Volunteer Voyages LLC

07/21/2024

To all of you who posted birthday wishes on my page this weekend (or thought about doing so), I am thoroughly grateful. I am humbled by all of your sentiments and feel truly blessed. Thank you all!

01/27/2024

Starting to make our flight reservations now - Santiago de Cuba is on the horizon. If you'd like to join us, now is the time to contact me. It's so enjoyable to do good things! Schedule your time now for March 9-17.

01/02/2024

Today is January 2nd – the second day of 2024! Like me, I’m sure everyone else has been busy sorting out all the resolutions we’ve made, so let’s get busy putting them into action.
For the first order of business, contact me right away to save your space on our Cuba Project trip, March 8 – 17, 2024. We’ll be able to help the Cuban people a lot, and just being there will be fascinating. It is a perfectly legal trip, according to the US State Department, as we will be there to support the Cuban People. There is some paperwork for us to do in preparation, so we need to get started on that soon. This is not the project that you want to wait until the last minute to join.
We will have other projects in later months this year that I’ll post soon.
Do you have ideas for other interesting projects? Share your ideas for projects, locations, and people with me and let’s get busy helping people throughout the world!

12/25/2023

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!

We are excited to announce our first 2024 project, that gets underway on March 8. We will be going to a city in southeastern Cuba (Santiago de Cuba) under the “Support for the Cuban People” general license. No special skills will be required, just a reasonable command of the English language. Our tasks there will be to spend time with students at a private university who are trying to learn to be proficient in English. We will provide a great resource for them, as they will be able to practice and hone their skills by speaking with us. We won’t need lesson plans or teaching credentials since we’ll simply be having relaxed conversations with them in English – on topics that they will choose.
We also hope to help with some chores at some privately owned coffee farms during the week we will be there.
The duration of the project will be just one week, so we will be returning home on March 17th.
We expect the total cost to be US$2,000 per person, plus air fare and insurance.
So… polish up your grammar and pack your bags! We’re ready for you to join us.

04/29/2023

In our conversations with the faculty at the Dili Institute of Technology this week, we determined that we would be able to provide better support for their classes if we postponed our trip. That’s because there are so many other events happening in the country at that time. They’re having Parliamentary Elections that week, and the school, itself will be celebrating its own birthday all week. The 22nd of May will be Timor-Leste’s Independence Day – 21 years old – Hooray! We’ve all come to an agreement: that’s not going to be the most productive time for us. So, we’ve decided to move the trip to the week of July 8 through 17. Yes, I realize that’s more than a week, but it gives you a couple extra days to relax on the beach before going home and getting back to work (although you can still leave a day or two earlier if you – or your employer – feel you must).
You might notice that the description above does not mention the tour of Japan that we described previously. Well, that excursion is still available, and has the same itinerary, but it’s now considered optional. If you want to include that 2nd week, be sure to let us know when you sign up to join us.
These changes come with a minor adjustment in the costs, as well. Here’s what that looks like:
Timor-Leste only: US$ 1,810.00 per person, double occupancy
Timor-Leste AND Japan: US$ 3,280.00 per person, double occupancy
So check your schedule and see if this awesome project will fit for you now.

04/20/2023

Our schedule continues to expand. In addition to our Timor-Leste/Japan project in May, we now plan to go back to the Peruvian Amazon River in July, working on the choreography of some tribal dances and teaching more about raising vegetables and chickens.
In August we will be in Thailand again! We’ve been invited by the Royal Thai Volunteers to teach them about building solar stoves and bio-sand water filters, so they can feel confident teaching others these skills. That’s what we’re all about – spreading the wealth of knowledge so that they can all continue the cycle of improving lives.
Plan to join us on any of these projects. For now, message me if you would like more information - or to sign up.

Our Mission is to enrich lives through humanitarian service adventures. We provide opportunities for

04/05/2023

Winter is sure taking its own, sweet time to go away here. So Timor-Leste is really looking attractive for next month! Plus, we'll be providing some incredible opportunities there to make lots of lives better there. Can't beat that. Sign up to join us today, and please share this post so that others can join, too.

03/29/2023

Plan to join us in May this year when we go here:

03/26/2023

As the seasons change, it’s time to think in earnest about our next project. As we are entering spring (although it doesn’t seem like it here this year) the folks in the southern hemisphere are easing into autumn. For our next project, we’ll be immersing ourselves into the best of both spring and fall. I’m incredibly excited for this, since it means going south of the equator to work in Timor-Leste for our first week and then coming halfway home to spend our second week touring Japan! It’s going to be an awesome mix of climates and cultures.
Timor-Leste is the 5th newest country on this planet, and as such, they are consistently and diligently working on measures to develop and continuously improve every element of their society. They already have some of the world’s finest coffee and chocolate – yes, we’ll be able to try some – and we are going there to help them make life easier for the thousands of folks who live in very remote areas. We’ll go to the capital city of Dili, and work with the engineering students at the Dili Institute of Technology – their local Trade School. Our project is to help these bright students do the brainstorming necessary to teach remote families how to construct small electrical generation systems for their homes. We don’t necessarily need to have engineering training ourselves, although it would help, but our main goal is to share our ideas and strategies with them. They can do the engineering work and our collaboration will help to speed up the process immeasurably.
When we finally complete this educational project and see some homes being lit up, it will be time for us to depart for Japan. We’ll spend a couple days touring Tokyo and then head south on a bullet train, stopping first at Osaka. From there we’ll be able to visit the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. After that it will be time to hop back on the bullet train and head south to Hiroshima to see the museums and shrines that are so ubiquitous there. We’ll spend one full, incredible day there, then a couple more in Tokyo before finally returning home.
Two unique destinations in one unbelievable trip. Sign up today to reserve your spot.
www.volunteer-voyages.com/upcoming-projects. Contact me there to confirm as soon as possible.
Dates: May 13 – May 27, 2023
Cost: US $3420.00 plus airfare per person (double occupancy).

02/24/2023

We’re officially on the final stretch now. It’s just six weeks until we go to Cuba! That means that it’s time to confirm that you’re planning to join us. As I mentioned previously, we’ll be teaching English to adult students who are planning to enter the hospitality industry. We’ve been busy developing and adapting our teaching material so that you will have a very easy time learning it and, ultimately, sharing it with our students. Another part of this project is to spend time working with coffee farmers and learning from them the best ways that we can assist them. I suspect that much of our time with them will be spent discussing their needs and brainstorming with them about the best ways to meet those needs. Of course, I hope there will also be the opportunity to pick some coffee cherries, help in the processing, and taste some coffee.
Since this project is a little more complex than many of our others, due to Cuban entry requirements and the requirements of the US Treasury and State Departments, etc., we need to get busy with our paperwork, too. So, let me know as soon as you can if you’d like to join us, and include your contact information (email and phone #) so we can discuss the details directly.
We’re also getting close to our May project to brainstorm with engineering students in Timor-Leste about how to develop small scale electrical generation systems for extremely remote rural homes. That’s a project that is going to have immense benefit for everyone involved, too! Our second week of touring in Japan will also be pretty special, as you would expect.

01/10/2023

Many people have expressed some difficulty fitting our February Cuba Project into their busy schedules. The short notice of the project was a big obstacle. So, because of that inconvenience and a variety of other reasons, we’ve decided to change the dates of our project to make it easier for many of you. Our new dates for our Cuban Project to Support the Cuban People will be, APRIL 7-14, 2023. Everything else will remain the same, so contact us as soon as you determine that these new dates will fit into your schedule. This is one you don’t want to miss.

12/28/2022

Next Up: A New Project!
We’re expanding our horizons now, and finding more people that need our help. For our next excursion, we won’t have to venture far from our shores to find an incredibly fulfilling and fascinating project. Try this on for size:
Cuba - in mid-February, 2023
It’s a good-sized island, not far from our Florida Coastline, and the people there have plenty of need for our assistance. We’ll be working in Santiago de Cuba, which is on the very southeastern part of the island.
So, for a look at what we are cooking up with our local collaborators there, check our web page: https://lnkd.in/gEjnsDes. Then plan to join us! I'll be waiting for your email or call.

04/24/2022

I'm really looking forward to our daily commute this July! Getting to and from the tribe's garden each day will be almost as much fun as working in it with them! We'll have to stay alert to watch for the pink dolphins... and lots of other wildlife. You should plan to join us - message me!

04/17/2022

The incomparable Amazon Rainforest! Join us in July when we have the Shaman from the tribe take us on a jungle walk to point out and discuss the various medicinal plants that are found there and how they're used. Fascinating and educational!

04/13/2022

I hope this doesn't mess up everyone's summer plans - the Chief and I have decided to RESCHEDULE our Bora Agricultural Training project to July 8-17, 2022. This will work better for the tribe, and, I hope, many volunteers. Check your schedules now, and contact me to sign up soon!

04/08/2022

Wouldn't you love to be able to say, "This is where I work!" Well, join us on June 1, 2022 and you can! Spread the word.

03/29/2022

Let’s Get Busy!
It’s time to get back to work to help heal our wounded world. For most of us the last two years have been horrible because of the pandemic. So many things have combined to disrupt our lives – I won’t list them here. But for the people and the communities with whom we have worked internationally, the toll has been worse. They have mourned the losses of their loved ones due to the pandemic (as we have) and watched as their incomes and opportunities vaporized. For most of them, the future looks bleak. But we have the power – and the mission – to help change that. We can help to deliver hope, inspiration, and connection. Together, so many things are possible. So, let’s get busy helping – healing is a team effort – join us to make good things happen.
The first of our newly resurrected projects will start June 1, 2022. It will take us to Iquitos, Peru. We will call it the Bora Agriculture Training Project. The Bora Tribe, we’ve worked with them for years, have historically been entertainers – with their main source of income coming from dancing and singing for tourists and selling their native handicrafts. Now they have had COVID-19 come through their village twice, with the expected consequences, and tourism has stopped. So has their income. Recently, the tribe decided to branch out to attempt raising vegetables that they could sell for a profit. Because they did not have any agricultural experience – only having worked as entertainers – they realized they needed some help. They contacted Volunteer Voyages and we were able to arrange some small donations and to provide a little instruction to get them started. They had some moderate success, which kept them going, and now they have contacted us again to tell us that they are adding some chickens to their farming repertoire. We are so excited for them! And we want to help more.
We plan to take a take a group of vaccinated and boosted volunteers to visit the tribe and share some new information with them regarding raising vegetables and chickens. We’ll also plan to check out all of the cocoa plantations we can find in the area so we can see where your favorite chocolate comes from! It’s going to be a very welcome return! There’s more information on our website, www.volunteer-voyages.com/upcoming-projects. Check it out and plan on joining us – it will do you a lot of good, too.