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Volunteering and travelling to make a difference to the less fortunate can be a life changing experience

Think about a paid travel experience to vo lunteer and be the change in rural pans of lndia and Kenya Prom helping communities co buiJcling toilets in schools, planting trees, learning arcs and crafts to tmderstanding their basic needs, and living in their shoes for a period of two weeks le is bound to be a life changing

" I believe travel and voltu1teering are the most amazing ways co open people's eyes to new perspectives and to see what really matters in their life," says Kristy Moore of Hand Up Australia, a social enterprise that provides a unique opportuniry for Australians tO connect and experience life in mraJ India.

Hand Up Australia was founded in December 2012, with ove r 4 ,000 people participating in their international pro!,,>rams from UK, Canada and U SJ\ over the past 10 years, through Hand Up 1\ustralia's international pa r tner Me to \Xie. For the first time, these volunteer travel adventures have been made available to .Australians, with two trips already made co India.

' Hand Up Australia believes in providing a hand up, rather than a hand our," says Kristy. "\Ve believe las ting posi rive change is best achieved through selfactualisarion". The organisation connects Australian vo lunteers with Free the Children, an international charity which works in North West India around the villages of Udaipur with the communities of Lai, Berna., Barind, to name a few.

The most recent trip co India in September 2013 saw a group of six Melbourne teenagers visiting the communiry of Barind. "This trip confirmed my belief that people who have a better understanding of gratitude and empathy are the happiest people in the world," says Hugh Van Cuy lenburg, who connects Hand U p Australia in secondary schools". He further says char while building a toilet in the school fo r the girls in particular, they realised that fifty percent of the girls had scopped coming to school once they hit puberry, as d1ere were no proper hygiene facilities available to them. The volunteers often joined the boys at the school during d1eir games sessions, or he lped them in their herb garden "\'{l ith this project we hoped that mo re girls would attend school," says H.ugh.

So who can apply? " Our programs are open to Australian families, business teams, adults and teenagers who are looking for a meaningful and sustainable way to make a difference in the world, and a lso in their own work or family life," says Kristy. " Our team of passionate t:rnvellers, volunteers and business professionals are happy to make it easier for Australians to volunteer overseas". You can either appl)' online, attend an information session, or invite the Hand Up Au stralia team to s peak at your company, group or scho0I. Their onetime fee covers all ground costs, including transport, accommodation, meals, facilitation and safety for 5-20 days Itineraries are handed out before each trip, with activities ranging from being welcomed into the homes of local community members, learning t heir l ocal language, customs and traditions, exercising at die break of dawn, learning and gaining an insight about microfinances, or helping chem in getting clean drinking water.

''Purpose built living areas are provided for guests of these programs, surrounded b y stunning sceneq, and near die communities with which they meet and work," says Krisry. "Working alongside community members enab les vol unteers to be part of solutions that break the cycles of p o verty, w ithout feeling like they are imposing in an y way".

Krisry further states that parents of teenagers from d1e last: India trip said d1ey feel cl.at the ir children appreciate their education much more than before.

The next Hand Up Australia trip has been organised for January 2014, and interested adventurers will be advised about which commttnity they wili be working with from the eight village~ on d,e list.

Children's charity OzChild needs you.

We need someone like you - Someone who is caring and patient ; who won't see the d isability, but see their own ability to help

With training and support you can help g ive these families much needed respite Two days a month is all it takes to support a family.

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