JA: I have wanted to go and do some volunteer work in Peru with kids as someone I know of (through acquaintances) did.

Another friend of mine has a school for teaching English in Cambodia. He is actually a very successful owner of a marketing agency here - he is kinda crazy and creative - and has suffered major depression in the past to the point of trying to hang himself in his office (but he forgot the rope ...). Now that was a story he told me while very drunk at training in Malaysia, but his point was that funding the school and teaching at it for a couple of months a year himself was very grounding and has helped him with his own issues as well as making him feel he is giving something back somewhere it is needed.

On a slightly cuter note, a mate has just got back from travels and working in Bolivia in a wildlife sanctuary - babysitting a small wee puma - called Uma ... :>