My mom and I recently read about Voluntourism and decided it was something we'd definitely be interested in. Voluntourism is when you go on vacation and spend a few days of your trip doing volunteer work in the place you're visiting. For us we decided that we wanted our money and our assistance to go to New Orleans, who is still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and will be for several years to come.

We found a list online of places that were requesting volunteers and out of that list we picked a few museums and gardens that interested us. My mom is in her 60's and loves gardening as well as archaeology, and I'm 30 and love working with art and children. In the end, out of about 10 places we emailed only 3 emailed us back. I wonder if some of the other organizations didn't last. The ones we did hear from were glad to have us available to them. One volunteer organizer told me that after Hurricane Katrina they not only suffered damage to their gardens, but also lost most of their volunteers and staff. After Katrina, many people moved away, having decided to start a new life elsewhere.

I'm going to New Orleans for a week starting Friday and will try to post my experiences. Until then, laissez les bons temps rouler!!!