Volunteer | Service Learning

Service Learning - A Form of VolunTourism
VolunTours™ became a program of Los Niños in the Summer of 2002.
For more than 25 years, Los Niños has been recognized as a leader in Service Learning - the combination of Education and Community Service - for high school, junior college, college, and university students throughout North America.

But how does the Service Learning Program of Los Niños connect with VolunTours™?

The inclusion of VolunTours™ will assist Los Niños in creating short-term, day-long Service Learning experiences for professionals, families, alumni, educators, and researchers from around the world interested in the dynamics of the San Diego/Baja Border Region. These offerings will also benefit alumni of the Los Niños Service Learning Program as they look to expose members of their family as well as friends and business associates to the amazing opportunities to give back in the Border Region.

Cultural Exchange in the Border Region
Los Niños means "the children." But in the context of the organization, "the children" is defined in quite a number of ways.

The particular definition of "the children" we want to foucus on here is the fostering of cultural exchange and interaction among individuals from different countries. (The two young people shown above - one from Mexico and one from the United States - could also be considered children in relation to their world experience, their age, or the number of times they have had the opportunity to work side-by-side with someone from another culture.) But this is not really the point.

The point is that through traveling and engaging in civic and serviceful activity in destinations throughout the world, "the children" born from cultural exchange grow to:
1) Have thoughts of how to improve our relationship with other nations,
2) Integrate systems of education and the sharing of knowledge, and/or
3) Have an appreciation for how our actions influence the lives of other global citizens.