This post marks a new series of book reviews for the blog. There are a variety of books related to international volunteering and voluntourism. By providing a summary and review my hope is to facilitate potential volunteers in their search for resources and programs to fit their needs.
“The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations To Enrich Your Life” by Pam Grout was published in 2009 by National Geographic. The book is divided into seven chapters representing world regions. In each chapter there are detailed summaries of projects from a variety of organizations. The summaries provide background information on the volunteer sending organization as well details about the activities and highlights of the featured program.
“Volunteer Vacations” is fun to flip through for those who, like me, like to imagine all the places they might go. I would recommend this for someone just starting to think about taking a volunteer vacation because it opens to the reader the many possibilities when choosing a volunteer program. For example as a volunteer you can get in the water to observe and record great white sharks with Greenforce or work on community projects with the marginalized Roma people (Gypsies) with Globe Aware. The possibilities are endless and this book just might help you narrow it all down or make your list of places to visit even longer.