We’re thinking of taking the kids on a two-part vacation in the Caribbean or Latin America: part one to do some service/charity work and part two for a relaxing vacation.
I’ve heard that many times doing service out of the country results in a feel-good experience for the traveler and a pain in the neck for the recipient.
I was wondering if anyone here has done anything like this that was worthwhile.
(Our kids are 6 & 9.)
And what do you think your six-year-old is capable of doing, volunteering-wise?
I applaud you for your thoughtfulness, but advise you, as someone who works a lot with volunteers, to go yourself until your children are at least teenagers. If you’re supervising your kids, you can’t give your full attention to the task at hand.
I agree that they’re probably too young for anything physical but there may be other ways your children could make a contribution. My children have been on school trips to Nepal, Jordan and Egypt and they have always visited a local school and brought much appreciated school supplies and used clothing.
My cousin and her husband took their three kids (ages 6-14) through SE Asia for a year. There are international charities that function as both hostel and volunteer “depot” for specifically this purpose. I’d imagine there may be similar groups in Latin America/the Caribbean that offer the same.
We go to St Martin for two weeks each winter. We always spend a day at the island animal shelter. Some years we just help pick up dog crap from the exercise areas and play with dogs. If there is construction going on, we lend a hand with that. Oh, and money. We always make a donation.
It has been cool watching the facility grow over the years.
At the shelter we visit, there are always little kids playing with the puppies. The shelter manager puts an emphasis on proper socialization and is happy to have kids fill that role.