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OVERSEAS SITE
VISITS AND ADVENTURE TRAVEL
Many countries in the developing world are home to some of the most astonishing and exciting natural and man made wonders of the world: • Victoria Falls, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the end of the world at the Cape of Good Hope, from the headwaters of the Nile to the great monuments of ancient Egypt, • The Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti Plain and the Great Rift Valley -- each teeming with literally thousands of animals: lions, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, flamingos, rhino, hyena, • The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, the Nazca Lines, the Amazon and the Brazilian Rain Forest, and • The Himalayas and Mount Everest, the Annapurna Circuit, Tibet and Kashmir, the Taj Mahal – and on and on. Although rich in such wonders, these regions are home to some of the poorest people on earth. But in many of these countries we also find some of the very best efforts to help people help themselves and many models for sustainable change. Imagine living on less that $1 a day. Imagine experiencing female circumcision, being sold into marriage at 10 years of age or entering a polygamous marriage. Imagine never being allowed to go to learn to read, or having only one meager meal a day, or watching your children die for lack of simple medicines. On a personal level these conditions horrify us if we thinks of living in them -- but how much more devastating if our children had no other paths! How can we condone those conditions for the children of millions? There are solutions. Given half a chance, families in the developing world will do anything to create a different future for their children, just as we would. Consider a family trip or taking a group of friends to visit real people, who with a little help, are able to feed their families, educate their children, improve their health care, care for their environment and bring change to their communities. See two itineraries that foundation families followed as they explored countries in Africa and South America. View two videos made by a family that went to visit overseas grantees, look at new possibilities and learn first-hand about needs and effective approaches to sustainable change. Follow the link to Jim Klobuchar’s Adventures which provides the travel agencies for such trips and also organizes some fascinating adventures to which microcredit forays can be added. On this site is a list of Jim’s books, including The Miracles of Barefoot Capitalism which he wrote with his wife, Susan Cornell Wilkes of Adventures in Giving. Together they spent 18 months on four continents, interviewing managers of micro enterprise programs and institutions and the borrowers whose stories of life changes are remarkable. Microcredit programs and other systemic change programs are can be found the world over. You can choose your destination and Adventures in Giving will find outstanding programs for you, and even organize the trip. |