PEACE Mexico

PEACE Mexico is a non-profit organisation focusing on the protection and education of animals, culture and the environment. They fund and administer a variety of programmes for the betterment of the surrounding area, such as after school programs for children, medical services for animals, various efforts for the support of women and environmental educational projects for students.

The chance all year long

Volunteers are given the chance to expand their awareness, and the awareness of others, to the people and animals affiliated with PEACE Mexico. These volunteerism opportunities are five daylong volunteer vacations with an extensive schedule spanning throughout the year. With a year round schedule, the exploration towards inner peace and volunteerism is obtainable winter, summer, spring or fall. So the choice between whether to do an adventure themed volunteer vacation or a cultural themed one shouldn’t be hard. Both themes are available at different times of the year!

Om through the week

Take your pick from helping the animals at local spay and neuter clinics, teaching young students English with the Casa Cominudad programme, create planter boxes for Community Pride or make hand made crafts to be sold with the women at Unidads por la Mujer, making a difference in the lives of the women, children, families and the environment you encounter. Not to fret though, all your hard work gets paid off. Throughout the week volunteers are treating to yoga classes conducted by certified instructors, making sure you om your way through the week and find your centre. From hiking, surfing, mountain biking or even whale watching, the adventure experiences are never shorthanded. Cultural themed activities range from preparing your own fresh Mexican delicacies with native plants or even taking up a salsa class.

“We want to make the world a better place. By offering our own hands and helping the community with their own specific needs is what we are capable of. We want to minimize any negative impact on a community whether it be economic, environmental or social impacts. We want to create a positive contribution to the cultural heritage all while providing an enjoyable experience for our Volunteers. It is all about education and building community pride, for the people and animals!”

-Katherine Fisher, Director, PEACE Mexico

This “vacation for your soul” is dedicated to enabling travellers to embrace what they’ve experienced.

“We enjoyed the ultimate family vacation through Destination:PEACE. From painting a mural at the school with the kindergartners, to helping at the mobile spay and neuter clinic, to whale watching, there was something for everyone in the family to enjoy. We are so impressed with the loving, respectful relationship between the staff and the village. Our only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer and help more.”

-Lucy Brehm, Portland, OR

For more information visit www.destinationpeacemexico.com or contact Katherine Fisher at Katherine [at] peacemexico.org.

As the number one destination for tourists in Latin America, the opportunities in Mexico for volunteering abound.  Sure, everyone’s heard of teaching English or volunteering at an orphanage, but there are plenty of creative and alternative ways to volunteer that will give you a unique chance to become a part of the community while giving back at the same time.

Although many volunteer programs require paying large fees to participate, there are plenty of places that will let you volunteer for free, and some will even provide free room and board during your stay.  Here are five interesting and unique ways to give back while travelling in Mexico that are free, fun, and sure to give you a truly memorable travel experience.

1) Volunteer at a migrant shelter

When most people hear the words immigration and Mexico in the same sentence, they usually think of Mexicans crossing the border to work in the US.  In fact, Mexico receives hundreds of thousands of Central American migrants every year, many of whom are on their way to the US and many of whom simply want to work in Mexico.  There are migrants shelters scattered throughout the country, but most are located on the Northern and Southern borders.  I volunteered for two weeks at Casa del Migrante in Ciudad Juarez and was able to learn about learn about migration first-hand.  I was given free room and board in exchange for cleaning the dorm rooms and helping cook breakfast and dinner for the dozens of migrants we received each day.

2) Write grants for an NGO

Even if you don’t speak fluent Spanish, your native English skills are highly valued in Mexico.  Many small non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rely on large grants to finance their operations and will welcome your help in writing or editing proposals.  While living in Mexico City, I volunteered several days a week at a small organization called Sin Fronteras, where I helped them write, translate, and edit grant proposals for US foundations such as Ford and MacArthur.  Although they were unable to give me free food and lodging, I did gain invaluable grant writing experience and helped them secure several major grants.

Urban Gardening in Mexico City / Photo by Donkeycart via Flickr

3) Get involved in the urban gardening movement

Mexico City is arguably the largest city in the world, and food and water shortages seem inevitable given the arid climate and large population.  The urban gardening movement is slowly taking off and you can really get your hands dirty by volunteering at some of the urban gardens in Mexico City.  I lived a few blocks from a really cool project called Sembradores Urbanos that was always looking for volunteers to help out in the garden and organize their monthly workshops.

4) Become a part of the community at the Casa de los Amigos, or the House of Friends

My very first night in Mexico City I stayed at the Casa de los Amigos, a Quaker run guesthouse and community centre that houses refugees, organizes conferences and lecture series, and even hosts a Sunday night potluck that is not to be missed. Volunteers are given free lodging, but are expected to commit to living in the Casa for at least six months and actively help out in the daily operations of running the guest house, organizing events, and helping write and research reports and conduct investigations. The Casa is a truly unique place, where you will meet people from all walks of life and experience communal living at its best.

5) Help save Sea Turtles on the Pacific Coast

Seventy miles south of Puerto Vallarta, la Playa de las Tortugas is a sea turtle camp located between the beach and over 1100 acres of pristine salt-water tidal estuary on the north end of a beach known as “Costa Tortuga” on Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit.  The camp depends on volunteers to protect the endangered sea turtle population by patrolling the beach at night, collecting eggs, and releasing hatchlings to the sea.  By joining in this extraordinary event, volunteers help improve the odds of survival for these special creatures. Long-term volunteers can stay at the camp for free, but are asked to pay a minimal donation to help cover costs on the project.

Thailand restaurant / Photo by Jo Matthews

New projects that brand themselves as ‘Green’, ‘Eco’, ‘Responsible’ or one of the many other monikers that have surfaced in recent years seem a little late to the party in my opinion, and lack the foresight and vision necessary to really drive tourism forward. The attributes that combine to create a destination, experience or brand worth being a part of rarely include a title that plays on values.  The mission of a company is communicated through its actions, ethics and engagement not through the words that identify it.  Making claims about your project through a title is likely to be limiting, dissappointing for consumers, a turn off for many people and leave you stuck in a niche.  Of course there is a market for small, niche initiatives but on a grander scale where advancement of the travel industry is concerned, labels and categories seem to be more of a hinderance than a help.

Responsible travel/tourism and all its friends

Responsible travel/tourism has been thrown about for years now in an effort to describe a more sensitive and thoughtful side to an industry that recognises the responsibilities we have to protect the places we visit.  Truth of the matter is that the phrase is looking a little tired now, not least due to its affiliation with responsibletravel.com and the International Centre of Responsible Tourism.  The National Geographic Society also have their label, ‘Geotourism’, which although perhaps a little more descriptive of what it defines, still tries to put the proverbial finger on an aspect of travel that should require no distinction.  Travel is about experiencing a place, appreciating it, preserving it and as we innovate, progress and adopt new attitudes we should naturally incorporate these into products and offerings without attempting to market them as some new approach to doing things through a name.  Travel products and services should be in a constant state of flux, moving to improve and enhance themselves as new attitudes, information and understanding surface.

‘Local travel’ is one of the more recent terms to be thrown about the industry.  This idea of travelling locally – geographically speaking but also in terms of the beneficiaries of your patronage – is probably the label that best defines the current direction in which travel is moving.  The label though is transitory and will no doubt come to be replaced with something else as we move forward.  Perhaps the best way to ride these waves of public awakening is to simply digest their lessons and thoughts, and as in most cases brand yourself in a way that affords you room to move and change direction with market trends, without being a trend that gets left behind.

The most successful and pioneering companies that have featured on Make Travel Fair are those that make no attempt to categorise themselves through their name – Blueventures, Tribewanted, WHL, World Nomads – these are the companies that are acknowledged for their strong set of values and progressive nature.

Should volunteering drop the label?

Should the volunteering sector also think about examining the way it markets opportunities?  The word ‘volunteering’ or ‘voluntourism’ has always felt a bit repellent to me as it conjures up thoughts of a very one-way exchange.  Taking the time to consider what volunteering opportunities provide though reveals hopes for ‘a sense of community’, participation, involvement, skill development, education, communication, honesty and passion.  If a program made no reference to volunteering but conveyed the opportunities available in a very open and honest way I’d be far more likely to engage in a project and understand why I might be paying to be involved.  Getting involved with projects locally is a great way to feel part of the community, invested in your local area and proud of what’s on offer.

If everyone worked at a local level to enhance their communities and make it a better place to live and visit there would be so much to see and do, instead I think we often look too far from home to make a difference.  It is this attitude which needs to change amongst accommodation and tour providers around the world if they are to reap the business benefits of contributing to the upkeep and involvement of local communities in their work.

Further information:

• The Essence Of Travel, No Additives Or Preservatives

Blue Ventures (BV) run dive expeditions from Andavadoaka in Madagascar. They lead the field in volunteer conservation, and have a boat load of awards, reviews and testamonials to prove it. They have recently been recognised by the United Nations for their socio-economic concerns, and active involvement in the sustainable development of their host community.

BV have been running expeditions since 2002, and five years on maintain a philosophy that has helped win co-Founder, Tom Savage ‘Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year’ in the Edge Upstarts 2007 Awards; and seen local community members of BV and Andavadoaka honoured at the United Nations’ Headquarters in New York as winners of the highly coveted UNDP Equator Prize – Awarded to the village for its work in partnership with BV at diminishing poverty through conservation, and the sustainable use of biodiversity.

One of the most recent projects established by BV aims to reduce carbon emissions in the region and boost local employment by investing in energy efficient stoves for the village of Andavadoaka. The stoves operate on alternative fuel sources such as maize husks or other agricultural bi-products, providing an effective way for international volunteers to ‘offset’ their carbon emissions, and contribute to a cleaner, healthier future for the community they work in.

Volunteers with BV are involved in ongoing research projects that focus on providing high-quality data and recommendations to the local community, promoting sustainable use of the marine resources their economy relies on. The goal of BV is to help provide valuable advice to the local community, and assist with implementing environmental management strategies, whilst also minimizing human impacts on the environment.

Education, conservation and research are the essence of BV, and away from the village of Andavadoaka they are launching an education package for schools across the UK to try and bring classroom subjects out into the real world.

A new project off the west coast of Madagascar is taking the research methodologies piloted in Andavadoaka to an expedition based 75 kilometres south of the city of Morondava, conducted in partnership with ANGAP (The National Association for the Management of Protected Areas in Madagascar) to survey the islands and surrounding lagoonal waters of a newly proposed marine protected area.

BV are a passionate organisation, intent on diffusing knowledge and advice to those who need it most. Their active involvement in sustainable development demonstrates a brave and innovative organisation, committed to walking whilst they talk.

Great opportunities with Blue Ventures in Madagascar / Photo by Blue Ventures

Is handing over thousands of pounds to a volunteering company really the best, most efficient way for us to become involved in local community projects abroad?

With such huge, expensive marketing campaigns and high salaried managers behind some of the UK’s largest volunteering companies it seems that vast sums of money are being grossly mismanaged in an industry designed to aid those in need. To be sure that thousand pound participation fees are being used most effectively perhaps prospective volunteers should be enrolling on schemes run by smaller companies they’ve never heard of, rather than contributing their valuable finance to one of these big branded companies. Atleast then they won’t be bankrolling an extravagant marketing budget or funding excessive salaries demanded by managers, but injecting money directly into the project they wish to support.

Alasdair Harris, co-founder of Blue Ventures says that they don’t even have a marketing budget. The web is their biggest marketing tool, and if you see an ad in the paper they won’t have paid for it. It is this attitude that enstills confidence, and reminds us that a common goal is being shared. The Haller Foundation has opportunities for volunteers interested in helping to develop their farming and educational initiatives in Tanzania, but is far too cost conscious to be spending money on a marketing campaign or on agent commissions. Volunteering opportunties need to be opened up and not confined to those willing to spend thousands of pounds to assist in a development project for a month or longer. There needs to be an option for anyone to get involved for any length of time.

There are projects that require lengthy training prior to volunteers being able to engage fully in a project, and such opportunities are best kept for the longer term participant; but there are plenty of initiatives all over the world that would benefit from the passing contribution of an independent traveller. Initiatives that don’t involve ‘buying in’ with thousands of pounds, nor require months of planning or preparation in advance. Finding these projects and knowing that they exist at all is a problem that Make Travel Fair and Your Safe Planet are trying to solve by raising awareness of small community based initiatives. Through their extensive contact base Your Safe Planet has gained a great deal of knowledge about these small scale projects, ideal for independent travellers eager to spend a few days or weeks volunteering whilst on their travels. If someone wants to volunteer some of their time to a worthy project then their good nature needs to be embraced and the opportunities made available.