Giving Doctor: Voluntourism

Q: “There’s only so many hours I can bake on a beach reading mindless magazines - I’m ready to make a difference while I travel. But is Voluntourism a marketing ploy? Do the programs do more harm than good?”

THE FACTS

•  Experiential travel is the fastest growing sector in the travel market

•  There is a rapidly growing list of companies offering volunteering service-oriented holidays and programs.

•  There are increasing numbers of organisations at the interface, struggling to effectively provide quality, purposeful travel experiences that are not intrusive, corrupt, exploitative and/or disruptive to local destinations.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS

•  Volunteering in developing countries can satisfy travellers’ desires to be altruistic, to promote self-change and the development of identity. It can also look good on a CV!

•  Voluntourists can be exposed to and absorb culture through active involvement and interaction with locals.

•  Voluntourists can observe the environmental, cultural and social problems of a host destination. Such experiences can raise awareness and promote values and lifestyle changes upon return home.

POTENTIAL PITFALLS

•  Volunteer s often have little or no experience relevant to the project.

•  Volunteers are there for such a short time that projects can have little impact or cause more damage or disruption than good.

•  A lot of grassroots organisations want volunteers for three to six months because intergrating volunteers for one or two week stints requires too much effort and expense.

•  Some volunteer projects, e.g. building houses, teaching and taking care of children, may be taking jobs away from the locals.

•  Voluntourism encourages people to venture overseas instead of helping those close to home.

•  Corruption is ride and there is a risk that volunteers sign up for something quite different to the reality.

•  There may be hidden costs that can be upsetting, especially when there is no obvious financial benefit for the community.

Planning your voluntourism experience...

Volunteering overseas can be incredibly rewarding and mutually beneficial if done well. Here are some things to consider during the planning process.

•  FIND THE RIGHT TRAVEL PROVIDER

Research online, but more importantly talk to travellers and get personal recommendations.

•  FIND A PROJECT THAT YOU FEEL CONNECTED TO

The project should be one that you believe will have ongoing long-term benefits for the community it is designed to support

•  BE REALISTIC

Think abou t whether you want hot or cold weather, how well you will manage if English is not spoken, the level of physical activity you can handle, etc.

•  IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS

Are you mechanical? Are you a good teacher? Are you a good labourer? What can you offer the locals that will allow them to develop their own skill set?

Perspectives from the travel industry:

INTREPID TRAVEL is winding back its voluntourism itineraries. According to Eliza Anderson of Intrepid Travel, a high level of interest in the two to four-week volunteer programs on offer has not translated into commitment by travellers. Most of their customers prefer to spend two to three days at the end of their trip doing volunteer work, but this is not a sustainable option for the communities

they hope to support.

Instead, Intrepid have concentrated on their responsible travel focus – they are moving towards 100% local tour leaders. They are also building the Intrepid Foundation (Intrepid matches donations by their clients). And they offer travellers the opportunity to experience first-hand the work of the Foundation, whether it is seeing the sponsored Asian Elephants in Thailand, a school in

Kenya or the restoration of heritage buildings in Turkey.

EVEREST TREKKING is a very small, not-for-profit trekking company and travel agency founded 25 years ago whose sole purpose is to assist communities in Nepal by ensuring that they don’t need charity and that they can enjoy the dignity of working.

Founder Kath Maltzahn , an educator, said that voluntourism should not be about giving and leaving. It is about an ongoing commitment to supporting the learning of the people you are trying to help.

“It feels good when you help but it is important that it is worthwhile doing. It is no good building a kitchen garden and weeding it if there is no-one trained on how to continue caring for the garden a fter you leave, ” she said.

Everest Trekking pays for the education of all of the children of their Nepalese crew at a school of their own choice.

For the past 18 months Everest Trekking has also been offering trekkers an opportunity to teach English at a training centre they opened 20 years ago in the troubl ed region of Dolakah . They have found that the standard of the local English teachers has dramatically improved since the volunteers have started coming through.

From the horse’s mouth:

“Fancy investing $1,500 to build squat loos in a remote village in Ghana? This was my contribution to our six-week project.’’

“There were 17 other people working alongside me in the village, each presumably spending $1500 on the experience. So imagine how I felt when I discovered that our accommodation was not paid for, the utilities were not paid for, the builder’s time was unpaid, and the only thing our budget seemed to be used for was to purchase a couple of effluent pipes. ”

“We lived on spaghetti with tomato paste for breakfast, lunch and dinner. ”

“So, what happened to the $27,000? You tell me… welcome to voluntourism !”