I walk on a solid floor in my house each day without a single thought. My kitchen is tiled and my bedroom is a sturdy, oak hardwood. I admit I take my floor for granted. Until I took a Fathom cruise to volunteer in the Dominican Republic, I didn’t realize how important something as simple as a solid structure […]
Volunteer Travel
Bringing Clean Water to the Dominican Republic
Frank has to store his water in a big tank because water is turned on only three times a day where he lives. He knows tap water is not well-maintained in the Dominican Republic and just hopes that it will pour out cleaner than the day before. Forget collecting rainwater. The metal-sheet roofs the rain trickles down from […]
Social Impact Travel with Fathom
I’m the first to admit, I’m not your typical cruiser. Beach-hopping is relaxing yes, but resorts rarely get you out of your comfort zone and the “all-inclusives” are designed to make you feel like you never left home. Typical cruises and resort life give you little insight into local living. Fathom, I discovered, is not your typical Caribbean cruise. […]
Supporting Refugees and Thai Freedom House
Last year, the UN reported more than 110,000 refugees living in Thailand. Escaping from ethnic conflict, many of them flee for Bangkok but most of them settle along the Thai-Burmese border to the north. As refugees, they face a lot of obstacles. The legal means of staying in Thailand are dependent on employment but many refugees don’t have the […]
Courageous Kitchen
A place normally filled with kids learning to cook, it was a bunch of new travel friends and expats on a Saturday night getting together, nomming over tasty South East Asian recipes and talking about an uneasy topic. Dwight played Chef for the night. Chopping, slicing, mixing, stirring. But this is not your traditional cooking school. Two years […]
The Apparent Project: Addressing Haiti’s Orphan Crisis
In the news and media, Haiti is one of those places that doesn’t “seem” to be recovering anytime soon. Yes, it still has a long way to go to overcome widespread poverty, food insecurity, and rebuild communities but a lot of projects are popping up in Haiti that are leading the road to recovery. Some projects are […]