Determined to live a life that matters, Ken Budd volunteered around the world, from Asia to Africa and the Middle East, a story he tells in his new memoir, The Voluntourist—A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem.
Ken was questioning the direction of his life—his 40th birthday was looming, he and his wife were childless—when his father died suddenly from a heart attack. And then, unexpectedly, he volunteered in New Orleans nine months after Hurricane Katrina. Three months later he taught English at a rural elementary school in Costa Rica. After that, Ken worked at a special needs school in China, collected data for climate change researchers in the remote Andes mountains of Ecuador, assisted refugees in Palestine, and cared for orphans at a children’s home in Kenya.
Publishers Weekly calls The Voluntourist a “sincere and subtly written memoir,” and Library Journal writes: “This is an extremely funny book… One of the best-written travel memoirs this reviewer has read in a long time.” Booklist declares it a “unique travel memoir” that will inspire readers to volunteer abroad.
Ken has appeared on a variety of TV and radio programs, including NBC’s Today show, CBS’s The Early Show, ABC News Now, CNBC’s Power Lunch, and Martha Stewart Living Radio. His writing credits include Smithsonian, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, McSweeney’s, and Stuff. He is the executive editor of AARP The Magazine. Ken is donating his earnings from The Voluntourist to the organizations and places where he volunteered. He and his wife live in Burke, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.
