Travelers with a Cause
The American writer Maya Angelou said: "Pehaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends." Indeed, traveling can have a purpose.
Travel has been a passion of mine since I was ten years old. Always looking for the next adventure, always trying to find places close to home where an adventure could take place, or simply inventing a “secret tunnel” under my bed that would take me to imaginary places only a child could possible create. As the years went by, traveling became more sophisticated and real. For my former employer, CNN, I traveled at least once or twice a month -- from business trips to company headquarters in Atlanta or NYC to voyages to more paradisiac places such as the Bahamas, Rio de Janeiro, Cancun, and Dominican Republic. Traveling for a big company has its perks, allowing me go to attend big events such as the Latin Billboards, the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, All Star Basketball Game, among others. VIP treatment of traveling business class and staying at five-star hotels is nice, don’t get me wrong.
But as time went by, I realized traveling wasn’t as exciting any more. The only purpose I had was work and although fun activities were always part of my free time, I grew tired and uninspired.
I finally decided to quit my job, take a Master Degree in Global Communication in Paris, and travel as much as possible during the academic year. So far I have been blessed to travel to four continents in the past six months: America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Travel now has a bigger purpose than just wanting to have fun, a good meal, discover new places and take good pictures. Traveling with a purpose expands your mind, enriches your life with new experiences and widens your horizons. You see amazing sights, meet interesting people and learn a lot about yourself. You also learn a lot about life because in many ways, life on the road is not that different to everyday life and many lessons I learned on the road apply to everyday life too.
You can travel anywhere in the world in order to do some volunteer work. There are hundreds of organizations that will provide the help you need in order to find the right program for you, it depends where you want to go and which areas interest you. Here are a few of my favorite organizations I support and travel around the world:
As seen in the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove. It's an organization dedicated to the welfare & protection of dolphins worldwide since Earth Day 1970. Volunteering for this program requires advance coordination with their staff, but can be a critical way of helping. No children under 18 unless accompanied by an adult, please. Their efforts in Japan are strictly legal and non-confrontational. You will need to provide your own travel, meals, and lodging.
Volunteer abroad with African Impact – Internships and volunteering in Africa. Discover, learn and make a difference in communities and wildlife conservation. The first volunteers were welcomed to Zimbabwe at the Antelope Park Lion Rehabilitation Project in late 2004 and since then the park has hosted thousands of travelers and volunteers. Their community projects in the area have gone from strength to strength and our recent launch of the community and lion conservation combo project is one of our most popular programs.
If you are interested to see more opportunities into worldwide volunteer experiences, please visit:
And there is more than just volunteering to travel with a purpose. For instance, you could travel to South America to practice your Spanish, but given that we are in France, what better way to learn French while we are living here? You could also learn about Eastern Europe to improve your historical knowledge of the region or simply expand your culinary knowledge.
Wishing you happy travels on the journey of your life.
(Photos: Daniela Moreno, PeacockPlume)
