If you are traveler who has taken a break from trekking and walking, and other forms of physical adventure, and are looking forward for some way to engage creatively with communities, you can volunteer at your host community.
These are a few suggestions about how you can spend your time. It includes both structured and non-structured (informal, spontaneous) approaches.
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GIVE
— Hourly or Weekly foreign language classes: English, Chinese, and other languages
— Design websites for local persons and businesses
— Translate something. Subtitle local video productions.
— Help with the disabled and the challenged or impaired
— Help with agricultural and ecological and environmental projects
— Catalog local products, flora, fauna
— Basic Healthcare Delivery/ Education
— Give Art classes
— Help local startups write business plans; help NGOs apply for grants
— Facilitate online fundraising/crowdfunding
RECEIVE
Communities, especially remote communities, are often to connect, relate, share their stories. This need may actually be greater in communities which have been visited by tourists in the previous decades, where the focus shifted on fun and entertainment, and exploration, research, cultural investigation and inquiry took a back seat. The emergence of the ecotourist, a more responsible and informed traveler, has improved the situation. And yet, host communities, especially in the remotest regions, benefit from relating their culture, history and knowledge with the travelers who pass by. This both helps the community connect with the larger world, and to pass on knowledge that benefits the community when it gives, and the world when it receives.
There is a great treasure that sits in the hearts and hands of the elders (and the youth) of Hunza, stories that can be told by women, or by porters and guides, or by old builders and story-keepers.
Look out for them, seek them, ask them. Here are some suggestions in which you can eke out some knowledge, a story, and a deeper, more engaged hospitality.
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— Accept the invite to break bread together, or have tea with a family.
— Listen to and document the women’s stories.
Look into how they milk the cows and raise a child.
Ask them about local herbs and berries, and homemade cures for sick family.
Ask younger women about their educational and work aspirations, help them practice their English or other foreign languages.
— Find out about, ask for, sample and eat local cuisine.
Learn how to make local specialties.
Transport the knowledge through photographic, audio, video, text documenting.
Or tell our story to the world by mouth.
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We will keep changing this list of suggestions from time to time. Add yours, please.
This page was created on 16 August, 2015.
HUNZA VOLUNTRAVELING 