Sally Brown, Founder of

Ambassadors For Children

 

 

 

 

Christel DeHaan & student

in India's Christel House

 

 

 

 

Bring-A-Book Foundation

 

 

 

 

Children in the Wilderness

 

 

 

 

Children in New Rest

 

 

 

 

Family at Simonga Village

 

 

 

 

Volunteers at the San

Cristobal Biological Station

 

 

 

 

Group of Aborigines in

Queensland


Global Service Alliance

Consistent with our mission to help conserve the environment and provide benefits to local communities, Classic Escapes has created a dynamic program that allows those communities to directly benefit not only from travel dollars, but also from the care and talent of travelers themselves.

The Global Service Alliance offers travelers on Classic Escapes programs opportunities to contribute to the lives of people in the countries we visit. Working with a wide range of volunteer organizations throughout the world, Classic Escapes can arrange projects lasting from a few hours to a few days for groups to experience the satisfaction of making a tangible difference in the lives of people. The entire group can work side-by-side with local people, painting schools and restocking libraries, providing basic medical treatment or a variety of other projects. Whether for an afternoon or a few days, these opportunities to volunteer will deeply enrich your experience of the country you visit. You'll have a deeper understanding of the county and a personal perspective on the world and its inhabitants, gained from your personal experiences with its people.

 

Ambassadors for Children is a nonprofit organization that provides meaningful travel opportunities for global humanitarian service for individuals and families to help children in need around the world. AFC seeks to better the lives of children around the world who live, study, and play in impoverished communities, while offering volunteers a life-changing experience. AFC trips provide hands-on interaction with disadvantaged children around the world, balanced by opportunities for sightseeing and experiencing the culture of the destination. Ambassadors For Children

Christel House, a non-profit organization which was the inspiration in 1998 of Indianapolis-based Christel DeHaan, well-known in the time-share travel industry.  Today, more than 2,000 under-privileged children from impoverished neighborhoods in India, Mexico, Serbia, South Africa, USA and Venezuela come to the Christel House Learning Centers around the world. They receive a top-quality education, health services and regular meals. They learn life skills, develop self-confidence and earn scholarships to pursue higher education or vocational training. Upon graduation, these Christel House students will have the knowledge, skills and character to build successful lives and make positive contributions to their communities.  As a key component of the Christel House approach, children are taught the importance of "caring, sharing, and making a difference." Classic Escapes currently works with the Cape Town office. Christel House

GLOBIO is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to giving children a voice in the future. Their work ensures that children around the world will be better prepared to make choices about how to protect and manage the natural resources on which their quality of life and their local economies depend. GLOBIO's mission is to provide hands-on, interactive biodiversity education to the world's children. GLOBIO is proud to partner with the Bring-A-Book Foundation (BAB). Your tax-deductible donation to BAB will specifically be used to buy school books for countless children in need and assist in playing a significant role in increasing their understanding of the value of biodiversity in their lives. GLOBIO

Following are some of just a few of the Global Service Alliance projects that can be integrated into your travel itinerary.

AFRICA

While discovering exciting wildlife viewing in the national parks of East Africa, lend a hand to the people who inhabit this amazing land. In East Africa, visit a nursing home, orphanage, clinic or school. Spend a day helping in whatever way is most needed – painting, cleaning, restocking or teaching. In Namibia, work with the Himba children in their community and help improve their education by bringing books and supplies and helping them organize it. In Uganda, help AIDS orphans by participating in teaching, medical and community work that help their families become self-sustaining. In Zambia, visit the African Wild Dog Conservation program, founded by researcher Kellie Leigh, who is currently writing her doctorate in Australia. Assist in her fieldwork by recording localities, pack sexes and ages, unique identification markings to identify individual dogs. Before discovering the timeless monuments of ancient Egypt, help improve the modern-day realities of schools and orphanages by bringing books, supplies, painting, organizing and cleaning.  In Morocco, visit an abandoned casbah by the sea in Rabat and work with a charitable organization that has transformed it into a learning playground for street and underpriveleged children. Many other projects are available in Africa – in collaboration with the charity organizations listed below.

Bring-A-Book Foundation. After seeing schools first hand, meeting the dedicated teachers working under the most difficult conditions and children hungry for knowledge, many travelers have wanted to help the schools they visited or continue to support a child's learning opportunities after they return to their homes. Bring A Book is an innovative effort adopted by Classic Escapes to expand educational opportunities for Kenyan and Tanzanian school children surrounding national parks and reserves. The Bring-A-Book Foundation is a registered Kenyan Charitable Trust that was created as a way to facilitate many travelers' wishes to help the schools and is used to get books into the hands of children as quickly and economically as possible. With compassionate ground operators such as Rangers, Wilderness Safaris, and CC Africa, Classic Escapes has expanded the reach of BAB to Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia and plans to expand to other countries as well.

Children in the Wilderness, Botswana. In August, 2001 Paul Newman visited Botswana and stayed at Wilderness Safaris camps. During his stay, Wilderness Safaris and Newman discussed setting up a children's program in southern Africa, similar to the children's projects and camps he already runs in the USA and Ireland. Within weeks of Newman’s visit the decision was made to start a project targeted at disadvantaged children with the purpose of creating a positive learning experience while exposing them to their wildlife heritage. This program, which centers around one week stays in the exclusive wilderness camps with game drives, lessons and projects, helps to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of their wildlife and the environment around them. Plans are underway to build a permanent camp at Mkambati that will offer the opportunity to children all year round. Children in the Wilderness

New Rest, South Africa, is a colony area of Guguletu and a community-based project responsible for an in-situ upgrading of this area of the Cape Flats. Visit the nursery which was built by the local community with bricks made at the township, and bring some gifts to the young children. See how the local community has reached out to reshape their township, with the advice and input from the tour company and the University of Cape Town. Against all odds, township life prevails and conditions improve, but the transition is slow and hard. It is bleak evidence to the injustices of the past and the enormous challenges to the peoples of the New South Africa in the coming years.

Simonga Village, Zambia. The River Club in Zambia began its involvement in the nearby village of Simonga by paying for the school fees of all 350 children in 2001. Since then, the government has made free education available to all youngsters in the country. The River Club is now engaged in a number of projects, primarily aimed at improving the lives of the children, but in general uplifting the quality of life of everyone in the village. The lodge continues to raise money for these projects while donations from guests help to purchase books, pencils and other supplies for the school.  

ECUADOR & THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

In Ecuador’s capital, Quito, help make the inside of classrooms, orphanages and clinics as beautiful as the outside. Bring new books, pens and magazines. Pick-up a paintbrush and a broom and reinvigorate a room inspiring the people you leave behind. Keep the islands of the Galapagos enchanting by assisting The San Cristobal Biological Station in their work on habitat restoration and developing ecologically sound agricultural practice. Foundation staff will lead volunteers on destination hikes to a nearby lagoon, native forests, beaches and the local villages to illustrate the ecological and human dynamic of the islands.

The Jatun Sacha Foundation, Ecuador offers opportunities for volunteers to participate in research, education, community service, station maintenance, plant conservation, and agroforestry activities. Volunteers work on a variety of projects under the supervision of resident researchers, environmental education instructors, and the management staff of the reserve.

 

COSTA RICA

In Costa Rica’s largest private reserve, join The Monteverde Conservation League (MCL) to assist in the protection, education, reforestation and research activities in and around its Children's Eternal Rain Forest. A representative from the Monteverde Conservation League, who works with the First International Children’s Rainforest will describe the mission of their work. You will then be given assignments to help lend a hand wherever it is most needed.

Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center (SCLC), is a community development program that will allow you to make personal connections working alongside members while making a rewarding difference within the community.  Past SCLC projects have included painting local schools, refurbishing student desks, roadside, school, and river cleanup, reforestation, building construction, remodeling retirement homes, and trail maintenance.  All supplies purchased with group fees for the project are donated to the host institution/organization. Founded originally as a community library in the mid-1990s by the Holbrook family, owners of Selva Verde Lodge, the Center now offers a host of activities to the local community. With the Holbrook's continued support – along with donations, membership support, and tourism activity fees – the Center is able to offer local residents English and computer classes, an after-school program for local children, a high-school scholarship program, a local art gallery, a women's group, and environmental education for youth of all ages. All of these programs operate to provide the Sarapiqui population with job skills important in today's economy and to promote creative thinking and environmental values. The SCLC hosts a local artisans gallery and also offers visiting tour groups activities such as dance classes, Costa Rican cooking lessons, and community service projects that support local schools and other institutions.

PERU

The Tambopata Research Center is renowned for involving local people in their efforts to protect the endangered species of the rain forest in the upper Amazon. Instead of just visiting the center, become part of the research team and lend a hand – clear a walking trail, collect plant specimens or deliver medical supplies from the U.S. In the Ese’eja Native Community, Lima and Cusco, medical and educational volunteer opportunities abound to enhance the quality of life for the local people.

AUSTRALIA

In Queensland, Australia take part in the The Amizade program dedicated to promoting Aboriginal culture by providing opportunities for economic self-sufficiency. Make signs and maintain the Bush Tucker Trail, an interpretive trail that teaches people about what plants Aborigines use for food and medicine. Assist Aborigines planting and cultivating organic gardens. Participate in planting and cultivating tea trees in the Tree Nursery – the oil of the tea trees is used for medicinal and dietary purposes all over the Pacific Rim.