CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
For instance,there’s Jennifer Allsopp, 19, from England, who spent four months teaching in Calcutta and Jaipur last year. A whistle-stop tour at 16 inspired her to return and “really experience this country for myself, not to merely see the so-called ‘highlights’ through the glass of another air-conditioned coach”.
Professionals too are taking career breaks to volunteer. Take market researcher Richard Woods from UK, 40, who spent four months at a day care centre in Tangra, Calcutta. Now he says, “I’m considering re-training as a teacher.”
Antipodeans Abroad too started by taking student leadership expeditions to Gangtok and Manali. It launched gap year programmes last year. This year, Carpenter has launched two Detours Abroad for adults at Pestolozzi School in Dehradun and Than Gaon in partnership with ISAC. “We see the Detours Abroad programmes having an increasing appeal,” says Carpenter. It is certainly drawing Aussies like Fabio Cavilli, who owns an engineering company, and spent a month at Pestolozzi School. “I wanted to give back something to the world and thought the best way would be to help children,” he says. Now, he has sponsored two Tibetan children to the school.
Others are also entering the segment. Like Andrew and Sarah Yalland’s Different Travel Company of UK, which plans to launch “responsible tours” in India next year. Says Andrew, “The future lies in the kind of travel we are advocating.”
Similarly, companies like ISAC also reckon that ‘service learning experiences’ are on the rise. Says ISAC’s CEO Safeena Husain, “A vacation is no longer about seeing sights but about bettering yourself today.” So Reynolds believes his stint at Than Gaon will help him “become a better teacher in America”. Husain, who first started learning experiences for medical students at Children Family Health International in San Francisco, decided to replicate this when she returned to India two years ago. Today, ISAC brings 200 medical students to India. Besides, it offers teaching experiences at Dehradun, Than Gaon and Rishikesh. On a slightly different note, it also has a film learning experience in Bollywood. Of course, volunteer vacations aren’t all smooth sailing. Local communities are sceptical and volunteers too get frustrated. But some visitors are philosophical and understand there are limits to what they can achieve. Law student Josh Welner admits that he doesn’t expect “to make a big difference” and is happy “learning what I can while I’m here”. Recounts Adam Watkins, 25, who volunteered at Bangalore charity, Arivu, “Indian Stretchable Time became a way of life after a while. But to begin with, trying to organise things was stressful.”
Admits i-to-i’s Dey, “The volunteers feel they are going to change the world, which is a misconception. But they do make a difference because they open up the world for these children.” For instance, Singh recalls how a student was inspired by a marine engineer volunteer to enroll in an engineering school.
It’s not as though volunteers don’t have regular tourist experiences. Hutchinson, for instance, says teaching at Than Gaon is as challenging as navigating around Delhi. She says, “It was exciting to go out on your own and experience the unease and also to have this organised programme. I definitely want both experiences.” And that’s exactly what a volunteervacation allows.
Photograph of Alex Souri and RRI by Preeti Verma Lal; CCS photograph courtesy Cross-Cultural Solutions
