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Kelsey Cole from Vail, Colorado, paints in Nepal for Habitat...

Kelsey Cole from Vail, Colorado, paints in Nepal for Habitat for Humanity. Credit: Habitat for Humanity/Mikel Flamm

Last year, I was fortunate enough to stay in a five-star hotel in an oasis in the deserts of Rajasthan, at a Barbados resort with the Caribbean 10 feet from my patio, and in a Block Island inn that was an appealingly exuberant celebration of Victoriana. Yet my most memorable and rewarding trip of the year was to Honduras - where I slept in a bunk bed, rose at 6 in the morning, was in bed by 10 p.m. and ate meal after meal of rice and beans. Even the simple luxury of a hot shower required facing off with an electric heater nicknamed the Widow Maker.

In October, I traveled with 11 other volunteers (six of us from Brooklyn, six from Ohio) on a weeklong trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras' capital, to volunteer at El Hogar, a school that houses and educates some of the city's poorest children. We were far from alone in wanting to join a volunteer vacation; more than half of travelers who participated in a 2008 MSNBC poll expressed interest in volunteering while on vacation. But how do you know if you're cut out for a volunteer vacation? And how do you find the specific trip and organization best suited to you? Here are some questions to ask:


1. What are your interests and skills?

If you would be happiest tutoring kids in English for a week, there's no reason to count endangered frogs in the rain forest. Marc Perrotta, an architect based in Brooklyn, chose to travel to Kemi, Finland, and help construct an installation at the city's annual Snow Show, in part for the chance to meet fellow architects and architecture students.

"Talk to everyone," he says. "Part of what was fascinating was learning how all these people from around the world made the choice to volunteer in northern Finland."

While most trips fall into a few broad categories (construction, relief work, teaching and environmental trips), some will likely appeal to you more than others. Language skills also are relevant. My fluency in Spanish made me, unexpectedly, the unofficial translator and spokesman on the trip to Honduras. The experience was that much richer.


2. How much time and money can you spend?

Part of what appealed to me about the trip to El Hogar was that my church, the Episcopal Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights, would cover all expenses except airfare. This is unusual, however, and volunteer vacations are not free: The sponsoring organizations often provide ground transportation, meals and lodging. Add in the administrative costs of the programs and, yes, you will be paying to volunteer your time. Fees of up to $200 a day (sometimes more) are not unusual.

Do ask for a breakdown of how your donation is spent. Then consider your schedule as well. If you are visiting a country for the first time, you may want to arrive early or stay for an additional day or two to acclimate yourself or be a tourist after the work is over.


3. What do you need when traveling abroad?

The volunteers on my trip slept in dormitory-style housing and ate the same food that was served to El Hogar's kids. One volunteer who was allergic to gluten survived, skipping the tortillas, but it may be hard for some trips to accommodate dietary restrictions.

El Hogar had Wi-Fi, so I was able to do some work each evening, but don't assume you'll have Internet access. (And, in any case, unplugging will make any volunteer trip that much more rewarding.) The volunteer house at El Hogar was roughing it compared to a stay at a Four Seasons, but, of course, a warm, dry bed and three meals a day are not taken for granted by many residents of Honduras, including the kids with whom we worked.


4. How strenuous a trip do you want to take?

The organizers of the trip to El Hogar struck what was, in my opinion, almost the perfect balance of work and downtime. Most days the volunteers divided into painting and construction teams; we'd work several hours but then have large chunks of free time to work with students on their assignments or play soccer (something 5-year-old Hondurans are better at than this 40-something New Yorker).

Jessica Brumfit of Toronto, who traveled to Kenya on a Planeterra trip and worked in a medical clinic, offers this advice: "Be prepared to work hard and do your best, but take each day as it comes. Remember, you are blessed to even have the opportunity to give back."


5. Can you be patient?

"Expect a lot of downtime," says Kevin Doyle of Manhattan, who volunteered at a community health project in Cameroon. Remember that the local organizations you will be working with are often short on resources and staff, and they are not in the business of catering to travelers. Visiting volunteers will often have to wait while administrators deal with their primary jobs. "Keep your expectations realistic," adds Doyle. "You're not going to change the world, but you may make a small difference."


6. Why not just write a check?

It's a question you may ask yourself when deciding whether to travel for a volunteer opportunity: Rather than spend several thousand dollars to spend a week painting a house when a local would gladly do it for far less money, wouldn't the world be better off if you wrote a check and stayed home?

"I'm selfish," explains the Rev. Stephen Muncie of Brooklyn's Grace Church, of his interest in traveling to El Hogar. "I get far more from the kids, and their examples of strength and love, than I give to them."

As Stony Brook University student Carissa Galetti explains about her volunteer trip to Croatia, "The biggest reward I received was genuine friendship. My eyes were opened to things that had never even crossed my mind before."


READER TIPS

"In 2007, I spent a week in a villa four hours north of Madrid with the group Pueblo Ingles. The purpose was to offer Spaniards an opportunity to practice conversational English. We did not have to pay for room and board, just the air fare and hotels the day before and the day after the group experience. By the end of the week, lasting friendships had been forged and plans were made to meet again." -- Diane Ambrose, Bayside


"This past summer, I took a monthlong trip to Croatia with International Student Volunteers. I spent two weeks volunteering at Suncokret ... (at a center that) aims to address the negative psychological, cultural and social consequences that resulted from Croatia's war with Serbia.

"My advice for those who have considered volunteering anywhere is to grab this opportunity to help others because not only is it such a rewarding experience for yourself, but the people you touch will never forget you. Don't put this off, do it now." -- Carissa Galetti, Rocky Point


"In November 2009, I went to Ostuni, in Puglia (Italy), on a trip coordinated by Global Volunteers. I was the only visitor with teaching experience, but the main idea was to give the youngsters a chance to talk with English-speaking people." -- Marian Milne, Oceanside


RESOURCES

EL HOGAR. An orphanage and school founded in 1979, plus two campuses for older children, an agricultural school and a technical one. While El Hogar can't make arrangements for individual volunteers to visit, it can furnish you with information on assembling a work team. 781-729-7600; elhogar.org

AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY. Trips, often in collaboration with other organizations, focus on trail construction and maintenance. 800-972-8608; americanhiking.org

CATHOLIC VOLUNTEER NETWORK. The Network's database includes opportunities that range from several weeks to open-ended long-term commitments. Among short options are working with nuns in the Dominican Republic to encouraging sustainable farming practices in Appalachia. 800-543-5046; catholicvolunteernetwork.org

EARTHWATCH. Most expeditions focus on monitoring animal populations, from black rhinos in Kenya to songbirds in the Rockies, though the organization also offers several archaeological trips. 800-776-0188; earthwatch.org

GLOBE AWARE. Each year some 4,500 volunteers join trips organized by this Dallas nonprofit, with options that include teaching English in Cambodia and planting trees in Romania. 877-588-4562; globeaware.org

GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS. The website for this clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities lets travelers search by skill, region of the world and month of the year to find a trip that fits their interests and schedule. 800-487-1074; globalvolunteers.org

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. Volunteers can sign up for construction projects in 36 countries and six states with one of the most established organizations in the world of "voluntourism." 800-422-4828; habitat.org

PASSPORT IN TIME. Despite its name, the U.S. Forest Service's volunteer program does not require a passport. Some opportunities are as short as a day, and travelers interested in the history of Native American nations will find an abundance of options focused on archaeology. 800-281-9176; passportintime.com

PLANETERRA. Founded in 2003 by Gap Adventures, Planeterra organizes 30 volunteer trips focused on community development in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group's emphasis is on opportunities combining tourism with volunteer activities - both seeing the Great Wall and working at a panda reserve, for example. 416-260-0999; planeterra.org

SIERRA CLUB. The 300 "service trips" offered by the Sierra Club include clearing debris from turtle nesting beaches on Vieques, in Puerto Rico, and removing nonnative species from Point Reyes National Seashore, a national park in California - but city lovers also can head to Boston to prepare the city's parks for the summer season. 415-977-5500; sierraclub.org

TRANSITIONS ABROAD. The Volunteer pages of Transitions Abroad are a helpful place to start research on a volunteer trip if you know where you want to go. The country-by-country sections are bulletin boards of volunteer opportunities around the globe, with contact information for organizations in search of volunteers. transitionsabroad.com

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