What can Operation Groundswell offer that other trips can’t?

Lowest Possible Price – Real Experience – Amazing Projects – Independence – Ethical Travel

Price:

• Operation Groundswell offers some of the best-priced trips around. Don’t believe us? See for yourself. We are a registered Canadian non-profit organization. That means that trips are as cheap as financially possible and that your best interests are always in mind.
  

  West & East Africa/SE Asia/India/Guatemala

Organization	Length of Trip	Cost (excluding flight)
i-to-i	2 months	$3,245
Projects Abroad	2 months	$3,595
Cross-Cultural Solutions	2 months	$6,519
Operation Groundswell	2 months	$1750 – $1999

Middle East

Organization		Length of Trip	Cost (excluding flight)	Affiliation
Christian Believers United		12 days	$3,025	Christian
Passport to Israel		21 days	$4,350	Jewish
Noar Hadash		28 days	$5,500	Jewish
Operation Groundswell		35 days	$1999	Non-denominational

Real Experiences:

• Operation Groundswell is not a guided tour or a vacation. Our trips are intentionally designed to uncover the intricacies and on-the-ground realities of the common experience in each region. Participants eat local food, use local transport and survive each day as a temporary local. While we move generally as a group, participants are encouraged to heed the backpackers mentality, exploring as much as possible in small groups or by themselves, with the permission of trip organizers of course.

• Personal Project: Along with the group project, each participant will be urged to connect with locals throughout their experience. Participants have fixed computer labs, painted murals and benches, fixed wheelchairs, organized libraries and organized soccer tournaments. While it is impossible to foresee the true needs of locals before departing, all participants will be asked to initiate a project to create a lasting change while on the program.

• Fundraising: Crucial to the projects are a mandatory fundraising requirement. While Operation Groundswell is not a development organization, we believe that true lasting change cannot happen during the short span of our trips. However, the funding we provide along with the impetus to make a project happen causes long-term benefits for our partner communities. This year, we have restructured our fundraising plan. The details can be found on the “our fundraising” page.

Independence:

As trip leaders, our goal is to facilitate the experience not manufacture it.

• Operation Groundswell trips have a block of time called Independent Travel Time (ITT) near the end of each program. Averaging between ten days to two weeks, this time allows participants to explore and engage in a more personal way. We encourage participants to set out in small groups for this time, but some may choose to go it alone. Trip organizers will provide all participants with a personalized guide of places to see and contacts to utilize. It is important to understand: During this time, participants are not under the auspices of the organized program and are entirely responsible for themselves. Participants are given the emergency contact number of trip organizers during ITT for any advice or safety concerns. After ITT, the entire group reconvenes for a trip debriefing known as the ‘Disorientation’ prior to flying home.