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from Natural Life Magazine, November/December
2009 by Wendy Priesnitz Q: My boyfriend and I are planning next summer’s vacation. And we’re thinking we’d like to go beyond sustainable tourism and volunteer somewhere. I’ve seen these opportunities advertised on the internet and wonder what you think about the idea. A: Volunteer travel or “voluntourism” is also known as “travel philanthropy” or “ethical vacations.” Richard Edwards, Director of the non-profit Planeterra Foundation, which is a project of the travel company G.A.P. Adventures, defines it as “travel experiences that provide the opportunity to contribute to local community projects and development initiatives with some time off to visit the highlights of that particular destination or country.” Experiences range from hundreds of thousands of volunteers removing invasive plants and planting trees in national parks, through saving sea turtles in Costa Rica and helping clean up after natural disasters, to providing medical aid in a remote part of India. Some voluntourism experiences involve extended stays, with large price tags, but there are also many less expensive and short-termed programs. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, more than fifty-five million Americans have participated in a volunteer vacation, and about one hundred million more are considering taking one. With that level of popularity, there are bound to be both good and bad programs available. Ideally, a well-managed bit of volunteer work can help many projects that need a lot of willing hands and continued momentum, while funneling money into local economies. Volun- tourism can also be a cultural exchange that leads to greater understanding among people. Problems include projects that impose volunteers on host communities, programs that turn out not to exist and volunteers who exploit their hosts’ hospitality. Some critics feel that voluntourism may do more harm than good – both for volunteers and the communities they work with. Short-term voluntourists often arrive unskilled and untrained, and as a result, aren’t able to make an effective contribution and may end up adding to the general confusion despite their good intentions to help. Voluntourism also raises some rather difficult questions about our relationship with the developing world and how we go about helping it. The UK-based charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has warned that voluntourists risk . . .
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online edition. Wendy Priesnitz is Natural Life's editor and a journalist with 33 years of experience. |
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