Just got back from a week in Haiti.  I've been on forty of these type of volunteer trips over the years, to nine different countries.  People choose their addictions.  This is mine. This was my sixth time there.  A group of seven of us worked on a church in Melliere, about 30 miles west of Port-au-Prince. 
It is always a wonderful experience living and working with the locals.  We helped the (paid) laborers prepare rebar rods for future concrete work.  The people were friendly, the food delicious, sunshine was plentiful and I could see the stars on quiet peaceful nights from my cot in the temporary school building on the edge of a lush agricultural region of the country.
I wanted to go to Haiti in response to the devastation we all heard about following the earthquake.  Literally  tens of thousands of people have responded and thousands will in the future in various ways. I wanted to GO to Haiti because I could afford to, quite frankly.  I know everyone can't.  Schedules, health and finances prohibit it.  But, to me, religion that best honors God is religion with feet, whether that's next door our across the ocean. Too many times, I and others get caught up in theological/philosophical/political discussions placing ourselves somewhere on a line from conservative to liberal.  But in the end, right action trumps right doctrine.   The book of James says:  "True religion is to care for the orphans and widows (and others) among us who need our help."
This is not to say the Haitians aren't helping themselves.  They are very industrious hard working people who have come a long way in the last eighteen months.  Rubble has been cleared, roads repaired and temporary housing (many of them tents) is up.  Now the rebuilding has started. In the town we were in, it seems every family has started to gather sand and crushed rocks, ready to mix cement mortar and build their permanent home whenever they can gather enough money to do so. It is a land of promise.   
I highly encourage everyone to go on a trip like this.  If you can't afford it, there are many people who are willing to help support you.  You will be "doing church" by doing good works.  You will be exposed to another culture, and in the process, understand more about your own.  You will also be exposed to a multi-sensory experience which includes sweet bougainvillea blossoms,  roosters crowing in the night, soccer playing school children, construction workers singing as they work, warm outside "sun" showers in the evening, delicious spicy food, fresh mango and papaya, warm ocean currents, non-English languages, burning charcoal, meringue, reggae and calypso music, colorful houses and the most hospitable people around. It will be a challenging rewarding adventure.
Put it on your bucket list, and move it toward the top.  But watch out, you might get used to it.