Toronto Star - May 2005

Toronto Star, Travel Section, May 21, 2005

Volunteers use vacations abroad to change lives.

HEATHER GREENWOOD DAVIS

We've all seen articles in the paper detailing the devastating effect AIDS is having on Africa. And I'm willing to guess that most of us have said a prayer or offered a wish for an end to the epidemic.

But how many of us have actually put our bodies where our hearts are? This summer, Nia Navarro wants to spend four weeks doing just that.

While her friends will be working at summer jobs or hanging out at the mall — as is the usual rite of passage for your last summer before university — 18-year-old Navarro's wish is to be in Arusha, Tanzania doing something a little different.

"I'll be working in an orphanage with kids who have lost their parents to HIV or AIDS," she explains from her Toronto home.

After months of searching for the right project and the right organization, Navarro stumbled across Cross-Cultural Solutions, an international non-profit organization based in New York that has no political or religious affiliations and offers volunteers the opportunity to make a difference in one of 10 countries.

"It's an experience that is bound to change my life," she says.

That's what happened to the program's founder Steven Rosenthal. He created Cross-Cultural Solutions in 1995 after he couldn't get a volunteering trip he had taken to a Kenyan village out of his mind. According to his website, he created the volunteer/vacation company as a way to offer others the chance to have their own profound experience.

Today, the group has sent more than 10,000 people to do their part to better the planet. Program participation is open to all. Students, families, singles and groups can... and do... sign up for the program.

Navarro wants to be one of them.

The trip to Tanzania would give Navarro, who will begin the nursing program at Ryerson University in the fall, the chance to help health care providers set up medical clinics and provide for the basic health care needs of the villagers. She'll also be expected to help educate the villagers on a number of topics, including immunization programs, HIV/AIDS and women's empowerment.

"I've always wanted to do something like this," says the York Mills Collegiate graduate, who realized when very young that children her own age were suffering in the Third World. "Since I was 5 or 6, I've always written in my diary about wanting to go to Africa. I just always wanted to help."

After an explanation of the program and an interview, she was invited to participate this July. The only additional requirement has been the cost.

All Cross-Cultural Solutions programs are run solely by volunteer contributions. That means each participant must pay a fee. Nia's four-week program, which includes all meals, lodgings, travel medical insurance and in-country transportation, will cost $2,848 U.S. And that doesn't include her airfare to Tanzania, or the cost of immunizations, visas, etc. All told, Nia's volunteer mission will cost her about $7,000.

So far, she's raised about $2,500 through family and friends and is continuing her efforts in the hope that people will recognize the value of her trip and help her raise the rest before the June 6 deadline.

Despite the deficit and time pressure, Navarro says she's determined to make it happen because she recognizes what a life-changing experience it's bound to be.

"It's going to be a culture shock for sure," she says laughing, "but I feel like once you travel you get a better understanding of different customs and experiences. I'm not expecting to change the world or to change the whole of Tanzania," she says, "but I hope in some small way it will help."