[Rachel Kahler]
Welcome back to Heber Valley Life Podcast, where we share the stories of the people who are building community, creating impact, and shaping the world around us, both here at home and far beyond. Today’s guest, Lindsay Bowen, founder and executive director of ROAM Humanitarian, an organization that is redefining what it means to travel with purpose through global expeditions that combine service, culture connections, and adventure. She and her husband, Justin, are helping people experience the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. Lindsay, welcome to the podcast.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[Rachel Kahler]
So, as I mentioned before, this has kind of, for me, been a 10 or 15 year in coming. I met Justin years ago, and he still is a photographer for National Geographic, and started this program, Illuminate, which we’re not going to cover today, but I think it’s so amazing that Justin was able to see an opportunity to take group travel and help people experience some of the things that he had experienced. But I would love you to just dive deeper into how ROAM Humanitarian started, and how you and he have built this amazing organization.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah, I love that you started with Illuminate, because that’s where it did start for us. So, Justin was working for National Geographic, and he ended up doing youth travel. He would teach youth photography skills all over the world. He was like, I want to get this, and I love this. And the youth would follow him. They became his best friends.
He was talking to them years after, and so he started Illuminate. And I was always trying to figure out how we could do service on trips. And he was like, we don’t have time for service. There’s so much to see. There’s so much to do. There’s so many people to meet. And I was always trying to fit this in our travel. And so finally, in 2020, during the pandemic, which was the perfect time, our travel companies were almost non-existent for a year or so. And I told him, I’m going to start an actual nonprofit, 501c3, and I’m going to take people to see the world.
The group travel we had down. And we had all done all youth up to that point and corporate. So we had a mix of adults and youth. And I was like, I really believe families want something like this because I don’t want something like this. And I always felt like traveling, it was like a home run if I could get to know the people.
You know, you can actually, if you think about it, you can actually travel somewhere and go from the hotel to your all-inclusive to an excursion to your all-inclusive and back, you know, to the airport. I never really get that experience with the people. Yeah. It’s like, I think that all the time, you know, people go and did they ever really get to know someone? Did they go in their home? Did they know their culture? That’s what ROAM does.
ROAM really gets people in with the, our clients and our donors in with the people in the country. And our whole voice system is based on helping them help themselves. So if you come on a ROAM you’ll very much see our values are tied into every project. You know, how is this going to help propel them forward, not create an unhealthy cycle of dependency on us, not create this white savior thing that, you know, so many people are all worried about, which I feel like helping someone is helping someone period. But we are very, very cognizant of making sure that every project we do is just pushing people forward, forward to their potential and self-reliance.
[Rachel Kahler]
So, you know, what amazes me is the communities and the countries that you have selected. Let’s talk about those because they range from Bali to Brazil to Tanzania. How did you settle these countries? And let’s really dive into some of the trips that you’ve got planned and the experiences that you’re planning for this summer.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. So we’re in eight countries. My goal, when I sat down in 2020, it was so wild. It was like one of those things where all the ideas just flew into my brain. And I had our whole business plan, our whole model written out in like one hour. And it was 10 countries in five years. And here we are six years in, we’re in eight countries. And I think it’s because humanitarian is all about the relationships and normal travel. You can just book excursions. You can just book your transportation and do enough research and you can book a really great trip. But humanitarian work is all about the relationships, all about the needs of the people in the country. And that’s what drives us. So I really did want people to be able to come on one ROAM trip and go on all seven of the others. You know, I didn’t want it to feel like, Oh, I already did that. I’m done.
And so every trip is curated to that country, their needs, you know, on one, you might do drill a well in Tanzania, but you also might give out thousands of eyeglasses in Cambodia, you know, so it’s very much designed to be what they need. Everyone in the countries, we have an in-country partner or even a whole team. And they’re the ones who guide our projects are the ones who teach us about this is what they actually need, you know, because we could come in and be like, okay, we have all these checklists of things that we do for people, but it’s not like that.
The needs in Bali are very different than the needs in Tanzania, very different than the needs in Cambodia and Peru, you know, Fiji. I mean, they’re all just different, but that’s what makes ROAM so beautiful. One of the secret sauces that we have is that you can go on any trip and it’s a totally different experience.
[Rachel Kahler]
And one of the things that I have loved that you’ve curated with ROAM, is it’s a family experience, where a lot of these trips are designed for youth, which I love adding the adventure and the service, but you’ve given an opportunity for families and different age groups to come in and participate with your programs. How has that changed in the last couple of years as you’ve seen moms and dads working alongside with their kids?
[Lindsay Bowen]
It’s so, I love it so much. There’s no words to even put to how much I love it, because I feel like when I was starting ROAM, I went on a lot of other people’s trips, family trips, you know, there’s other people doing really amazing things. But what I wanted to do is take our experience in the travel industry and really bring that into ROAM, so that people can have this really well-rounded trip, so they can leave a ROAM trip and know the people, know the country, have checked the boxes on the fundings, you know, gone on safari, seen Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Machu Picchu in Peru.
I want you to know the country, but most importantly, I want you to make this impact. And I think that’s what makes ROAM really special, is that we have families going. You just have to be eight and older to go with your family. And so we get whole families, we get a mom who will bring a couple of their teenagers, we’ll get college-aged kids. So, and then everyone just becomes really cohesive really fast. There’s something magic about when you serve together, the group just becomes close and they’ll stay in touch for years after. So there is something really special about offering it to families. The teenagers have their own role in this, you know, form of travel, but when you put the families together, it’s kind of amazing.
[Rachel Kahler]
Sometimes international travel can be daunting though. What do you do to prepare families? It’s not just, hey, I’m signing up for a trip and we’ll see you in June or July. You have some expectations prior to, to prepare people for these trips.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. Let’s walk through that. So when you register for a ROAM trip, you’d get like a welcome email just giving you the gist of buying your airfare and just like the very logistical part. And then about a month before the trip, you, we have a Zoom call and that’s where I just dive into our itinerary, our projects. I really want Roamers, we call them Roamers. I really want them to know the why behind what we’re doing. You know, you can drill someone well and not really understand why that’s so significant, or you can do vision screenings and not understand why that’s so important. And so this meeting is kind of where it’s like, okay, this is what we’re doing. This is why, this is how, this is the who behind it.
And I feel like at the end of the meetings are when people really start to feel like this is real and we’re going to make a major impact. And there’s something for everyone. When we choose projects, I really try to think of what’s an eight-year-old going to do? What’s a teenage boy with a ton of energy going to do? And what’s a grandpa who can do 70 going to do? And so there’s, we try to just cater our, our projects to everyone. Yeah.
[Rachel Kahler]
Let’s dive into some of those projects.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah.
[Rachel Kahler]
It’s, it’s been interesting that I’ve really followed your program and been so impressed because you’re not just building a wall or pouring cement. You’re really hitting projects that are so personal to the needs of these communities. Would you mind diving into a couple of them that maybe are your favorites? I’m sure they’re all your favorites, but yeah, let’s just talk about some of the service projects that you guys are offering.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. So one thing that makes ROAM a little different too, is that we do multiple projects on one trip. So you’re not just going to the same school site every day and building a school. You’re doing that one in two days and then the next day you’re doing different things. So I love giving people that diversity, but I would say the ones that come to mind that are kind of the sweet spot in my heart, Cambodia, there’s lots of people who have vision problems from the work, from Agent Orange. I mean, it’s still in their system. It’s passed down genetically or through their DNA. And so we do a ton with vision there. We work with optometrists. We give out thousands of eyeglasses. And when you put glasses on a 75 year old woman who hasn’t seen for 15 years, I mean, that’s something special. You know, Bali, I love our projects in Bali because people go to Bali all the time and it’s like this getaway.
That’s just amazing. Oh my gosh. Yes. It’s like the bucket list item trip, right? But what they don’t realize is off this beaten tourist path are a lot of immigrants who have come who are trying to get work. They’ve heard, you know, from all these other islands around Indonesia that there’s work there.
And so they’ll come to Bali. They’re not documented. They don’t have the paperwork. They can’t get their kids in school. A lot of them will go live in the trash dumps. The hotels, there’s so much on there that the hotels are just dumping, you know, all their trash there. And inside that trash is like soap and shampoo and all these things from the hotels that are barely used. So they’ll sift through that trash and try to make a living reselling the things they find. We’ve been able to build multiple homes for people there.
So the government will give us permission to build actual homes in the actual trash dump. And so it’s so beautiful to watch a family come from living in a shed, like a tin roof shack in the rainy season that’s all flooded and giving them an actual home. They still live in the trash dump, but they live there with a little more dignity, right? So that’s really beautiful. I love, love that project. But I would say Tanzania is kind of the heartbeat of my, my actual personal life. Like I, I love all our countries. I would recommend, we wouldn’t run them. We wouldn’t do these trips if they weren’t impactful.
But Tanzania for me is, I mean, we planted some roots there. We just finished a women’s center. That’s a place where women can come to find their voice. I mean, they have, the women there are not treated well. They still practice FGM and child marriage, a lot don’t go to school. They walk to water and on the way to water, they’ll get assaulted on the way there and assaulted on the way back.
They live a hard life. And so to build, for a few years, it was like how can I help connect you to the right resources here in your country? You know, like ROAM was all about, is all about helping people help themselves. And so if I could just get you the right resources, but then I was like, we actually don’t have any.
So we became the resource. So we have a women’s center. We’re building a school for girls. Right now we’re building a hotel. That’s a training facility for women who leave their abusive lifestyles and we teach them tourism, which is their greatest industry there with safari and filming Darwin. So Tanzania, for me, it’s daunting when you get in these countries, you could just walk away and think that’s too sad. You know, there’s nothing I can actually do. But then you start changing one life at a time. And now, I mean, there’s thousands of people there that we’ve helped make their lives better. And so I just thought Tanzania, for me, is like when I wake up at two o’clock in the morning and I’m trying to problem solve how I can be the biggest impact there.
[Rachel Kahler]
And do you find though that once you’ve been able to elevate some of these women that pay it forward, you’re seeing now a couple years in that they’re able to make changes to their circles. I mean, is this something that you’re seeing now the fruits of those labors? Yes.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Oh, my gosh. Yes. It’s so fun. So we started a company where we sell jewelry at Swiss days. We sell it on Etsy for these women. I’m wearing them right now. And they make these really beautiful pieces of jewelry and then we pay them. You know, we give them the proceeds. And this last time I was there, some of the women were like, Sister Lindsay, they call me Sister Lindsay. You have to come see. And they started these other businesses. One of them had a chicken, a poultry business, chicken coops that they sell the eggs and the meat for.
One had started a little shop, like a little convenience shop. And that was all with her annual money. And I was so proud of them. Like, this is what women in business do. And I tell the annual women, this isn’t this part of ROAM. It’s not humanitarian.
We are business women together. You know, like you, me, we’re working together. And if you work, you’ll get paid. And I love taking that, like, twist in humanitarian where a lot of times we do come and we help them, we propel them forward, you know, and that’s just what their needs are in that moment. But to be able to get a group of women, and we have multiple groups of women, some are doing sewing training, some are doing poultry businesses. We just started a bunch of 20 women with a goat business. They reproduce really quickly. Their meat is very valuable. Their milk is valuable. And so we just have all of these programs that we’re helping. I’m very drawn to the women. We help the men too. But the women are where my heart is, because they actually don’t have a voice. I feel like if the men want an opportunity, they can find it. They have to work hard that they can find it.
The women, there’s just no opportunity for them. So we’re creating these opportunities for them to feed their children, pay school fees, do the basic necessities to feel this dignified human you can provide for yourself and for your children. And when you see that light go on in their eyes from hopelessness to hope, and a little bit of pride, and a little bit of wow, I’m empowered to do this. That’s the best feeling in the world.
[Rachel Kahler]
And so you’re giving them that confidence to do something that they probably never really had the hope to do, but you’re showing them the pathway forward. Mm-hmm.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Many women I’ll sit down with, I don’t get the opportunity as much because we’ve grown so much. So it’ll be like 20 women here and there’s a whole process they have to do to get a business grant. But sometimes I get to sit down with them and just be like, what are you good at? What do you love? What makes your heart that no one’s asked you about before? Never. And then sometimes they’ll be like, I don’t, I’ve never had the luxury to think like that. I’m just thinking to where my next meal is coming from. But when you ask them, you know, what, what do you think you’re good at? And they tell you, you know, one woman was like, well, I used to raise pigs when I was little and we made it, gave her a whole piggery. And now she’s just writing those babies, pigs she’s selling. And it’s so fun to be able to find out what they want.
Cause that’s, that’s like the ultimate goal, right? Is I don’t want to force them to be like, now you work in our factory, you’re welcome. You know, it’s like, no, what makes you, what brings you joy? And let’s, let’s add to that. So that’s where ROAM has made the biggest impact is Tanzania for sure.
[Rachel Kahler]
Amazing. I want to talk about the work that you’re doing here to support ROAM. You’ve done many fundraisers. You talked about the Swiss days booth. How can people get involved with ROAM if they’re not able to do the trips? What are, I know you’ve done a couple of, uh, banquets and fundraisers and just evening get togethers at, uh, summer sets. Uh, summer house, summer house.
[Lindsay Bowen]
We did a fundraiser there.
[Rachel Kahler]
Yeah. So talk, talk about how people can support ROAM if they’re not able to travel. Oh, okay.
[Lindsay Bowen]
So every year we have a big fundraiser and we make them really fun. Like I cannot sit in one more banquet room. I love everyone’s fundraisers, but I’m like, no weird. We are about experiences. So this year we are doing it at a ranch in, um, in Charleston and yeah, it’s ROAM ranch. So there’ll be highlander cows everywhere and country music. And so we try to make our fundraisers fun. This will all go toward our school, our girls school in Tanzania. Uh, we also sell the jewelry at Swiss days, which is super fun to get out in the community and people know, you know, every piece of jewelry we sell has the woman who made it and their story.
So you can, you can kind of feel like personal with your jewelry, you know? Um, we also do lots of things where I’ll collect soccer gear or, or we’ll collect white shirts and ties, you know, we’re always needing something. So that’s a really easy way for the community to be like, well, I have a ton of soccer cleats. I’m buying new cleats every season, you know, we’ll take them. And there’s a lot of orphanages there who play soccer and that’s their one outlet for kind of joy and pleasure, you know? And so we’ll bring them cleats and, and it’s like, this is morning for them.
So we try to make it where people can be involved if they can’t travel, but the Holy Grail is to come with us. That’s what’s so fun is people will, um, and businesses, entrepreneurs down to, you know, to family, to working family home, they’ll write checks and they don’t know where it goes. You know, it’s not, it’s great, but they aren’t experiencing the joy that comes with their service and their giving. And so with ROAM, I love to be like, you wrote the check now come and see what you get to do with it.
[Rachel Kahler]
You know, I want to dive into that because, um, I, as I have watched a lot of the videos and follow your social media, and I would love to hear some of those experiences where you get a timid youth, or maybe even an adult that isn’t quite sure about international cultures. Is there an experience that kind of stands out where you watched that light or that change happen with somebody who came on one of those trips?
[Lindsay Bowen]
Oh, so many, because I feel like it is a little bit of a leap of faith, right? You have no control over your travel. You just kind of show up at this day and this time and across the world.
And you’re just hoping that we are as cool as we say we are. And, um, just barely, we got back from Tanzania just three weeks ago, and there was a guy on our trip, um, maybe in his sixties, they didn’t have any kids at home and him and his wife came and she had been begging him to go to Africa to Serengeti for their whole marriage. And he was like, I’ll never, I’ll never go there, you know? And so finally she persuaded him to come with our group. And he said it was the hardest thing he ever did was get on that plane, you know, physically or emotionally? Both.
I mean, I think it was physically overwhelming to be like, we’re going really far away. Um, but emotionally, I mean, he was, he was scared, you know, he’s this grown man who has all the control in his life and he’s just giving that make sure that my passport and everything works out. Totally.
And so he told me multiple times, you know, I never thought I could do something like this. And now he’s one that’s calling me after, you know, like, Hey, I just had a meeting in Washington, DC with all my business partners. And I wanted, I was telling about the trip. I want to raise some funds for it. Like he said, do you think next year, maybe I could fill my own trip with just my friends and family. And I’m like, yes, but it was just so great because the first day was kind of like a lot of people look at me and I’m kind of fun and outgoing and they’re kind of like, are you the real deal? You know, or are you just like fluff? And I, I think they see really fast, but I’m not there to play.
[Rachel Kahler]
I’m there to make some changes, you know, and your background as a school teacher though, has proven well, because you know, how to classroom management. Yeah. And I’ve seen you in groups where you take difficult topics and put people at ease as you’re working through some of these culture walls and you’re able to break those down.
But, you know, it’s interesting because I do feel like we live in an area that is affluent and we have a lot of opportunities and you’re taking people out of their comfort zone and asking them to serve in a culture, in a community with people that have nothing really. Yeah. And is it hard to make that bridge? Are you, you know, having to prepare people? You’re going to see some things on this trip that are going to break you emotionally.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah, I do. I tell them the first day, you know, that you’re going to have a breaking point on this trip. There, there’ll be a day where the tears come and that is so fine. I am yet to make it through one without just being like, wow, that was heavy or that was beautiful. But I do love bringing them and telling them what I truly believe is that we need them as much as they need us. We are sad, we’re depressed, we’re anxious, we’re overwhelmed, we’re working our whole legs away. You know, like we’re not the picture perfect definition of even though we have everything.
[Rachel Kahler]
Yes.
[Lindsay Bowen]
So when you go there, it’s so easy to be like, this is so sad, but then you see that they are so grateful. They’re so humble. They have no bubbles around them as far as social, like they are in your face, best friends with you in 10 seconds. And so I kind of like close my eyes and imagine that we’re just this puzzle. The whole world is this puzzle and all these pieces fit together. And I feel like roamers walk away. And I almost all the time, I would say they walk away feeling like I’m going to go back a better person. I’m going to go back and I’m going to be grateful. And I’m going to realize that when I turn on my water and clean water comes out, how blessed I am. And that perpetuates happiness. Right. And so also when we go there, we’re bringing so much joy with our resources. So it’s like they need us, but I’m telling you, we need them. You know, I believe in that to my bones, but we need them. We, they have a secret recipe to happiness that we just haven’t figured out.
[Rachel Kahler]
Amazing. I have also heard that you have left your own shoes on many occasions where you see a need and you just hand whatever you can.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah.
[Rachel Kahler]
I mean, it’s so beautiful.
[Lindsay Bowen]
You know, I had a teenager cause we did youth travel far before ROAM. And, um, one time we were in Africa, we weren’t doing humanitarian trip. We were doing, we were going to all the safaris and checking all the boxes. And we were at a gas station once. And this, she had this brand new pair of red Converse. And, um, she’s actually local to this Valley. She’s amazing. And this boy walked up to her in, in Kenya and just loved her shoes. And she just took them right off her feet and put them on his feet. And he like ran home. And I remember thinking like, that’s how it’s done. Like this 17 year old girl taught me, that’s how it’s done. Like you see a need and you don’t think like, Oh, I don’t know. I just bought these shoes or am I going to offend them? Or will they even fit? It’s like, she just took them off and put them on his feet. And that’s been like a model for me that if I have something that I can go, how many shoes do I have at home? So many, you know? So yeah, it’s, it’s pretty funny because we stay in the same hotel every time. And I come back shoeless all the time. And they’re like, cause he gave her shoes away again, but it’s total, it’s so easy for us to do little things like that, you know, and humanitarian, I feel like you just get comfortable going across social norms that in the U S we don’t do very often. You know, you wouldn’t normally just give your shoes off your feet to someone, but you see holes in a kid’s shoes. You give your shoes away. And those shoes now became the answer to someone else’s need or prayer or whatever, you know, it changes that, that girl that gave her shoes.
[Rachel Kahler]
I’m sure that was a catalyst for something in her life that really allowed her to think of others first.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. Yeah. I just learned through watching other people, you know, I’m, I’m nothing super special. I’ve just learned to act, you know, what can I do with the resources I’ve been given. And it’s kind of amazing what we can actually do so much so that I will sit back and be like, wow, I can’t believe we’ve accomplished this much in a short time, because when you start putting your resources to work, you’re, you just watch hundreds of lives start changing.
[Rachel Kahler]
I want to talk about the numbers. So you talked about the goal of 10 countries. I was looking on the website and it’s so impressive. The influence that you have had over the last six years.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. Yeah.
[Rachel Kahler]
I mean, are you comfortable sharing some of the, how many participants and how many communities that you’ve reached out to?
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. I mean, we take, we keep really detailed reporting to watch our impact. I always want to make sure that we never deter away from the impact.
That’s the, we want to have a great time. We want you to make these memories with your kids, but our whole purpose and why we’re traveling is for that impact. And so we’ve been so lucky to partner with a lot of other organizations, which has been great for them. And for us, like Water for Life Charity is local to Midway. They do water filters and they needed to distribute them worldwide, right? They have all these water filters, but they didn’t necessarily have a resource of people who were taking them worldwide and teaching how to use them because you can ship a thousand water filters to any country and they’re going to be get, you know, they’re going to get in the right hands. It’s just teaching them how to use it. And that’s what ROAM does is we’ll go in and teach. So because we’ve been able to partner with so many organizations, our impact has exponentially been larger, you know? So we, I, I actually don’t have the exact numbers for this, like, cause the numbers changed so fast, but we have hundreds of ROAMers. We’re in those eight countries. We’ve given thousands of thousands of people water through either wells or water filters. The water filters are a great kind of band-aid to help them get clean water. And the well is changing generations where you can give them access to that.
[Rachel Kahler]
I think I remember seeing almost 30,000 people though, who have served through these different service projects. I mean, think about our community. We’re just over 30,000.
You’re impacting a life as big as our community across multiple countries, that these people wouldn’t have these opportunities without the work that ROAM Humanitarian is doing. It’s just really so beautiful.
[Lindsay Bowen]
That’s what I love though, is it really is about the one for me always, you know? And when we give a well, it’s like 6,000 people can use that well. Or, but I just love whenever it feels daunting, I’ll search the crowd and find one person that I can be like, how can we help you? What do you need? And it’s usually a mother. They’re usually in abusive marriage. They usually have children they can’t feed. And you give a woman an opportunity and most of the time they’re going to run with it. So that’s, for me, you know, these huge numbers are so beautiful and almost just feel like, I can’t believe that’s happening.
I love it so much, but I always am like, the power isn’t changing one generation at a time. And that’s what I believe. We do a lot of, when we do rescues, this is something I never thought we’d do with ROAM. It never crossed my mind, but we’ll find women who are in the most horrific situations. They’re almost being beat to death every day. Their kids are getting FGM. If you’re not familiar with FGM, look it up. It’s so sad that it’s still happening. But feeling like there were scenarios where we could take these women out of these situations and give them a new life and so we started doing these rescues and they’re wild. I mean we’re meeting women at two o’clock in the morning in the middle of a cornfield to help them escape their abusive lifestyle and give them a business, put their kids in school and help them in all these ways and that to me is generational change. So now because we took this one, you know, just barely on our last trip to Tanzania, we rescued nine women and girls and that’s nine generational changes that are made in one rescue.
You give a woman education and an opportunity for business, it’s just like that, that FGM stops with them, abuse stops with them, you know, child marriage stops with them and so those are the things that bring me the most joy. I love looking at these huge numbers, I love it, but when I can close my eyes and picture the faces of the people, that’s what makes ROAM come to life for me personally.
[Rachel Kahler]
You know, as a parent, I’m sitting here listening, wondering, okay, if I want to send my 17-yearold daughter, what are some of the parameters that you’re setting up to keep the kids safe, create an experience, but also offering these kind of life-changing service opportunities?
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah, so we started two years ago, it’s called RISE and it’s a mix of ROAM and the mix of Illuminate and then Service Expeditions, so RISE is an acronym and so RISE is just for teenagers and it’s a humanitarian trip like you would get with ROAM Humanitarian, but it’s just for 15 to 19 year olds and so the parameters we set are really, really high. We have teens in-country who are tried and true, we trust them so much, they keep their anything from transportation to our projects to meals, all the things, and so we make sure that the infrastructure on the ground is very, you know, solid. And that’s important for the international standard.
Yeah, I mean, you can take a group in, you know, we always talk, we have a partner in Peru, his name is Vidal, and two different times we’ve been hiking to Machu Picchu and he’ll tell the group to stop and he’ll say, I’ve learned to hike with all five senses and he’ll smell that there’s a mud landslide coming and both times he was right, there was a landslide up ahead and he can smell it in the air and he’s like, the air smells different, you can smell the changes, and so that’s the value of having a local.
Yeah, where we would know, we would just be like, oh, we gotta hurry and get there because the weather’s changing. Yeah, it’s raining really bad and he’s like, stop and wait, you know, and that’s the value of an in-country team. So, and then as far as on our end, you know, we have really great leaders who have traveled with us before, almost every leader we have has been on a trip with us where we’ve been able to train them and teach them this is how to keep a teenager feeling thriving, you know, not just as safety’s our first, like, for sure, hands-down priority, but to have a teenager come and know, like, we tell them, you know, two weeks from now, you’re not going to be the same person. Everyone at home, all of the people on your social media, everyone you know from high school, your family, they’re going to be the exact same in two weeks, but you will never be the same and we really tell them that every day, like, this is something you’ll remember forever and let it change you. Don’t be afraid to let it make you be a different person. So, there’s, there’s both sides, you know, we have all this, all these relationships and countries, but we also have a really great system and culture within our own rights and so we have three brands that that teach people worldwide. How do you do it? How do you keep all the bottles juggled in here? I would say I don’t. I try so hard.
I mean, I do. I have such, we have such a great team. I mean, anyone who were to call our, our office managers, you’d be like, they are so great. So, we’ve been so lucky to attract the best of the best to help us, but I always feel like I’m just one step behind. There’s always, you know, my WhatsApp. Yeah, yeah. My WhatsApp, that’s my communication. Well, it’s my communication with all our in-country partners. I’m like, people would die if they read, you know, I’m sitting at a lacrosse game reading about like, okay, she, she needs surgery. She, she went for an emergency surgery. We’ll have to figure out how to pay for that. Okay. The school is getting billed. Okay. You know, like it’s so wild. The things that I’m dealing with on a day-to-day basis in Heber Valley that you would never guess, but it’s beautiful. I feel super blessed and lucky to have that dream of mine come true. I, I remember being a little girl and do you remember those commercials? And they were always like Africa and they were so sad, like the kids with the flies on the, their eyes and the distended bellies. And I remember as a little girl thinking like, okay, if I just clean my neighbor’s houses, I could probably sign up for the service to send my $12 a month or whatever it was. And I just remember that was in my core, you know, I wanted so much to make a difference. And so to see ROAM and now rise is just kind of a dream. It’s 100% a dream come true for me.
[Rachel Kahler]
I just love it. How would people find out more information? There are some spaces available still for the summers groups.
Yeah. Adventures. And before we wrap up, I want to talk about those adventures. Yeah. Because I think it’s important that people realize this really is a balance of service and fun and adventure in these amazing, beautiful countries. But how would people go about if they wanted to book or learn more about Rise ROAM?
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah. So we have a website for each. They’re all separate. ROAM is a nonprofit, 501c3. So everything you spend on your trip is tax deductible. So your trip fees, most of your trip fees go toward our project. So that’s really cool for people too, because they’re not just paying for themselves. They’re paying for everything they do while they’re on the trip. And their flights are tax deductible. So that’s really, really helpful when you’re trying to bring a family. But yeah, it’s ROAM, humanitarian.org. ROAM is R-O-A-M. And illuminate.com, illuminatetrips.com. And then Rise Youth Trips is our youth humanitarian. So you can find us online really easy.
Registration process is so easy once the trips fill up and they’re full. But we actually have space this summer on our family Bali and our family Tanzania trips. Both of those trips will build homes for families. But yeah, like you said, we do humanitarian. We also do a lot of cultural activities, dancing. So we’ll do cooking classes. We’ll learn how to dance. Brazil, we learn how to do the Brazilian fighting. It’s very cultural. And then there’s always the bucket list items. So safari, anchor watch, Machu Picchu, Fiji. We do most of our work on the garden island of Taviuni.
And we do a lot of their waterfalls. And it’s just like this really beautiful way to travel where you get to do the fun things. You get to see the experience, the culture.
But everyone ultimately just wants to do the service once they get there. Like they’ll be on safari. Like, I just want to go back to the orphanage. And I’m like, I know. I know me too. But they get it. You get it all. I mean, I know I’m very, very biased, but I think there is no better way to travel than to travel with an impact. You are impacted, but you leave a footprint behind that’s a good one.
One where people’s lives are better and changed. And when you come home back to America and you lay your head on your pillow, you’re like, I don’t even know how to put to words what I just experienced because it’s that impactful.
[Rachel Kahler]
Lindsay, you and Justin truly are changing lives. I have witnessed it and just in awe of the work that you’re doing. As we’re wrapping up, is there anything else that you want to share that people should know as they’re looking at and hearing this way that they can donate or participate or what they should be looking forward to if they are looking for a trip for themselves?
[Lindsay Bowen]
Yeah, I mean, we have trips all the time. We try to align our trips to spring breaks, fall breaks, summer breaks, so that we do everything on our part we can to make it easy for you. We’re really good about offering opportunities to send supplies if you want to participate in drilling a well with your company if you want. We try so hard to make it where anyone can be involved who wants to be involved. And we invite you to come. I mean, we say once you’re a Roamer, you’re always a Roamer. You’re part of our family and I truly feel that way. I feel like you come and you become a part of our overall mission of just making the world a little bit better.
[Rachel Kahler]
I love that. I love it. For those that are listening and are inspired, whether it’s a family or a young person or a business, I hope that you’ll go to the websites and find an opportunity to donate a little bit of money today because every little bit helps. And those trips that are coming up this summer are such amazing opportunities, so if you have supplies that you want to send with Lindsay and Justin and those crew leaders, don’t be afraid to reach out and say, hey, I’ve got soccer cleats or art supplies or whatever it is. So, Lindsay, thank you for sharing your story. It really is so inspiring. As I mentioned, you as a school teacher had such an impact on so many students and you’ve taken that worldwide and it’s just so amazing and beautiful. So, you’re doing incredible work. I hope you know that.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. There’s no ROAM without Roamers. You know, like we need you. We need you guys to come with us and experience this. So, it’s a group effort, but yes, I felt super blessed to have a VA teach part of my life.
[Rachel Kahler]
You are a powerful influence that even small acts can have great impacts worldwide. So, thank you. Thank you to Justin and thanks to your kids for giving up their parents every once in a while and letting them do amazing things throughout the world. So, listeners, if you’re looking for a way to travel deeper, serve with a purpose, and see the world through a new lens, I would really invite you to look at these opportunities that Lindsay and Justin have created. They truly are beautiful and I’m hoping sometime in my future to be able to participate as well. I’m Rachel Kahler with Community Alliance for Main Street, I just want to thank Lindsay Bowen for the work that you do and the lives that you’ve changed. You truly are a community builder and we appreciate that.
[Lindsay Bowen]
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Heber has been the happiest decision we’ve ever made. So, 15 years ago we came up here and we’ll never leave. So, we love this community. I love it.
[Rachel Kahler]
Thank you for joining us today with Heber Valley Life Podcast and be sure to tune in on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts to listen to more of these great interviews with community builders like Bowen’s. Thank you. Thanks so much.