homes in the village.  To commemorate Earth Day, GPLT distributed seeds to farmers.  They are currently planning to create a rural scholarship fund, to enable rural families who lost livelihoods during the storm to continue sending their children to school.  

When asked what challenges lie ahead in their efforts to rebuild the community, current GPLT president, Matilde St. Bastien says: 

We’ve had storms before; this isn’t new.   It’s just a foot note in a much larger problem.  Even before the storm, our farmers were having trouble getting by. The soil is not as healthy as it used to be. We plant only sugar cane, because we cannot afford to plant anything else.  The farmers are getting old, our children flee to the cities without a basic education and there is no one to take care of the land. We work with our hands and backs to harvest, with no more than a hand hoe.  It must not continue this way. We must teach our children to value the land and we {the farmers} must learn better ways of using it.  There’s a lot to be done, but we’re hopeful none the less.

In 2010, Beyond Travel looks forward to a series of four Global Action and Awareness trips during which BT volunteers will assist GPLT in its efforts to rebuild L’acul one family at a time.