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In 2008 we may have opportunities for Volunteerism...

Action Tour: The interaction with the locals is increased by participating in programs of rebuilding or teaching or constructing to benefit local, poor, or indigenous populations. Our hands-on work may be agricultural or involved in helping the locals to re-learn adobe construction. Adobe and cob construction empower the poor people because materials are free and the only investment is labor. Beautiful structures can be made from these methods.

Europeans have already come to broaden existing guadua and bamboo construction methods. There are also groups forming to spread the use of Rocket Stoves which cost almost nothing but, because of precise design, burn wood two to three times more efficiently. This greatly reduces the smoke that fills most rural kitchens and saves the lungs of the women who work all day preparing and cooking food. Besides preserving the health of so many women in the region, the local ecology is saved from excessive wood cutting and gathering. These stoves are already saving forests and lungs in Africa and Central America thanks to the efforts of Ianto Evans (more info at www.cobcottage.com).

An Action Tour would be two to three weeks long and would combine the travel and adventure with social participation. More info later...