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Alternative Spring Break Trips – Spring 2013
Our special spring break volunteer trips are perfect for college students looking for an alternative way to spend spring break this year. Instead of doing the usual spring break routine, you can get off the beaten track and make your break matter by joining one of these specially-designed volunteer projects for students.
The Alternative Spring Break Trips are 1-week long, scheduled to coincide with the major university breaks. Volunteers work together in a group on a service project arranged by our expert local staff. The projects are located at our closest destinations, so you won’t spend your whole time recovering from jet lag. Spring break volunteers receive the same benefits as our longer-term volunteers, including food and accommodation.
Just because you only have a week does not mean you cannot still make a difference. Projects Abroad’s Alternative Spring Break Trips offer you the chance to experience a new culture and impact the local community where you are volunteering. Come by yourself or sign up with a group of your friends.
If none of the Alternative Spring Break Trip options fit your schedule, you can also create your own trip by signing up for one of our standard 1-week trips.
For more information on our Alternative Spring Break Trips, please tune in to one of our upcoming Alternative Spring Break webinars, interactive online presentations by US and Canadian staff.
Spring 2012 trips include:
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Community Building in Jamaica
•Sunday, February 17th – Saturday, February 23rd
•Sunday, March 3rd – Saturday, March 9th
•Sunday, March 10th – Saturday, March 16th
•Sunday, March 17th – Saturday, March 23rd
Throughout the parish of Manchester many local people have had their houses damaged or destroyed by severe weather or fire and do not have the means to repair or rebuild. As a volunteer on this building project you can help restore these people to a livable condition.
Projects Abroad’s Building volunteers work in conjunction with ADRA, a local organization devoted to improving the standard of living of disadvantaged members of the community. During the course of the week, work might include mixing and laying mortar blocks, repairing roofs, installing windows, plastering and painting, landscaping and gardening, and building basic facilities such as outhouses. No construction experience is required, just a desire to work hard and lend a hand where it is needed.
Volunteers on the Community Building project live with local host families in Mandeville, a lively town in the rolling hills of south-western Jamaica. At the end of the week you will be rewarded for your hard work with a trip to the beach or a refreshing waterfall.
If you have time you can do this project for a second week at the regular 2-week trip price.
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Care in Costa Rica
•Sunday, March 10th – Saturday, March 16th
•Sunday, March 17th – Saturday, March 23rd
While many other spring breakers may go to Costa Rica to waste away their days at a resort, on this Care project you can instead offer your time to improve the lives of local Costa Rican children. Located in the relaxing colonial town of Liberia, Care volunteers work together at local care centers for children, helping the staff of the facility care for the children and improving the facilities. The group will have plenty of opportunity to plan activities for the kids, so creativity is encouraged. You could teach them the latest dance moves, a hit song, how to play your favorite sport, or anything else you think they would enjoy.
Social Work, Child Development, or Education majors will find this project particularly exciting, though anyone else who likes to play with and help children is welcome and you do not need to have any background in childcare.
This project is also a great choice if you are studying or want to learn Spanish. Children are sometimes the best language teachers because they are still developing themselves. Moreover, you will be living with a local host family, where you can really put your language ability to the test.
No visit to Costa Rica would be complete without a trip to the beach or its beautiful tropical forests.
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Conservation in Mexico
•Sunday, February 17th – Saturday, February 23rd
•Sunday, March 10th – Saturday, March 16th
•Sunday, March 17th – Saturday, March 23rd
Our Conservation project in Mexico is located at Campemento Tecoman on the Pacific coast of Colima. The camp is situated along a beautiful 24-kilometer black sand beach, a “natal beach” for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. Olive Ridley mothers always lay their eggs at the beach where they were born, so it is vital to protect this habitat from destruction by development and the eggs laid on the beach from predators and poachers, who consider the eggs a delicacy.
Conservation volunteers comb the beach in the evenings looking for turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. They then carefully collect the eggs and take them back to the camp, where they can safely incubate before releasing the hatchlings into the sea.
Volunteers also work to protect crocodiles by helping maintain a local crocodile farm. The goal is to transform the farm from producing meat and leather to raising the crocodiles for reintroduction to habitats where they have previously been hunted to extinction.
Other activities include biodiversity studies at a nearby mangrove lagoon, beach clean-ups, and promoting environmental awareness in the local community. For Sciences and Environmental Studies majors this project is a great chance to get out of the lab and into the field.
If you have time you can do this project for a second week at the regular 2-week trip price.
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Culture and Community in Morocco
•Sunday, March 10th – Saturday, March 16th
•Sunday, March 17th – Saturday, March 23rd
Morocco is a fascinating country located between worlds, sharing culture with Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. In the capital city of Rabat, traditional Moroccan culture coexists with modern pop culture. It is also a city of great socio-economic diversity, with residents ranging from King Mohammad VI, one of the world’s richest men, to rural migrants living in slums.
The Culture and Community trip in Morocco focuses on volunteering in the community and learning about this unique country. The group will spend the week taking Arabic lessons, doing community work like painting a school and volunteering with children, and visiting significant cultural and historical sites.
Volunteers live with host families in the medina - the old walled part of the city with narrow streets and open air markets and where life remains much the same as it has been for centuries. Family is central to Moroccan life, where communal meals are the norm and evenings are spent relaxing at home.
This project is great for anyone majoring in International Relations or Community Development. With Arabic and French as daily languages, and Spain not far away, Morocco is a linguistically diverse nation as well, so it is also a good choice for anyone studying Foreign Languages or Linguistics.