Travel and Purpose

Claire is an Irish travel writer and the Roamie-ing Reporter for G Adventures' Roamies trips—small group tours for 18-35 year-old travelers. Here she discusses her recent trip to Peru, where among other adventures, she climbed Rainbow Mountain, sandboarded at Huacachina and explored Machu PIcchu. The G Adventures program G for Good offers travelers the opportunity to visit positive social projects on their trip.

Christina Lowery is Cofounder and CEO of Girl Rising, a storyteling nonprofit that supports girls' education in 12 countries. 130 million girls around the world do not have access to education and it is the mission of Girl Rising to change the way girls' education is viewed and valued. Their content reaches 400 million viewers in 170 countries. CATALYST talks with her about her visit to Rajasthan, India and the work of Girl Rising.

Tanya Weaver, Executive Director of the American Foundation for Children with Aids, works in African countries where there are more orphans with AIDS than anywhere in the world—15 million. In Zimbabwe, her programs offer farming assistance, goat breeding and beekeeping programs to help families as well as providing medical supplies. In addition, they offer traveling programs called Vacations with a Purpose which provide volunteering opportunities for travelers.

Lindsay visited Rwanda and Gorilla Guardians Village, an environment that promotes sustainable travel and combats gorilla poaching. Hear what it's like to trek among gorillas and learn about their efforts to protect and conserve these animals. Listen as she talks about the history and travel options in this country, once known for a vicious genocide, and now a unified nation ready to welcome travelers.

Patrick lived in Kyrgyzstan for 9 years, working to bring tourism there and promoting outdoor adventure. Historically it has been a mountaineering destination, home to one of the easiest 7000m peaks in the world, and recently ski touring and horseback riding have become popular. The country has experienced political instability, including a number of revolutions. Listen to Patrick recount his first hand experience of the 2010 revolution.

Victoria founded the nonprofit Maysea in Nicaragua where she works with rural off-grid jungle communities. She also runs "co-giving trips" that combine adventure with impact in this area of the Pacific Coast renowned for surfing and outdoor exploration.

Yulia is a travel journalist who created an innovative travel company to bring people to places misrepresented by mass media. She is currently focused on the Middle East and here she talks about her organized trips to Jordan, where she works with eco-tourism initiatives that offer employment to local Bedouin communities. Learn more about the welcoming population, diverse cultures and other worldly landscapes in Jordan.

Mark Crandall is Founder of Hoops4Hope, a nonprofit that is committed to building and sustaining a community ecosystem that is a catalyst for positive youth development and social change through sports. He started in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and his programs reach more than 7500 kids each year in over 60 schools in those countries, with their peer educational model shared around the world in 7 countries. Among his experiences are a team bike trip around the circumference of Zimbabwe to highlight the power of sport for development, a partnership with NBA Africa and Basketball without Borders.

Carmen Castricum is Founder of The Green Stamp, a platform dedicated to presenting ethical and donation-based wildlife tours in South America, Asia and Africa. Here she discusses jaguar conservation in Bolivia and her visit to the Jaguar Conservation Ranch. Jaguar populations are being dramatically reduced due to deforestation, cattle ranching and killings, and the ranch offers local education to combat this.

The Peace Corps no longer operates in Mauritania due to the risk to Americans but here Dave Aabo recounts his experience working there years ago. There are many human rights issues in the country. While Dave was there slavery was legal, and even in 2018, although then illegal, there were more than 90,000 slaves in the country. It is an Islamic Republic where atheism is punishable by death. After leaving Mauritania, Dave went on to do the Peace Corps in Peru and later founded Waves International, a surf travel and volunteer organization in Lobitos that increases surf access to locals, provides English classes and beach clean up to the community.

There are more than 700 Indigenous communities across Canada. 40,000 Indigenous people work in the Canadian Indigenous tourism industry which contributes $2 billion to GDP. Here CATALYST speaks with Genevieve Huneault, Founder of Social Root Consulting and Development Coordinator of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada about the field and its relationship to child welfare.

Lauren Chu is Communications Director at Operation Groundswell (OG), a socially conscious travel organization whose motto is “backpacking with a purpose.” Here she talks about her experience on OG’s trips to Guatemala. Indigenous Mayan peoples make up more than 50% of Guatemala’s population. OG’s trips there examine issues such as their role in the community and how they are affected by deforestation, resource extraction and other human rights issues.

Clara is an Argentinian filmmaker who visited South Sudan to work on the first movies ever made in the new country. She mentored a team of local South Sudanese filmmakers and helped make 4 films. It was a brave experience as there has been recent violence toward journalists in the country and risk of political turmoil. Learn about the culture and personalities of the team she worked with, and the history and landscape of the country.

In underserved communities in Ecuador, social challenges include malnutrition, stunting, unemployment among others. Here, Jeff Goldman, Executive Director of Manna Project International, talks about their social justice and community development programs: nutrition classes, adult programs, job training and after-school/summer programming for kids. Short and long term volunteering and service learning opportunities are available with the Manna Project.

The San peoples are Indigenous hunter-gatherer groups that are the First Nations of Southern Africa. Here Alanna Wallace speaks of her travels to Botswana to stay in a San-owned lodge and what she learned from the San while there. Alanna is Program and Communications Manager of Planeterra Foundation, which is the leading nonprofit using tourism to tackle poverty, and Alanna talks about how they support the San-run Dqae Qare lodge as well as many other sustainable travel projects worldwide.

Polly is a travel advisor, freelance writer, founder of the travel blog Pollygoes.com and Senior Content Lead at Impact Travel Alliance. She recently went gorilla trekking in the Bwindi Imprenetrable Forest in Uganda. Mountain gorillas are only found in this area of the world and are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. Traveling to visit these gorillas contributes to providing sustainable tourism income to the region and supports conservation of the mountain gorilla population.

Lorena organizes conscious travel experiences in Indigenous communities in Colombia. Her expeditions focus on mutual understanding, humane conversations and storytelling of the untold stories. In this podcast she discusses the history of the region, everything from internal conflict and guerrilla activity and how the 2016 peace agreement affected tourism, to the human rights of the Indigenous people there.

Catarina Rivera is cofounder of ExplorEquity, a travel company focused on offering social justice oriented travel experiences that are sustainable and give back to local communities. Here she talks about her recent trip to Honduras, a destination to which she is planning group tours. She meets with coffee farmers, experiences local cuisine, meets with local businesses and visits beautiful lakes, mountains and landscapes.

JoAnna Haugen is founder of Rooted, a storytelling platform about sustainable travel. She visited Israel and Palestine on a tour that focused on learning the stories of local Israelis and Palestinians via in person meetings and experiences and shared meals. She gained a more in-depth understanding of the conflict and culture of the region through this form of travel.

Caliopy Glaros is Principal Consultant of Philanthropy Without Borders, an organization that provides donor travel, ethical storytelling and virtual engagement for nonprofit projects. Here she speaks about her trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to introduce philanthropists to a water sanitation and education project, and shares her perspective on the unique history and culture of the country.

Bhutan is a unique country that has invented the innovative Global National Happiness; it has policies of environmental preservation enshrined into it's constitution—it's the only carbon-negative country in the world; and it's known for strong gender equality. Learn about Bhutan from Callum Reilly, Trips Director for CAS Trips, who has traveled there, as well as other spots all over the world.

250 million children lack basic reading, writing and math skills around the world. On this podcast, we talk to KC Kennedy who is Senior Manager, Program Impact, with Pencils of Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to improving primary school education in Ghana, Guatemala and Laos. Pencils of Promise has built 525 schools, and works on teacher development. Here we talk with KC about her recent trip to Ghana.

Kelly is Founder and Executive Director of Impact Travel Alliance, an organization focused on promoting sustainability to travelers. Recently she traveled to Puerto Rico, where she experienced local cuisines and visited sustainable farms.

As a student studying social entrepreneurship, Patricia traveled to the Hill Tribe region of Thailand to participate in a 30 year development project that transitioned farmers away from the opium/poppy trade and into sustainable farming of coffee, tea and nuts. She currently organizes trips for travelers to stay with local Hill Tribe families. She is also interested in the arena of spiritual travel and talks about it here.

Nicola traveled to Jinja, Uganda where the problem of youth homelessness and addiction led her to cofound a nonprofit (S.A.L.V.E. which stands for Support And Love Via Education) to tackle these social issues, and reunite homeless kids with their families. Here she discusses the root causes of youth homelessness in Uganda, and their 87% success rate in getting homeless kids off the streets, and back to living with their extended families.

Patrick Barrow travels to the Yamal Peninsula in the Siberian Arctic where he lives with the Nenet reindeer herders during their winter migration. Here he discusses their culture and lifestyle, the impact of taking this kind of cultural immersion journey and the threats of mining and climate change to their traditional livelihood.

Amy Merrill cofounded a social impact travel company, Journey, and here she talks about the challenges of such a venture, as well as her last trip to Nicaragua with Journey where she accompanied a group of volunteers to rebuild and refurbish a local school.

Leigh Matthews volunteered in a Vietnamese orphanage and it began a path for her to found Rethink Orphanages, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for children and educating about the harm and negative impact of orphanage tourism.

Matt Wilson is CEO and Co-founder of Under30Experiences, a travel company that focuses on the millennial market. Here he discusses his travels to and move to Costa Rica, and the meaning of sustainable travel.

Jessica Mayberry is Founder of Video Volunteers and travels to Jharkhand, India where she works with local video correspondents, who make videos that help solve social injustices all around India.

James Wilcox travels to Somaliland to help coordinate and manage the Somaliland Marathon, a race that attracts local Somali runners and international participants. James is Founder of Untamed Borders and guides hundreds of people to hard-to-reach destinations. He also sits on the Board of Free to Run, working to create safe spaces for women to participate in sports in post-conflict countries.

Erin Huber traveled to Uganda where she founded the nonprofit Drink Local Drink Tap that works on clean water projects with local communities in the Nakasongola District. Erin talks about her journey and work providing clean water.

Rob McQueen traveled to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia by motorcycle to visit with nomadic peoples and deliver water filters. Rob works for Waves For Water, a nonprofit dedicated to solving the water scarcity problem worldwide.

Claire Bennett traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal. She is a coordinator for PEPY TOURS and cofounder of Learning Service, that promotes travel learning above short term volunteering. She discusses the pros and cons of volunteer touring and tells us of her experiences in Kathmandu.

Steph Dyson traveled to Cusco, Peru to volunteer in situations of extreme poverty.

Alison traveled to Zambia to volunteer and teach women's empowerment to girls.

Tanner Knorr, Founder of Off Season Adventures discusses his trip to Tanzania and how he was inspired to create a sustainable tour company there.

Gilad Goren, Founder of Impact Travel Alliance and Cofounder of Raleigh and Drake talks about his trip to Kovalum, India to develop sustainable surf tourism.

Samir Lakani traveled to Cambodia and came up with the idea for his nonprofit, Eco-Soap Bank, an organization that recycles used soap from hotels to distribute in areas of Cambodia that need better hygiene. Travel to Cambodia with Samir and learn more about this region, its culture, people, landscape and social issues.

Melissa traveled to Beirut, Lebanon to work with social impact entrepreneurs.