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Travel with Purpose

A Field Guide to Voluntourism

By (author) Jeff Blumenfeld
Format: Paperback / softback
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, United States
Published: 5th Apr 2019
Dimensions: w 152mm h 229mm d 11mm
Weight: 289g
ISBN-10: 1538115328
ISBN-13: 9781538115329
Barcode No: 9781538115329
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Synopsis
Imagine yourself in a schoolroom in one of the most remote regions of one of the most hard-to-reach countries on earth. Nepal. The Lower Mustang region to be exact. To reach it takes a 14-hour flight from New York to Doha, Qatar. Then four hours by air to Kathmandu. Transfer at one of the world's most dangerous airports to a 90-minute flight to Pokhara, followed by a jarring, eight-hour Jeep ride over a vertiginous dirt road - one side is a mountain wall, the other side a two-hundred foot cliff. Finally you arrive, but it's not just any schoolroom. It has been converted into an operating room so that doctors from New York Eye & Ear Infirmary can provide the gift of sight to 24 Nepalis who were blind due to advanced cataracts. Jeff Blumenfeld witnessed this first hand. He was there as a traveler, but also as a volunteer. A voluntourist. People often wonder how they can explore the world and help the less fortunate even if they don't possess specialized skills. These are people who make lousy vacationers. They're bored sitting on a beach or touring umpteen churches on a cruise ship excursion. They want a meaningful role when they travel. That's where voluntourism comes in - a mix of both travel and volunteering. Is it hard work building wells and schoolhouses or excavating dinosaur bones? Yes, it is. But voluntourism doesn't take a particular outdoor skill, just plenty of sweat and the desire to see the world and leave it a better place. Travel With Purpose deals not with celebrities, nor the rich and famous. Instead, it relays examples from Blumenfeld's travels and many others from Las Vegas to Nepal. From health care facilities to impoverished schools. These are stories of inspiration from everyday people, all of whom have definite opinions about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation. You don't need to be wealthy to travel to foreign lands to volunteer; you may not even have to go to foreign lands, as opportunities may exist within your own state. Blumenfeld shows readers how to identify the right location and volunteer situation, how to go about planning trips and preparing for activities, how to reach out, how to help. Through vivid examples and first hand stories from both recipients of volunteer work and the volunteers themselves, Travel with Purpose may make you rethink your next vacation.

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Whether for an hour or two, a day or a week, Jeff Blumenfeld's Travel With Purpose explains how any traveler can give back to the local communities they visit, anywhere in the world. The experience turns you from an everyday tourist into a small part of the solution to some of the globe's most pressing challenges. -- Richard Wiese, President, The Explorers Club, New York City There's no better education for a child than travel that provides a glimpse at how other people live their lives. Travel that also involves volunteer work is perhaps the best of both worlds. As Travel With Purpose shows, voluntourism can expand horizons, and build an important bond between parents and their sons or daughters. -- Rainer Jenss, President & Founder, Family Travel Association Jeff Blumenfeld covers everything you need to know about voluntourism, from its upsides and downsides to how to find the right project-and he's included memorable stories that span from Kathmandu to Vegas. This is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to volunteer abroad. -- Ken Budd, author of The Voluntourist Practical, motivating and loaded from cover to cover like an overstuffed suitcase, Travel With Purpose is a big-hearted book full of guidance and inspiration that just may finally get you out the door. Crack it open, then pack your bags. -- John Marshall, author of Wide-Open World: How Volunteering Around the Globe Changed One Family's Lives Forever Every traveler can benefit immensely by lending a hand to local organizations wherever they travel for business or pleasure. Travel With Purpose explains how to do this most effectively and with passion. Don't miss this book! -- Barbara Corcoran, Real Estate Expert and TV Personality