Righteous Journeys (cont.)

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Outside Magazine January 2002

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Righteous Journeys (cont.)
In It for the Long Haul? Here's How.

In this tinderbox world it might be tempting to lock your door, cozy up to your TV, and pretend life beyond your own tunnel vision doesn't exist. But Americans don't take the easy road: Since September 11, applications at long-term volunteer organizations have surged. "It's very heartening," says Peace Corps Press Director Ellen Field. "In Chicago our applications are up 25 percent." At New Rochelle, New York-based Cross Cultural Solutions, enrollment is expected to increase by 54 percent next year. Renewed altruistic vigor isn't the only cause for the upswing—Peace Corps ranks have grown in the last two years, largely with disillusioned or displaced dotcommers. Here are other options where a few months' or years' worth of work from you could make a lifetime of difference for someone else.

Geekcorps
[413-664-0030; www.geekcorps.org]
Cost: Fully subsidized by sponsors. Skilled volunteers from the high-tech industry are sent to Ghana for three to four months to assist small businesses in using the Internet, implementing e-commerce strategies, and preparing business plans.

Cross Cultural Solutions
[800-380-4777; www.crossculturalsolutions.org]
Cost: $1,745Ð-21,000. Volunteers spend two weeks to six months in India, Peru, China, or Russia assisting in a wide variety of projects including HIV/AIDS education, caring for infants in orphanages, and coaching sports in shantytown schools.

Frontier
[011-44-20-7613-2422; www.frontier.ac.uk]
Cost: $3,210-$5,993. Participants serve for ten to 20 weeks as research assistants to botanists and biologists conducting wildlife-protection and habitat-conservation studies in Madagascar, Tanzania, and Vietnam.

Roots & Shoots
[301-565-0086; www.janegoodall.org/rs]
Cost: Varies by country. Founded in 1991 by Jane Goodall, this 68-nation environmental and humanitarian program sends adult volunteers to spend three months to one year coordinating local community-service projects such as cleaning up parks and trails, working in soup kitchens, or raising money for animal shelters.

Teaching English as a Second Language:
Himalayan Explorers Connection
888-420-8822; www.hec.org. Places teachers in Himalayan village schools for up to four months.
VIA
650-723-3228; volasia.org. Recruits volunteers for one- to two-year stints in colleges and universities in Vietnam, Laos, China, and Indonesia.

Central European Teaching Program:
608-363-2619; www.beloit.edu/~cetp. Places teachers for a half or full school year in Poland, Hungary, or Romania.

For More Information:
Transitions Abroad
413-256-3414; www.transitionsabroad.com. A bimonthly publication that focuses on opportunities for living, working, and volunteering overseas.

Volunteer Vacations by Bill McMillon (Chicago Review Press, 1999, $17). An exhaustive guide to organizations that offer short- and long-term volunteer opportunities. Plus sage advice on what to know before you go.

How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher (Penguin Putnam, 2002, $17 ). Includes in-depth profiles of 65 volunteer-placement organizations.

Web Sites Worth Browsing:
www.idealist.org
www.volunteerinternational.org

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