Attaining Excellence and Happiness amid Unreason: Philanthropic Travel

"Moral excellence is a mean ..between two vices, the one involving excess, the other deficiency." -Aristotle

The Golden Ratio is a universal law in which is contained the ground-principle of all formative striving for beauty and completeness in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as a paramount spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or inorganic, acoustic or optical; which finds its fullest realization, however, in the human form. -Adolf Zeising, Neue Lehre van den Proportionen des meschlischen Koerpers, Leipzig, 1854, preface.

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Defining and Discussing Philanthropy

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American Red Cross Relief Fund: EMPTY

DONATE NOW Despite Depleted Funds, American Red Cross Helping Thousands Across Central U.S.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - As the rain-soaked Midwest continues to battle floodwaters from heavy storms, the American Red Cross is in its largest flood relief effort in nearly 15 years. From Kansas to West Virginia, more than 2,000 Red Cross workers are assisting people with vast amounts of clean up supplies, dozens of shelters and tens of thousands of meals.

The current relief operations follow two extremely busy months for the Red Cross, with more than 30 disaster operations since the beginning of April. Combined, these relief efforts have largely depleted the Disaster Relief Fund. Disaster victims need essential items right away, such as food, shelter relief supplies and mental health counseling. In order to respond, the Red Cross must have money available immediately. Without this fund, the American Red Cross must borrow money to cover disaster operating expenses.

"Right now the balance in our disaster relief fund is sitting close to zero," Laura Howe, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross, told ABCNEWS.com. "We anticipate that the series of tornadoes and floods that we've had since the beginning of April is going to cost our organization about $15 million."

For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, the Red Cross may have no choice but to take out loans to cover the cost of relief efforts, Howe said, blaming the shortfall on an atypically high number of disasters across the U.S. this year.

Help us help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the floods and tornadoes, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

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A Symphony of Life: Philanthropic Travel

Photo: Chellie Kew

In the great symphony of life, we all have important parts to play. While some people are best suited to be conductors or soloists, their contributions would be diminished considerably without the individual musicians that lend their artistry to the fullness of an orchestra. The magical accents of the percussion section might sound random and out of place without the music they accompany. But any one member of an orchestra, doing less than their best at their particular part, can destroy the harmony of the whole piece, such is their importance. So although we may not receive the same amount or quality of attention as another, all of our contributions are valuable and integral to the success of the whole.

When we do our tasks well, we infuse them with our unique energy, making each act a gift.

Each of our personalities and talents are suited to different roles of support. Even leaders and star performers support others in their own way. We can look around us at any moment to see that while we nurture some people with our work, others are supporting us with their gifts. Doing any job from this place within us allows us to do our part with humility and gratitude, while also learning lessons that move us steadily toward our goals.

When we can be fully present in every job that we do, we bring the fullness of our bodies, minds and spirits to the moment. Our contribution is enhanced by the infusion of our talents and abilities, and when we give them willingly, they attract the right people and circumstances into our experience. Anything we do begrudgingly limits the flow of our energy and closes us off from the good that is available to us in every situation.

By giving the best in us to make the world around us better, we open ourselves to receive the best from the universe in return.

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Back to the Future: The Evolution of Philanthropy

Creating Transformational Philanthropic Relationships: A Historical Perspective

IN THE BEGINNING
1. The Wisdom of Stone Soup = PERSONAL REALITY
2. Checkbook Charity = VIRTUAL REALITY
3. Click Here to Donate Online = VIRTUAL REALITY
4. Click Here to Collaborate Social Networks = VIRTUAL REALITY
5. Philanthropic Travel = PERSONAL REALITY

BACK TO THE FUTURE:
PHILANTHROPY 2.0 = PERSONAL REALITY?

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." -Anais Nin

SUPPORTING DATA:

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel raised over $1,000,000 in donations for our non-profit humanitarian partners in 2008: PERSONAL REALITY

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel inspires larger individual donations to nonprofits than social media VIRTUAL REALITY.

University of Pennsylvania Center on High Impact Philanthropy: Personal Reality = Larger Donations

NonProfit Philanthropic Travel Fundraising

Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Often Do Not Return -New York Times

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Huffington Post: Philanthropic Travelers

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The Huffington Post

In the Beginning
In 1972 my grandfather, grandmother and I visited the poorest country in the western hemisphere: Haiti. Much to my grandmother's dismay, my grandfather decided that our adventure for the day would be exploring the countryside with a Port Au Prince taxi cab driver as our guide. After an hour driving down a dusty rutted gravel road we stopped in at a rural marketplace to experience life in rural Haiti. It was along the side of that dirt road that we had our first personal philanthropic travel experience.

Soon after the dust from our cabbie's Toyota had settled, unclothed children, adults and their livestock emerged from the surrounding area, undoubtedly to closely examine my aqua and orange tailor made Miami Dolphins leisure suit with white leather loafers. We were surrounded by smiling faces wondering who we were and why we had stopped by to say bonjour. Ten minutes later, after just about everyone in the crowd had a chance to smile at us, touch us and make direct eye contact with us, a soccer ball flew through the air. I trapped it and quickly passed it back to my new teammate who received it effortlessly after it had flown right over the heads of several adults.

"When we are very young children we know how to feel. It's innate. But as we lead a lifetime, we pick up so many thoughts, impressions, feelings, and ideas, that our sensitivity goes away." -F.L. Ph.d

Connecting
I bonded with the local kids and my grandparents stood side-by-side with adults from the village while the cabbie lit a cigar. My grandmother, initially fearful of the unknown, was now smiling, calmly and communicating in sign language with local women, and enjoying her experience. We all seemed to connect for those brief moments. The spontaneous transcendent events of that morning's cross-cultural experience are still vivid today, as they were so many years before. Those few moments changed our lives.

Deja Vu
During my first trip to Africa while driving between Maun, Botswana and Windhoek, Namibia I was moved to pull over at a village in a remote area of the Kalahari Desert, much to my friend Linette's consternation. She declined my offer to join me for a walk into the center of the grass hut village and decided instead to stay in the car -with the doors locked. Ten minutes later I returned to the car with a crowd from the village: children running, mothers talking, fathers trailing the entourage, and once again soccer balls flying through the air. Linette gracefully emerged from the car with a smile and began to open the clothes intended as gifts.

Captivated by everyone's curiosity, kindness and easy laughter, Linette and I spoke of life in their village and life in our village in Switzerland and the USA. We felt our guests' humanity and warmth, we were welcomed and felt safe as guests of the community. And, an hour later after sharing gifts of Nike t-shirts and old Levis we had agreed to deliver, two men needed a ride to their cousins' funeral in a village 25 kilometers away. Sent off with with an open invitation to return completed with smiling faces, vigorous handshakes and waves we set off down the Trans-Kalahari Highway towards Namibia.

A New Journey
While driving I realized that the seed for Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel, planted 27 years before in rural Haiti, had just bloomed in Africa. That afternoon as I drove through the Kalahari Desert with Linette and our two new acquaintances on their way to acknowledge an ending, I began again on a new journey: introducing travelers to locals with the intention of uplifting those local people and their communities through health, education and sustainable development.

Enlightened Luxury
If you're a traveler I encourage you to become a philanthropic traveler. Exquisite Safaris has developed partnerships with humanitarian outreach projects in Africa, Asia and South America: Orphanages, AIDS and medical clinics, schools, women's entrepreneurial initiatives, and clean water NGO's that will open their doors to you and connect you personally with the people they serve. -David Chamberlain in The Huffington Post

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Wall Street Journal: Voluntourism Questioned

Understanding Philanthropic Travel
"I encourage travelers to discern the differences that Philanthropic Travel and Voluntourism offer and to decide which experience appeals to them. Whether you prefer to spend a morning or afternoon connecting with locals as the guest of an Exquisite Safaris Humanitarian Partner (offering a tax deductible donation) and the balance vacationing (Philanthropic Travel); or prefer spending a morning or afternoon vacationing and the balance serving as a volunteer (Voluntourism) -valuable benefits accrue to all who collaborate." -David Chamberlain

Voluntourism Questioned -Wall Street Journal
Excerpts: Libby Shearon was looking for escape and cultural exchange when she paid $1,500 to help build a children's center in Sri Lanka. Instead, she says, she got three weeks of arguing with local staff and laborers over how to execute the project. "It was a total culture shock," the 65-year-old London resident recalls. She struggled with what she felt was the dismissive attitude of local people toward her and local women, and couldn't shake a gnawing sense that her work was simply "tokenism." The children's center was built, but Ms. Shearon ended up concluding: "I should've just gone on a real holiday."

Some first-generation voluntourism programs were criticized as being less-than-fun for participants. And organizations such as London watchdog group Tourism Concern question the wisdom of dispatching unskilled volunteers for stints so short they're just disorienting. The group also questions projects where voluntourists displace locals on routine work, "as if local people weren't able to cook things or clean things or teach," says Tricia Barnett, the group's director.

As a result, a growing number of charities and tour groups are returning to the idea that tourists should just be tourists. Groups that want to funnel aid to poor communities now are appealing first to visitors' desire for a good experience, ahead of their work ethic and sense of sympathy. The rationale is that more tourists doing less produces more sustainable income and aid for local economies.

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California Seller of Travel

California requires all sellers of travel to register with the Attorney General's Office. While not assuring that a company is reputable, a valid registration signals that the seller of travel has at least followed the law to be registered. You may use the "Seller Search" feature on this website to assist you in evaluating Exquisite Safaris.

Exquisite Safaris California Seller of Travel number is: 2085623

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Globalization of Empathy: Philanthropic Travel

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep & permanent, in the ideas of living & giving. -David Chamberlain

The Globalization of Empathy = Philanthropic Travel

Kindness is an ideal that is easily accessible to all of us. We all know that a small kindness can make our journeys lighter and more enjoyable. Even bringing an instance of kindness to mind can put a smile on your face days or weeks later or perhaps even inspire you to share kindness with another.

Though it may seem simple to the point of insignificance, many cultures throughout the world and history have recognized kindness as a powerful virtue. It may be the simplest way to experience and share all the grandest ideals of humanity. We can make the choice to act from the best place within ourselves at any time, while simultaneously recognizing the highest potential in another with the smallest of acts, nourishing the seed of hope in each soul we encounter.

When we act in ways that confirm our ideals, we make the ideal our reality. In a way, kindness acts as the oil that makes the engine of our world move more smoothly and with less friction. We can still get where we are going but the ride is more pleasant, and those around us can share in the ideal world that we help to create. We are all fortunate that kindness is limitless in its supply and available to everyone.

Then, instead of affirming the experience of struggle and competition the experience of struggle and competition, we can shift our experience to the reality of ease and pleasurable camaraderie with the fellow citizens of the world. Whether giving way to someone in traffic or letting someone go ahead of us in line, donating money or sharing our homes in a crisis, we actively create a universe of kindness and giving with every choice we make.

The smallest gesture can bring a smile to light the shadow of an unpleasant situation or remove tension from a difficult task, but it's effects can echo and extend far beyond the moment. We can be sure that we will receive a kindness in return, but giving is its own reward. Kindness expands the light within us and reaches out to touch the light in others as well, giving us all a glimpse of the glow that has the power to enlighten our world.

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