giving back

I returned from a trip to Peru a few months ago filled with love for the beautiful people there and their amazing culture. As a participant on a community-based travel program, I made deep connections with an Andean family during a home stay and gained many new and genuine friendships along the way.

So when that country was hit with a 8.0 magnitude earthquake just weeks ago, it felt like it had hit my own backyard, not a South American nation some 5,000 miles away. I thought of the names and faces of real people that I knew may have been affected. It was as though the entire nation had become my extended family, at least in my heart.

As a staff member of a local non-profit, I was called on to help channel relief funds to communities that were in need. It’s hard to express what a cathartic and uplifting experience this was! As a donor, I felt empowered by having a way to support the people of Peru. But also working on the relief effort, I was touched by the feeling of community shared by those on both sides of the equation.

No matter what the reasons are for giving, it knits us closer together. I love the fact that travel allows us to see the world—full of strangers that live far away and speak different languages—as an extension of our own home, family and community.

Be ready to welcome a new world family into your life as you travel, and don’t forget to give back to the people that have opened their lives to you. We come from a life of great privilege here in the States and have much prosperity to share. But while our dollars may buy medical supplies for earthquake victims or go towards building a school in an impoverished village, it is the spirit of generosity that truly sustains us all.