Volunteers with the group Globe Aware are digging a trench to lay a water pipe in Costa Rica.Sarah McCall / Globe Aware

KRASANG ROLEUNG, Cambodia - Andrew Krupp doesn't speak a word of Cambodian. And, for the most part, the dozens of happy-faced children racing across the dusty schoolyard to greet him don't speak a word of English.

But that doesn't stop Krupp from winning them over immediately.

It doesn't take much, after all, to get across the basics of the hokeypokey, which it turns out is just as big a crowd-pleaser in the poorest thatched-roof villages of Cambodia as it is in the manicured suburb near Chicago where Krupp lives.

"I'm like a novelty act riding into town," says the 39-year-old manufacturing executive, laughing as his frenzied "right foot in" sends the children into hysterics. "Everybody loves a lunatic."

Some vacations allow travelers to give back while they're away. CNN's Heidi Collins explains.

By: Manya Chylinski

No longer on the fringes of travel, voluntourism has attracted increasing numbers of travelers looking to learn new skills, meet people, and give back to the global community. In a recent Travelocity poll, 38 percent of repondents said they planned to volunteer while on vacation; thats up from just 6 percent in 2006. "People tell me that a vacation with us is the most meaningful experience of their lives," says David Minich of Habitat for Humanity. Here's how to plan one.

Radio interview on July 10, 2009
Breakfast with Champions
PRX Public Radio Exchange, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Listen below:

"In Cambodia I discovered I don't have to change who I am to help others." - Brianna Castillo
"My Ghana honeymoon taught me to slow down." - Michaela Mancusi