Service Trips – The Enchanting Challenge

Last week I blogged about SalaamGarage and their wonderfully altruistic voluntourism endeavors.  Well, they haven’t gotten out of my mind.  I’m infatuated with their organization!  And I want to do what I can to get the word out to help them with their endeavors.  (After all, that is the goal of Enchanting Challenge: to connect the volunteer dots across the universe!!)

I think one of the coolest things SalaamGarage does is offer advice about how to raise money for their adventures.  There are so many organizations out there that offer altruistic and exciting travel packages, but so often it seems impossible as to how one can afford such an under-taking.  SalaamGarage breaks it down and reminds you that you can raise money, a little bit from a lot of different sources, to help you get on your way. 

In my last post, I also mentioned Simon Cordova, a SalaamGarage volunteer who is taking part in their September 2009 voyage to India.  Simon has under-taken quite an endeavor: not only is he embarking upon the voyage to Rajasthan, India and taking a nose-dive into some serious service work there, but he is also taking on a MAJOR citizen journalist project once he returns home to Los Angeles…Let me explain the full monty here.

Meet Simon:

An LA resident and photography guru, Simon will be working with the KARUNA mobile education van this September in India through the Vatsalya nonprofit.  KARUNA is basically a school on wheels that drives to the slums in Jaipur, India to help educate children who are too poor to be sent to school.  KARUNA has the best intentions, but not the best funding, and thus it can only make this educational voyage once every five weeks.  Simon’s goal is to accompany the KARUNA operators on their voyage this fall, and to document their efforts.  He will use this documentary to raise money so that the van can make the trip more often than only once every five weeks; his goal is to get the van to the slums ONCE A WEEK.  It’s a big goal, but reachable with outside help.

But, Simon is VERY ambitious and doesn’t plan on stopping hiw work when he leaves India.  Nope, he’s got more in mind: when he returns to Los Angeles, Simon plans to put his photography to work, to let the picture tell the story.  He is scheming to put on a photography exhibit of the photos he took while in Vatsalya to further spread the word and raise more money for the KARUNA van.  I think this is SUCH an amazing idea, and one that could turn his potential into reality.  BUT, he needs funds.  He says it best when says, “Though I have plenty of drive, and the desire to make an impact with the KARUNA effort, I lack the necessary funding to do so.”  So let’s get the word out there and help Simon however we can.  With a lot of helping hands, a little bit goes a long way.  Simon needs a total of $5000 to make this trip happen (flight, project amount and fee’s).  To carry this dream to fruition, he’s begun the penny collecting journey and is at $150 right now in donations.  To donate yourself, click here:  http://www.vatsalyaproject.com/donate/.  To spread the word to others who may be interested, you can read Simon’s words on his blog here, check out his photography here, or follow him Twitter here.  Volunteers like Simon bring such hope to the world, and that hope is contagious.  If we all help Simon a little bit, we can all be a part of his work, and the further work that his work creates, and help spread that wonderful feeling of hope…