An Aid Trip participant works with a translator to examine the needs of the community
Handle With Care International is a not for profit humanitarian association whose members work to help disadvantaged people in impoverished communities.
With our Head Office in Australia, our organisation is staffed only with volunteers, so all the money we raise is able to be spent on our poverty alleviation projects, rather than on wages. HWCI receives no government finance and our Board works hard all year raising money through public donations and fundraising events to fund our development projects.
What sets HWCI apart from most humanitarian development organisations is the ability of our financial members to “Care, Commit, and Come” and join us on our Aid Trips, which we run at regular intervals throughout the year.
Rather than encouraging ‘poverty tourism’ this provides opportunities for members to genuinely engage meaningfully in cross cultural exchange (beyond a disempowering client/patron relationship), and for an added degree of transparency and oversight of our aid delivery practices. We encourage our donors to come and see for themselves where their money is being spent, and we see accountability to our recipients as of crucial importance.
Delivering Lifestraws to impoverished communities is just one way that HWCI volunteers can assist
Some of the opportunities that may be available to Aid Trip participants include:
– Visiting projects in both urban slum and rural areas
– Building a water storage tank
– Visiting our medical teamâs facilities assisting with the delivery of medical aid in the field
– Assisting with data collection and research
– Preparing and distributing aid packages
– Assisting with the purchase, delivery and distribution of livestock
– Assisting with the implementation of our rural trade school program
Since 2010 we have been working with a number of communities in Indonesia, providing aid, cementing existing partnerships, and forging new ones that provide valuable support networks as Handle With Care International continues to grow and develop its international presence. Our Aid Trips are fun, challenging, exhilarating and exhausting, but most importantly they allow us to do wonderful things for people and there is nothing more rewarding than that!
If you’d like to join us on an Aid Trip, we can let you know when the next trip is being planned by joining us as a Member (which you can sign up here), then select “Going on an Aid Trip” when it asks for your interest. We’ll send you information when the next aid trip is in planning. Alternatively, you can contact sarah@hwci.org.au for more information.
Hope to see you there!