From Vermont to India

We were at my in-laws this weekend in Dorset, Vermont. Mom Hedman wanted to show us the house that she and Dad Hedman have been working on up in Rupert, Vermont, for Habitat for Humanity. They host a Habitat "Global Village" for a week every year, where 10-12 people from around the world pay a couple thousand dollars to come to Vermont (or anywhere) for a week and provide manual labor in the name of good will. They feel good, the homeowners feel good... everybody wins.

It's a great story, the Rupert one. Couple lives in broken down trailer for 25 years, manage to pay bills and be responsible, and finally get the break they deserve. Anything sweeter would have had Ty Pennington in it.

But today - actually ten seconds after we arrive - a visitor named Salagala Rajasekhar Babu starts to talk. He's stopping in to introduce himself and share his own experience of managing about 800 Habitat projects in his local area of Bapatla, India over the past eight years. Yeah, that's 100 a year in a country with a four-month rainy season. The story is much longer actually, as he's been a part of an orphanage program since 1982 as well.

Right now Babu's group is working hard to deliver on a promise of 300 homes to recent tsunami victims. I can't give him $2,000 for a house, and you probably can't either (if you can, I'll give you his number!). I could pay for my own flight out to Bapatla and give some good hard work and sweat to his organization, and it just so happens that he more than welcomes such a visitor.

India's not next on my list of vacation spots, but I feel my definition of vacation changing. I consider just simply going, but this would have people there feeling like they need to feed me vs. if I go with a group and pay to be fed. I should pay, so I ignite Google and am sure enough inundated with various global work possibilities.

It's a mass market... it's a business. Global volunteer work - take your pick: environment, wildlife, education, trade, poverty, technology, disease, agriculture... And you know what? I don't care that it's a mass product. Good for them, and good for us.

If you know me well, you know I care more about the environment and animals than I do about humans. Unfortunately most of these trips seem - I dare say - a little adventure-vacationy. Again, who cares? - it's getting a certain population of people out there to visit new cultures and extremes. But for the first time in my life I keep my focus on the development and growth of the people. I want to meet and share and understand.

Stay tuned! I'm going to do more research, talk to a few folks, and I'll invite you along when I find a fit.

SDH