femalenetwork.com

When we say vacation, we think sightseeing, shopping, and lots of partying. But there’s a new way of spending a few days of rest and recreation without feeling guilty about all the self-indulgence.

You can travel and enrich your experience as you do your bit to help the community and environment. Non-profit group Hands On Manila (HOM), in partnership with the Department of Tourism, presents Hands on Volunteer Vacations (HOVV), an alternative to your usual road trip or beach outing: it aims to give vacationers not only a memorable travel experience, but also an opportunity to learn and serve through community work.

For instance, instead of just hopping from bar to bar in Puerto Galera, you can plant a tree on the slopes of Oriental Mindoro’s Mt. Halcon; instead of just sunbathing by the beaches of Bohol, you can visit the communities of Baclayan and Pamalican; and instead of just carousing in Boracay, you can lend a hand to the mangrove plantation in Aklan.

“Hands on Volunteer Vacations or HOVV came about as a result of two disparate things: requests by foreign and local travelers for volunteer opportunities within the Philippine archipelago and the growth of a new kind of tourism that has swept the world,” says HOM President and Chairperson Wynn Wynn Ong.