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Get to Know Our Parental Unit - Via International!
Once upon a time, there was a little NGO that operated in the U.S./Mexico Border region. It started like most nonprofit organizations instituted in the late 1960s and early 1970s - delivering charitable aid to alleviate the challenges of border communities. Then something happened in 1978 that would alter the course of the organization, they started bringing young people into the communities to volunteer and to learn about the work they were doing. Touted as community development education, these trips became a source for much learning for participants on both sides. In 2003, these trips came to be known as VolunTours™. Via International, the current name for this NGO, has come to house much of the work that we do here at VolunTourism.org; thus, we affectionally refer to Via International as our parent entity. The following provides a little more insight into this organization and how it has adopted voluntourism over the last 35 years.
Introduction & Background:
Via International is a 501(c)3 service organization based in California. Dedicated to building "paths to self-reliance for an interdependent world," Via International has more than 37 years of experience addressing community needs by supporting community members to become agents of positive change. Emerging from the communities, programs are designed to improve quality of life through nutrition and ecology training, community leadership education, microcredit and microenterprise support. Voluntours programs offer educational travel and service learning opportunities to engage with community development initiatives. The Via Institute provides a framework to nourish personal development, foster community engagement, strengthen organizations, and promote global dialogue.
Philosophy:
Working in grass-roots community development since 1975, Via International supports programs that are responsive to locally defined needs and that rely on the leadership of local residents. Visiting volunteers enhance community-driven self-reliance initiatives with additional resources and labor. Participants benefit from unique real-life opportunities for personal growth and transformation through educational travel and service.
After many years of experience in the US/Mexico border region linking local communities with visiting volunteers, Via International is partnering with organizations in other regions to support the development of volunteer travel and sustainability efforts through VolunTours.
Via International has identified specific values and principles for designing integrated VolunTours in order to support improved quality of life for local communities while engaging visitors in meaningful community-defined initiatives:
- Values: Relation, Kinship, Family, Community, Intergenerational and Active Engagement, Mindfulness, Reflection, Environmental Responsibility, Integrity, Interconnectedness, Honoring, Listening, Creativity, Self-expression, Sustainability
- Principles: Mutuality, Dignity, Respect, Solidarity, Collaboration, Solidarity, Participation
Elements of balanced VolunTour programs include:
- Community-defined service
- Education in community development and cross-cultural consciousness
- Awareness of challenges within local communities
- Cultural teachings and immersion
- Adequate orientation, facilitated experience, and follow-up
- Real-life learning in immersive environments with local real-life people, places, and projects: Hands-on grassroots learning immersions that are educational, inspiring, and transformational
Volunteering Opportunities
Service projects may include community-driven activities such as: building construction, school repair, land restoration, traditional farming, apiculture, green space development, water conservation, elder home repair, communal space development and more.
Tourism Experiences
Cultural teachings and local exchange vary by region but may include invitations to traditional events, community meals, home visits, community dialogues, presentations by local artisans, wisdom keepers, historians, musicians, singers, storytellers, youth, and/or elders. Outdoor activities or visits to regional attractions may also include touring sites of natural beauty or archeological significance, hiking, canoeing, volcano climbing, white water rafting, birdwatching, attending local festivals and special events, or visiting museums, plantations, ranches, coffee farms, lagoons, animal reserves, art studios, or flea markets.
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| "Enjoying the geography of the destination" Copyright © Via International, All Rights Reserved |
Sample Itinerary: Guatemala Group Trip
Day 1: Arrive in Guatemala
Orientation: Guatemala History and Culture, SHARE Guatemala
Drive to San Martin Jilotepeque
Welcome Ceremony in the community
Solidarity work project in Mayan village community
Day 2: Presentation: Civil War in Guatemala
Solidarity work project in Mayan village community
Day 3: Solidarity work project in Mayan village community
Visit to women’s solidarity group
Day 4: Visit to the local market.
Presentation: Mayan Culture and Mixco Viejo (Mayan ruins)
Tour Mayan ruins
Day 5: Presentation: Migration, including presentation from community member
Solidarity work project in Mayan village community
Day 6: Community hike, visiting homes and local producers
Solidarity work project in Mayan village community
Closing ceremony with community
Day 7: Drive to R. Dalton Estates: coffee plantation
Drive to Antigua, check into hotel
Tour Casa del Jade
Day 8: Drive to and hike Pacaya Volcano
Free afternoon in Antigua
Closing Dinner
Day 9: Return to Guatemala City
Tour Museum Ixchel
Lunch in Guatemala City
Depart
Contact Information: sss
Via International
717 Third Avenue
Chula Vista, CA 91910 USA
Phone - 619-426-9110
Email - info@viainternational.org
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