Understanding Travelers Philanthropy

Attaining Excellence and Happiness amid Unreason: Philanthropic Travel

travelersphilanthropy — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:39:57 +0000

“Moral excellence is a mean ..between two vices, the one involving excess, the other deficiency.” -Aristotle

The Golden Ratio is a universal law in which is contained the ground-principle of all formative striving for beauty and completeness in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as a paramount spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or inorganic, acoustic or optical; which finds its fullest realization, however, in the human form. -Adolf Zeising, Neue Lehre van den Proportionen des meschlischen Koerpers, Leipzig, 1854, preface.

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Cheetah Hunt, Okavango Delta -David Chamberlain
Approaching the Omega Point: Philanthropic Travel
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Going Away To Go Within: Philanthropic Travel
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Philanthropic Travelers:
The One’s Who Do: Philanthropic Travelers
Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler
David Chamberlain: Philanthropic Traveler

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“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury

The Exquisite Safaris philanthropic travel experience integrates indigenous local culture into every personalized luxury trip we recommend. These personal introductions create authentic cross cultural friendships that generate trust, respect, and generous donations funding philanthropic travel projects worldwide.

Philanthropy

travelersphilanthropy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:56:51 +0000

Photo: Chellie Kew

Philanthropy: “Love to Mankind. Practical benevolence to people in general. The disposition or active effort to promote well being and happiness of one’s fellow man.” -Oxford English Dictionary

Understanding the Joy’s and Benefits of Philanthropic Travel

How do you define philanthropy? Let us know in the comment field below.

Learn More:
Approaching the Omega Point: Philanthropic Travel
Teach your Children Well: Philanthropic Travel
Globalization of Empathy: Philanthropic Travel
Beyond Success: Philanthropic Travel
Going Away To Go Within: Philanthropic Travel
The Huffington Post: Philanthropic Travelers
Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel Social Entrepreneurship
Thank you Marc Benioff: The End of Philanthropy

Philanthropic Travelers:
Chellie Kew: Visionary Philanthropic Traveler
The One’s Who Do: Philanthropic Travelers
Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler
David Chamberlain: Philanthropic Traveler

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“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury

Bonnie Lunt: Visionary Philanthropic Traveler

travelersphilanthropy — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:51:02 +0000

Bonnie Lunt and Azama student by David Chamberlain

Bonnie Lunt couldn’t figure out why the little girls were tugging at her clothes and trying to take them off, right in the middle of Azama’s town square. But she decided to go with the moment.

“We were having a celebration, and we were all dancing, “Lunt remembers of that day last summer. “Before I knew it, they had dressed me in a new outfit, beautifully made traditional pieces, topped of by this gorgeous blouse.” One of the women told her that during festivals like this, they preferred that she wear their clothes.

Each had embroidered part of the blouse.

Seven years before this particular celebration, Lunt had paid her first visit to the remote village, part of greater Otavalo, up to 10,000 feet in the Andean highlands of Ecuador. The founder and president of Bonnie Lunt Management, a New York search firm for the upper echelons of the advertising and creative industries, was on her way to the Galapagos Islands to fulfill her commitment to a charitable project, a group home she and her friends were helping to build. When one of those friends suggested that Lunt visit the ancient Otavalo Market in Ecuador to pick up some wall hangings for the home, Lunt took the 1300 mile detour that turned her already full life in a dramatic new direction.

Lunt is known for placing marketing and advertising clients in high -profile positions, brokering big deals and activating her substantial network to do good. After Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida in 1993, Lunt co-founded a organization dubbed People Helping People Disaster Relief, so many friends and contacts could donate dollars and offer help during the crisis. Active across the country from Northridge, California, site of the 1994 earthquake, to post 9-11-2001 New York City, the group got people to “come together, do what we had to do and then leave,” Lunt recalls.

“Until Ecuador.“

Captivated by the region’s people and natural beauty, Lunt returned again and again to Otavalo, built a home and got to know a teacher named Margot Cifuentes. Cifuentes was teaching a full day in a nearby city, then returning to the village to teach dozens of children on the lawn in front of her house. None of these children could attend regular schools because they had to work during the day, or just couldn’t afford the school fees.

Lunt watched the students “all gather around one piece of paper, which was their lesson for the day. If it rained, they would fling themselves over that paper to keep it dry.”

Lunt’s first idea was to put up a circus sized tent. When she asked a client if he knew anyone with a company that made canvas, he offered $20,000 and asked if that would be enough to help buy the tent. Lunt recalls telling him, “That is actually enough for a building. So we’ll build a school.” Then Cifuentes explained that, while the children had at least some education, they didn’t have any medical care.

Part of the reason? “A lot of attention and resources get diverted to Africa,” Lunt explained, “because the kids there are starving to death. There is just so much poverty here but it looks different. “She says 90 percent of the children in Azama are anemic. “They eat, but they’re malnourished. Many sleep on the ground and have lice, scabies and worms.”

So Lunt decided she was going to adopt the village. “I didn’t know what that meant, “she says, “but we had to change the education and the health situation.”

During the last two years, Lunt and her friends have built a primary school and community center, a health center and a dental clinic -all literally from the ground up. A modest woman who describes her impressive career as simply, “connecting the dots between people,” Lunt used advice from her mentor, advertising magnate Jay Chiat. “He told me, ‘Just go forward. If you make a mistake, It’s OK to come back and fix it, but unless you go forward, you don’t get anywhere.”

According to Helayne Spivak, chief creative officer of CCA Advertising, “Bonnie looks around, sees what she sees and says, I’ll bet I could help,’ And she does it on the strength of her personality.” When Spivak saw photos of Azama’s children crowding the walls of Lunt’s Manhattan office, she decided to provide not just financial support but also time and effort. Within weeks, the renowned copywriter and creative director was en route to Ecuador as “one of Bonnie’s ‘Band Aid mules.” “We brought 50 pound suitcases loaded with everything you have in your medicine cabinets and take for granted,” Spivak says. Dozens of top women in advertising and other professionals, including a group of female accountants from Yale, began making regular flights.” There was no persuasion necessary,” she says. “We’d do anything for Bonnie.”

As one of the forces behind the nationally recognized Miami Ad School, the first institute of its kind with locations around the globe, Lunt has a passion for education. During a recent visit to Ecuador, Lunt recalls,”the cutest girl, Pacorina, came to the door.” Paco, who is about 8, showed Lunt her new bilingual book. “She sits down at the table and reads the whole thing out loud. Then she starts reading the English version! Last year she couldn’t read at all.” Lunt remembers thinking, Wow, Its working. “I’d just had a birthday, and that was the best present. It made my heart smile.”

Today Lunt is in search of dermatologists and ophthalmologists (Because of Azama’s high elevation, eye and skin problems are especially serious). The clinic needs dentists willing to become philanthropic travelers, and the lack of clean water for non tourists is “beyond desperate.” At the same time, the generosity Lunt and her compadres find in Azama is a constant gift.

Each time Lunt leaves New York for her small Ecuadorian style stucco house with a tile roof and furniture handmade by local artisans, she has more company.

“Once people see it and get involved as philanthropic travelers, they want to spend more time here,” she says.

“Everyone who visits has returned, or plans to, and most bring other people.”

When the village has clean water and the school and health center can sustain themselves, Lunt hopes to replicate the same success in another Ecuadorian village using the same powerful technique that has had such an impact on Azama. “You just reach out, and something happens,” she says.

“Maybe not right away, but then the phone rings and it happens.”

Margot Cifuentes, children of Azama and Bonnie Lunt -by David Chamberlain

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“Alms for Azama To Transform one South American village, it takes a Woman.” by Kate Yandoh

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The The One’s Who Do: Visionary Philanthropic Travelers
Visionary Philanthropic Traveler Marc Gold 100 Friends Project
Visionary Philanthropic Traveler Chellie Kew
Jane Kaye- Bailey: Philanthropic Traveler
Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler

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“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury

A Symphony of Life: Philanthropic Travel

travelersphilanthropy — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:09:38 +0000

Photo: Chellie Kew

In the great symphony of life, we all have important parts to play. While some people are best suited to be conductors or soloists, their contributions would be diminished considerably without the individual musicians that lend their artistry to the fullness of an orchestra. The magical accents of the percussion section might sound random and out of place without the music they accompany. But any one member of an orchestra, doing less than their best at their particular part, can destroy the harmony of the whole piece, such is their importance. So although we may not receive the same amount or quality of attention as another, all of our contributions are valuable and integral to the success of the whole.

When we do our tasks well, we infuse them with our unique energy, making each act a gift.

Each of our personalities and talents are suited to different roles of support. Even leaders and star performers support others in their own way. We can look around us at any moment to see that while we nurture some people with our work, others are supporting us with their gifts. Doing any job from this place within us allows us to do our part with humility and gratitude, while also learning lessons that move us steadily toward our goals.

When we can be fully present in every job that we do, we bring the fullness of our bodies, minds and spirits to the moment. Our contribution is enhanced by the infusion of our talents and abilities, and when we give them willingly, they attract the right people and circumstances into our experience. Anything we do begrudgingly limits the flow of our energy and closes us off from the good that is available to us in every situation.

By giving the best in us to make the world around us better, we open ourselves to receive the best from the universe in return.

Philanthropic Travelers:
Bal Krishnan Jha: Nepal Philanthropic Travel
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Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler
David Chamberlain: Philanthropic Traveler

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“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury

The Evolution of Philanthropy: Philanthropic Travel

travelersphilanthropy — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:03:53 +0000

A Brief History: Creating Deeper Philanthropic Relationships

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” -Anais Nin

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Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth

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Philanthropic Travelers:
The One’s Who Do: Philanthropic Travelers
Richard Branson: Philanthropic Traveler
David Chamberlain: Philanthropic Traveler

comments (0) e-mail

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury

The Huffington Post: Philanthropic Travelers

travelersphilanthropy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:09:44 +0000

In the Beginning
In 1972 my grandfather, grandmother and I visited the poorest country in the western hemisphere: Haiti. Much to my grandmother’s dismay, my grandfather decided that our adventure for the day would be exploring the countryside with a Port Au Prince taxi cab driver as our guide. After an hour driving down a dusty rutted gravel road we stopped in at a rural marketplace to experience life in rural Haiti. It was along the side of that dirt road that we had our first personal philanthropic travel experience.

Soon after the dust from our cabbie’s Toyota had settled, unclothed children, adults and their livestock emerged from the surrounding area, undoubtedly to closely examine my aqua and orange tailor made Miami Dolphins leisure suit with white leather loafers. We were surrounded by smiling faces wondering who we were and why we had stopped by to say bonjour. Ten minutes later, after just about everyone in the crowd had a chance to smile at us, touch us and make direct eye contact with us, a soccer ball flew through the air. I trapped it and quickly passed it back to my new teammate who received it effortlessly after it had flown right over the heads of several adults.

“When we are very young children we know how to feel. It’s innate. But as we lead a lifetime, we pick up so many thoughts, impressions, feelings, and ideas, that our sensitivity goes away.” -F.L. Ph.d

Connecting

I bonded with the local kids and my grandparents stood side-by-side with adults from the village while the cabbie lit a cigar. My grandmother, initially fearful of the unknown, was now smiling, calmly and communicating in sign language with local women, and enjoying her experience. We all seemed to connect for those brief moments. The spontaneous transcendent events of that morning’s cross-cultural experience are still vivid today, as they were so many years before. Those few moments changed our lives.

Deja Vu

During my first trip to Africa while driving between Maun, Botswana and Windhoek, Namibia I was moved to pull over at a village in a remote area of the Kalahari Desert, much to my friend Linette’s consternation. She declined my offer to join me for a walk into the center of the grass hut village and decided instead to stay in the car -with the doors locked. Ten minutes later I returned to the car with a crowd from the village: children running, mothers talking, fathers trailing the entourage, and once again soccer balls flying through the air. Linette gracefully emerged from the car with a smile and began to open the clothes intended as gifts. Captivated by everyone’s curiosity, kindness and easy laughter, Linette and I spoke of life in their village and life in our village in Switzerland and the USA. We felt our guests’ humanity and warmth, we were welcomed and felt safe as guests of the community. And, an hour later after sharing gifts of Nike t-shirts and old Levis we had agreed to deliver, two men needed a ride to their cousins’ funeral in a village 25 kilometers away. Sent off with with an open invitation to return completed with smiling faces, vigorous handshakes and waves we set off down the Trans-Kalahari Highway towards Namibia.

A New Journey

While driving I realized that the seed for Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel, planted 27 years before in rural Haiti, had just bloomed in Africa. That afternoon as I drove through the Kalahari Desert with Linette and our two new acquaintances on their way to acknowledge an ending, I began again on a new journey: introducing travelers to locals with the intention of uplifting those local people and their communities through health, education and sustainable development. If you’re a traveler I encourage you to become a philanthropic traveler. Exquisite Safaris has developed partnerships with humanitarian outreach projects in Africa, Asia and South America: Orphanages, AIDS and medical clinics, schools, women’s entrepreneurial initiatives, and clean water NGO’s that will open their doors to you and connect you personally with the people they serve. -The Huffington Post

Philanthropic Travelers:
The The One’s Who Do: Visionary Philanthropic Travelers
Visionary Philanthropic Traveler Marc Gold 100 Friends Project
Visionary Philanthropic Traveler Chellie Kew
Jane Kaye- Bailey: Philanthropic Traveler

comments (0) e-mail

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury The Exquisite Safaris philanthropic travel experience integrates indigenous local culture into every personalized luxury trip we recommend. These personal introductions create authentic cross cultural friendships that generate trust, respect, and generous donations funding philanthropic travel projects worldwide.

Need Magazine: Holistic Philanthropy

travelersphilanthropy — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:49:03 +0000

“Whether you are a philanthropic traveler, board of directors member, run an NGO, or just attend UN Security Council meetings for a puppet regime or superpower; Need Magazine should be required reading for global citizens with philanthropic intent. Think of it as Foreign Affairs Magazine with a heart.” -David Chamberlain

Need Magazine and the Need Magazine Online Social Network are targeted at philanthropic travelers and organizations that cover every scale of involvement in the United States, Canada and Europe.

NEED Magazine: Advertise : Subscribe : Participate Online

Need Magazine’s goals are closely aligned with Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel Worldwide and include:

1. To inspire individuals, philanthropists and business leaders through exceptional stories of hope and success throughout the entire spectrum of humanitarian assistance.

2. Increase awareness, volunteerism, involvement and donations to humanitarian aid efforts.

3. Encourage continued involvement from those who already are involved in these efforts.

4. To show those in need in a respectful and dignified manner.

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time but if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” -Indigenous Saying

Philanthropic Travel is the Ultimate Luxury