About Us

Why Sangha?

Sangha Tours links world travelers with service projects creating cultural interchange, where all players emerge smiling, and just a little bit different than they were the day before.

The word ‘Sangha’ derived from Pail or Sanskrit was traditionally applied to the
community of Buddhist ordained nuns and monks. A modern adaptation of sangha is
a community of kindred spirits, like minded thinkers with a common goal, vision,
whose purpose is to aid others less fortunate.

A few words about the founder of Sangha Tours

A personal goal was achieved many years ago integrating two competing forces in
my life. The first, in no particular order, was to nourish my profession as a pediatric occupational therapist. The second was to feed my addiction to travel and the compulsion by routinely purchasing international airline tickets. The two forces joined as one, in Thailand, where I volunteered for one year with the American Refugee Committee offering rehabilitation and special education to refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

This united front strengthened as I maintained commitment to profession and travel. Working in Yerevan Armenia with Project Hope and the American Red Cross enabled me to experience culture from and insider’s advantage. Working side by side with local counterparts, lives changed, both individually and systematically.

Volunteering with the Nepal Red Cross Society was another ‘high’light serving
children and their families living in the eastern mountainous region. The memory of non-ambulatory children carried along foot paths on a parent’s back is as clear as the Himalayas in autumn.

Working in Early Intervention Programs in Korea and Italy for more than 12 years,
allowed for many more plane tickets. Most significant was our family visit to Mali, where close friends volunteered for the Peace Corps. Their sanitation and health promotion projects were impressive, and linger on.

Having touched down in 50 countries, Sangha Tours reached fruition in 2002.

Sangha Tours endeavors to:

• To empower locally owned small businesses by contracting with tour operators,
support services, and guides who own, actively manage their own small
businesses.

• To disburse a percentage of each trip to Kiva.com, designating the funding to
a recipient from the country toured.

• To provide interactive opportunities supporting local service initiatives
including schools, medical facilities, programs for street children, micro
business, etc.

Sangha Tours recognizes:

• Travel opens cultural doors
• Small groups of travelers blend more easily into local societies
• The spirit of giving makes one feel great!