Claire Gilby (above) enjoyed an up close and personal experience with pandas when she volunteered in Sichuan Province  Photo: Courtesy of Claire Gilby

A growing number of travelers are shunning the regular holiday itinerary of sightseeing and leisure in favor of immersing themselves in the culture and making a positive contribution as volunteers. Volunteer vacations are available throughout the world, and range from wildlife conservation efforts, refugee camp projects, teaching English, music or even helping to improve simple hygiene. Five volunteers shared their stories with the Global Times about their meaningful, memorable holidays that proved to be rewarding, life-changing experiences.

The road less taken

Tzyy Wang's lasting impression of Jerusalem isn't of the Wailing Wall or the Dome of the Rock. Rather, it's of the locals who inhabit the area. "I'll always think of that part of the world for its people and their issues, rather than the religious history," said the 34-year-old Chinese-American, who joined the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) with her Irish husband on a 10-day tour to the West Bank. "It was a fact-finding mission focused on communication. We visited different groups and towns [in Palestinian-populated areas and Israel] and gained a better understanding of what is happening in the region by talking to the local people."

Wang moved back and forth between both Jewish settler and Palestinian communities, visiting refugee camps and universities, and talking to rabbis and students. "We got to see closely how [Palestinian] people's lifestyles are limited due to Israeli control. Their interaction with foreigners is how they practice their English, and it's one of the only ways for them to get their message across," she explained.

Wang said the eerie cities and destroyed buildings had a profound impact on her. "We saw smoke grenades here and there, and sometimes there was a bit of tension in places where the Israeli military presence was stronger," she recalled. "I had never been to that part of the world, but it was an opportunity to do something meaningful and see a side of life that you don't normally see as a tourist."

Cleaning panda excrement might not sound like the best way to spend a four-week holiday, but for Claire Gilby, seeing the heartbeat of a cub on a sonogram outweighed the foul smells and difficulties from the language barrier. Gilby, 25, found the opportunity to volunteer at the Bifengxia Panda Center in Sichuan Province through the website Realgap.co.uk.

"I always wanted to visit China, but I wanted to do more than just the usual tourist trail. I felt that a volunteer program would be a good way to learn a bit more about the area," the Briton said. "I also study wildlife conservation at university, so it was a good opportunity to work within a conservation program and gain firsthand experience of how they operate."

Mutual rewards

Elsewhere in southwest China, Malaysian Angela Low, 35, and her Irish husband Derek Doherty, 36, made their volunteer holiday a family experience at the Thangka Academy at Shangri-La county, Yunnan Province. "We were traveling with our two-year-old daughter, and we thought it would be a special thing to do together," said Low, who taught two hours of English daily to the academy's young students. "My husband was conducting consultations for a future eco-tourism project that would eventually be run by local villagers. I helped check and expand the content they had on their website, which was being upgraded by another volunteer." 

Rising at dawn and living in modest accommodation are some of the challenges that volunteers must tackle if they are to abandon the five-star treatment favored by tourists.

Huihan Lie, 33, joined NGO Caring for Cambodia with two friends to teach music at a school for disadvantage children. "The kids didn't speak a word of English, and I didn't know a word of Khmer," the Dutch drummer recalled. "However, the beauty of music is that you don't need language to communicate. This led to a wonderful, more primal feeling of communication and interaction."

Surviving the heat and humidity of Siem Reap without air conditioning was made easier thanks to the fun atmosphere and personal fulfillment that came with being a volunteer, Lie said. "Spontaneously breaking into a hardcore, free-flowing session with all the kids in the classroom as we improvised, danced and beat drums and bells was pure ecstasy," Lie recalled. "I have rarely had so much fun in my life. Few things are as gratifying as a child's smile."

Keeping culture alive

Xu Bowen, 21, is currently spending his university holiday as a volunteer photojournalist in Yunnan with Prop Roots, a Beijing-based NGO that promotes language and art to empower the Jingpo minority. As one of the least-populated ethnic groups in China, the Jingpo people mostly live near China's mountainous border with Myanmar. Xu is helping document their unique way of life and raise awareness of their struggles that stem from inhabiting one of the remotest corners of China.

"Most Chinese people are unaware of what they can do to be altruistic. Many shun public service, and don't realize how gratifying it can be," said Xu, who studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

He is on his second volunteering stint with Prop Roots, and has founded an on-campus social enterprise that helps disadvantaged students and holds other meaningful volunteer activities. "In the future, I'd like to create a charitable project in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, where I was born. I want to help the local community and help preserve their cultural heritage."

Plan your volunteer vacation

Word-of-mouth, online forums and websites are the best ways to discover what volunteer programs are on offer. For China-based volunteer holidays, associations such as VSO-China, Prop Roots, Heart to Heart, Habitat for Humanity and Roots and Shoots offer projects that regularly need volunteers. English teachers are always in high demand by Stepping Stones and the Thangka Academy. HPP-China and the Global Volunteer Network also offer programs across Asia. Volunteers are required to cover the costs of their flights, however food and accommodation is sometimes available at discounted rates.