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travel / travel magazine / may09
Notebook
Can I help?
RADIO-COLLARING cheetahs in Namibia, bringing traditional medicine to the people of the
Indian Himalayas, building a community centre for at-risk youths in Brazil — these are but
three of the countless volunteer vacations available to a growing demographic of travellers
who want more from a holiday than to spend a week slathering sunscreen and reclining on a
deck chair. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but really, just once, how about using
your hard-earned holiday time to do something more meaningful?
The examples above come from the 10th edition of Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures
That Will Benefit You and Others, a hefty tome that inspired us while assembling the
package of stories you hold in your potentially helpful hands. In seeking service-oriented
travel experiences, we first applied the tenet that charity begins at home. Well, in this
case, in Canada. Then we looked beyond our borders.
So we sent writer Douglas Hunter to the Fortress
of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada in Nova Scotia, where he joined up with volunteers whose labour is helping shed light
on how life was lived in a 1700s-era military settlement. Louisbourg was much more than a
fort; it was a fullfledged, fully functioning town with a military base at its heart, just
as Petawawa, Ont., and Valcartier, Que., are today. Each item unearthed by Hunter and his
cadre of diggers tells a story of everyday life and of extraordinary events that contributed
to the course of this nation’s history.
We also asked writer Patricia Pearson to pitch in at a Habitat
for Humanity housebuilding site in Prince Edward Island. She pounded a few nails — fingernails, that is — and
came away with a warm feeling that she had helped put a solid roof over the heads of a deserving
young family. And our very own senior editor, Patricia D’Souza, sacrificed Christmas with
her family in exchange for a once-in-a-lifetime journey
to Peru to help build better wood stoves for village women who cook indoors over open fires. Between a bout of altitude sickness
and a meal of pan-fried guinea pigs, she was rewarded with a heartfelt hug of gratitude.
Now that’s something to write home about.
Eric Harris
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