Bee Travel
'Voluntour' to help others
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
At Christmas every year, my friend Czop sends a story. This year it was about the little Mexican boy chucking starfish, which high tides had floated too far up the sand, back into the sea, one by one. When asked why he did this and what difference it could make, he thought, and tossed one more back, saying, "It made a difference to that one."

"Voluntourism." It's a new word and not officially recognized by any dictionary I could find. Still, you know exactly what it means, and it's become a major component of travel vacations.

Travelocity recently launched on its Web site a sort of voluntourist's exchange, if you'll allow me another nonword. (See http://travelforgood.igougo.com.) The site sorts experiences posted by "voluntours," a blog by recently returned "Change Ambassadors" who have "voluntoured."

Voluntourism (I believe) is where baby-boomer hippies return "home," traveling by way of that valley of responsibility we encountered when communal living didn't quite live up to expectations. Not quite ready to abandon consumerism, we found priority in relationships and children. That didn't mean we gave up on those dreams. It did reroute us on paths we could not have plotted.

It led to this: voluntourism. Here the rubber of our latent desire to do something lasting, good and worthy met the road of wanderlust. You remember those days - when you were certain not to turn out like your parents, and not one thing could stand between you and changing the world. Well, you were right, but it's only visible retrospectively. The chance to change the world is available now in ways that didn't exist when we were dreaming it.

There is something universal in what stories are posted on the Web site. As you might imagine, motivated voluntourists, many of whom have paid for the experience, expect only hard work, a chance to do something for someone they don't know, tough conditions to perform tasks they likely have never performed before, and to return forever changed. Judging by the smile rating, few are disappointed.

The programs are diverse. One New Orleans' native traveled to Peru, living in a shelter for children. He planted flowers, poured concrete for a soccer court and fixed an adobe stove for one family. A woman from Myrtle Beach fell in love with the children of El Sur, Costa Rica, and another from Oregon measured leatherback turtle eggs on Trinidad in a conservation project. A Colorado dentist treated patients in the rural areas of western Cambodia. And a young woman taught at a school in Ghana. Some programs described are (in fact) local and one day; others last for weeks.

If you have ever wanted to step out - if only temporarily - to test the waters of this "voluntourism," your options have never been broader. Check out Travelocity's "Change Ambassador Voluntourism Stories" and the travel providers listed. Like the little boy who made a difference to one starfish, you can make a difference - if only to one.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)