Finding Home: Where Voluntourism and Relocation Collide

There is an old saying you likely have heard before: You can’t go home again. I for one have always taken this to mean that once you explore the outside world you outgrow your home. An expanded mind no longer fits comfortably back into the world from which it came. At least that was my perspective before rediscovering Care for Dogs.



My first attempt to move to Chiang Mai, Thailand only lasted a few months. Like all places I travel injured animals seemed to find me almost immediately upon my arrival. Still, this time I was determined that this journey would be different. I took a vow to not get caught up in animal rescue. Instead, I would explore other worlds, take classes – perhaps learn to cook - and experience different (non-zoological) ways of life.



That vow was foolish at best. Truth be told, I only held out a few weeks. After a mange-covered, skeleton of a dog followed me to my language class several days in a row, I began to search the Internet, seeing what, if any, help was available for animals such as this. What could be done to help them in a city such as Chiang Mai? That is how I discovered Care for Dogs (CFD). They had only opened their doors a few weeks earlier.



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At the mountaintop temple of Wat Doi Kam, I meant up with CFD founder Karin Hawelka. Among the golden Buddhas and fragrant food carts Karin weaved, gathering several dogs into her car. She then whisked them away to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated prior to being returned their home on the temple grounds. Later I visited CFD’s fledgling shelter and the dogs. Oh, those dogs!



Thai dogs are more genuinely confident and steady when compared to most any of American’s pampered pooches. Throughout SE Asia dogs must have a certain level of independence and street-savvy, balanced with a relatively calm nature in order to survive. These same attributes allow for larger numbers of dogs to be housed in a smaller shelter space than anyone would dare attempt in the States. Yet, when taken one at a time, the individual dogs at the shelter still possess that honest warmth and desire for human affection that so endears canines to people’s hearts. Like shelter dogs anywhere each pup at CFD was a gem, just waiting to be discovered.



Alongside another volunteer, Ally Taylor, I began going on the veterinary runs, taking the shelter’s dogs to get their much needed medical care. On other days we’d check dogs at temples or I’d sit and socialize animals at the shelter, giving baths, attention, love, etc. One day, as Ally and I sat on a cool concrete floor of a barbershop waiting for the ‘stylist’ to take us to an injured dog he had reported, a large bus full tourist lumbered past. The occupants stared down at us through the broken shop window. On their faces was that blank look of apathy group tourism has brought to all the great wonders of the world. It struck me then that I was seeing a Thailand most travelers will never experience.



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My reintroduction to volunteering was all to brief. With little notice, I returned to the USA to help my ailing mother recover from hip surgery. Cancer was weaving its own insipid way through her body. Never would I have dreamed that it would be four year before I would return to Thailand. Nonetheless, CFD’s rekindling of my voluntary spirit had already begun to alter the course of my life.



Back in America, I excitedly volunteered for Best Friends Animal Society in Southern Utah. I went for three weeks and stayed three months, until eventually being offered a position on their staff. At Best Friends another long-term volunteer, children’s book author Jeanne Modesitt, encouraged me to write a book about the sanctuary. Educating kids about animal rescue and volunteer work increased my passion for telling others about this most interesting of ways to travel and experience the world.



Ironically, the more I wrote about travel, the more I was becoming idle. Over the following years my duties to my Mother grew, keeping me progressively more home bound myself. Nonetheless, the result of this forced isolation resulted in more time to write and produce books. Each title had an ever growing focus on volunteer travel. Helping others discover voluntourism eased my own feelings of frustration. Not being able to work hands-on helping charities in need would have been impossible to bear had I not believed that I was making a difference by encouraging others to volunteer in my absence.



Another aggravation was not so easily overcome. In South Dakota, my "home" state, I no longer fit in. I had outgrown my homeland. Tales of animal rescue adventures fell on the deaf ears ranchers, hunters and perpetual quilters. When I spoke of travel in general I was meant with, "Oh my, you are so brave" from the women of my town. This vexed me. "No, you are just a coward who does not know s**t about the world you live in", I would think as I sought out the quiet sanity of my writer’s hermitage. Alone in a world where I had nothing in common with anyone, I believed that old saying was true. My home no longer suited me. Why had I come home again? But, my journey had not yet come full circle.



After Mom’s passing, I returned to Chiang Mai as quickly as possible. I returned to Care for Dogs. I met with Karin – yet again. Ally and I made the rounds. Now well established, CFDs incredible growth excited me. I was awestruck by their accomplishments. The shelter now had a small office and surgical room. A part-time vet worked onsite. Even a semi-formal volunteer program had been set up. And, the dogs – oh those dogs! So many were still in need in Thailand, but many dogs were being helped by this wonderful little organization that held steadfast in their commitment to help make a difference - one dog at a time.



Just seeing the amazing changes the shelter underwent in four years made my heart race. This time CFD rekindled my feelings of being alive, of how people can effect change. Of course, those fabulous Thai dogs were as amazing and welcoming as ever. There would be no vow of staying away from animal rescue this time. Despite still having to work and take classes, I immediately signed on for once weekly volunteering at the shelter, helping with side projects and also to helping with writing for the shelter website.



After my first day back at Care for Dogs, I walked into my hastily rented house in the ‘suburbs’ of Chiang Mai. I sighed and smiled as I realized I was home. Yes, the saying says you can’t go home again, but perhaps that saying is just a little bit off. Home is not where you are born. Home is the place you live that makes you feel most alive. Home evolves as you grow. Now Chiang Mai is now my home and I owe that revelation in large part to volunteering with Care for Dogs.



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Zoologist Nola Lee Kelsey is the creator and content editor of ‘The Voluntary Traveler: Adventures from the Road Best Traveled and the author of ‘700 Places to Volunteer Before You Die: A Traveler’s Guide, as well as many other titles. She also publishes The V-List on voluntourism, is also the host of The Voluntary Traveler podcast and Managing Editor of Dog’s Eye View Media http://www.VolunteerBeforeYouDie.com