Readers respond on 'volunteer vacations'

About 40,000 college students each year devote some vacation time to lending a hand, by one estimate. But the phenomenon reaches across generations, as you'll see if you go to a special section on our website.

Below are excerpts from some of the e-mails we received after we asked readers to tell us about their experiences as participants in volunteer vacations.

You can read the full accounts at csmonitor.com/specials/volunteers – and add your own comments. You'll see the form for your comments at the site. We also posted resources for those who want some tips about volunteering.

I participated in a volunteer vacation for eight weeks during June and July 2004. I was a volunteer with Cross Cultural Solutions in Salvador, Brazil.

First, and most important, was the volunteer work I did at CAASAH, a residential clinic for children and adults with HIV and AIDS. Every day, I and the other volunteers would spend three or four hours with the kids, and sometimes the adults. Most of the children, ranging in age from newborns to 13-year-olds, were HIV-positive. They had all been abandoned, orphaned, or removed from their homes by the state government.

Our work was frustrating every day, and often tremendously depressing, but at the same time, was the most fulfilling work I have ever done. We all worked so hard to change things at CAASAH and improve what we could for the children there.

I wondered if the kids would even remember me six months from then and if any of the things we helped accomplish would still be in effect. But one day after a particularly sad day at work, my mom wrote to me, saying, "You are an angel. Of course you are making a difference, because on some level these children will know that someone loved them once." And she is right.

For anyone considering a volunteer vacation, I would make a couple of recommendations. First, do your research. Make sure you understand what will be expected of you and that your placement will meet your expectations. Second, know what your expectations are. If you just want a vacation, this isn't the right thing for you.

– Sara Schmidt, Ann Arbor, Mich., USA

Habitat for Humanity was offering some programs where people could come and help with the cleanup.

We arrived very early in the morning and were assigned to a team with a leader and a person in charge of tools. We were put onto a bus and driven a couple of miles to the house we were going to work on. Our job was to rip the entire house apart and leave only the bare structure standing.

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