Have Heart, Will Travel

Want to make a difference in the world? Be a voluntourist.

“Orangutan!”

A few metres off the side of the trail, our local guide, Wanda, pointed up into the jungle canopy. Without hesitation, our volunteer team went crashing off the beaten path to look, slipping and sliding through the undergrowth. We peered up.

He was hard to see at first; he blended so seamlessly with the leaves. But when he moved farther along a tree branch into full view, my heart beat with the thrill of it. For the first time we were seeing a wild orangutan, a male with big face pads and shaggy ginger hair, munching on figs. Then he became aware of us, and got shy and swung away into the trees.

We may have been a pesky annoyance interrupting his lunch, but we were also there to help. The United Nations has recently reported that orangutans will be extinct within 10 years if something isn’t done to protect their rainforest habitat. As volunteers for the Orangutan Health Project (orangutan-health.org) based in North Sumatra, Indonesia, we had come from around the world to contribute, in our small way, to the survival of these graceful and intelligent beings.

When enough people do their small part, it adds up to a world of difference. More people than ever are finding fulfillment in combining holiday time with volunteer work, whether building homes for the poor in Honduras, promoting HIV awareness in Tanzania, or helping conserve pandas in China. North American bookings for volunteer travel through tourism operator i-to-i (i-to-i.com) have risen more than 300 per cent since 2002, and the volunteer organization GlobalAware reports its membership has quadrupled in the past year. Industry professionals have coined the growing trend “voluntourism,” citing 9/11, the 2004 Asian tsunami and other world disasters as the reason more people are looking for meaningful travel experiences that enable them to help others.

Voluntourists benefit personally as well. Brettany Cook, a volunteer with the Orangutan Health Project who has also been to Costa Rica to help conserve sea turtles, says volunteer tourism is the only way to travel. “It’s a way to be completely immersed into the local culture and really experience a place. You get to meet and become friends with the locals, eat true cuisine from the area, and strip away all your preconceived ideas.”

Our volunteer team spent time at the home of a local guide, where we ate papaya fresh off the tree and listened to him play guitar and sing Indonesian songs with his friends. You just don’t get that kind of experience staying at the Best Western.

There’s also the sense of fulfillment that comes from sharing a common goal with people from a different culture. In our case, we all wanted to help protect the health and habitat of orang-utans—and had a great time getting to know each other in the process. As for the orangutans, Cook says, “They are so gentle and comical, and by looking at their eyes, wise. If anyone sees these amazing creatures and doesn’t want to help them survive, I would be greatly surprised.”

When Wendy Bone isn’t hanging around with orangutans, she is learning about the healing qualities of plants in the Sumatran jungle (a plant called inai works wonders for healing blisters on big toes). For more on her adventures in Indonesia, visit travelpod.com/members/wendyworld.

How to Do it
1. Choose your destination, whether it’s the remote Amazon rainforest or concrete jungle of Bangkok.
2. Pick your project. What environmental or social issues are you passionate about? Also, consider your skills. Though volunteer tourism projects don’t require the same level of skill as traditional volunteer work, your ability to teach English or background in biology could come in handy.
3. Conduct your research. The internet is the easiest way to get started.
4. Once you’ve found a voluntourism possibility, ensure the operator is qualified. At least some staff should be able to speak the local language, and the project should help empower local people rather than encourage dependency on handouts. Find out the organization’s long-term goals and objectives.
5. For reviews of numerous volunteer organizations, check out Lonely Planet’s new guide, Volunteer: A Traveller’s Guide to Making a Difference Around the World.
6. Come with an open mind and attitude. You may encounter upsetting situations, but be prepared to leave any preconceived Western ideas at home, and respect the local culture.

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