SURFING AND SERVICE | UCLA ALUMNI MAGAZINE

By Danielle Roque

Surfing and service – for Sam Bailey ’00, it’s the ideal combination.

An avid traveler and surfer, Bailey also is concerned about the impact his activities have on the larger world, and he has developed a unique way to combine hands-on humanitarian and environmental volunteer work with seeking the perfect wave.

Bailey is the founding director of Eco Surf Volunteers, a travel adventure program that performs local eco-volunteer works and community service designed to raise awareness of conservation, promote local economies and enhance understanding of local cultures.

Founded in August 2008, Eco Surf Volunteers recruits participants from all over North America to work with leaders in Canoa, Ecuador to improve the community’s conditions.

“Our last trip [to Ecuador] was in February, right in the middle of summer break for all the kids in Canoa,” says Bailey. “You would think nobody wants to go to summer school, but school administrators opened the doors to all children in the entire community.”

Everyone was surprised by the turnout.

“On the first day, 20 kids were seated in the small classroom,” Bailey says. “The next day the class size had more than doubled, and we were completely out of tables and chairs. By the last day, we had nearly 100 children participating. It was clear that we had created something truly special for everyone.”

Bailey’s inspiration came from a lengthy surfing trip he made in 2006. Traveling from Peru through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, he was bothered by the potential negative impact that the surf culture can have on local communities. He felt compelled to combat the loss of local traditions and customs that surf tourism can cause.

“I saw a lot of beautiful beaches in undeveloped communities with truly unique cultures, but I also saw a loss of culture as a result of foreign investment,” he explains. “It was then that I decided I wanted to create an organization that would help educate South and Central American communities of could-be surf towns.”

Eco Surf Volunteer participants teach children English, repair existing classrooms, build new classrooms using local bamboo, construct new playground equipment from recycled material and natural resources, and implement early childhood development programs.

“I’ve heard that volunteering is ‘so cliché,’” says Bailey, “but hearing the kids ask us when we’ll return is not cliché. Seeing the tears well up in the eyes of our volunteers as we drive out of town, kids lining the streets waving goodbye, is definitely not cliché. The school administrators wrote to me three weeks after we left to say the kids were still talking about the week they spent with our volunteer team. There’s nothing cliché about what we’re doing. This is all very real.”

A San Clemente, Calif., native, Bailey graduated from UCLA in 2000 with his bachelor’s degree in geography. He played on the varsity men’s water polo team for five years and was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. He was assistant coach for the men’s water polo team at UCLA in 2007 and of the championship women’s water polo team in 2008. During the past decade, he has traveled to more than 30 countries on four continents. He has surfed the coasts of Brazil, Peru, France and Ecuador.

For information on Eco Surf Volunteers, visit www.ecosurfvolunteers.org.