What’s the attraction?
Going abroad to volunteer for a charitable project used to mean committing to many months, or even years, away. Now, though, just as almost every other element of our modern lifestyle has speeded up, so too has philanthropic travel, or “voluntourism”.
Now volunteer holidays are no longer the preserve only of skilled medical or teaching professionals, or even expertise-poor, but time- and enthusiasm-rich gap year travellers.
Will my help be meaningful?
Not guaranteed. Some critics believe the needs of the volunteer can take precedence over the needs of the communities they are visiting. Volunteer travel was born out of a genuine need for skilled assistance with projects on foreign soil. Organisations such as the international development charity VSO (www.vso.org.uk), which has been co-ordinating such ventures for more than 40 years, rarely considers them to be holidays or tourist experiences. However, the number of students taking gap years in recent years has led to the reinterpretation of volunteer travel, incorporating giving labour or expertise on a holiday.
There are, therefore, problems created by transience, with waves of well-meaning tourists parachuting in and out of projects; and of local unemployment being created by volunteers carrying out work for free that a local person might otherwise be paid to do. Organisations might also fail properly to vet the suitability of prospective volunteers. The website www.ethicalvolunteering.org offers helpful information.
How does your garden grow?
Unlike longer volunteering projects, where expert skills are often needed, short-term voluntourism trips often make use of everyday talents.
On World Expeditions’ 10-day “Aberdare Ranges Primary School Vegetable Garden Project” trip in Kenya, participants spend three days helping children from families displaced from their homes after the country’s elections in 2007 as they tend allotments to provide sustainable food sources. The rest of the trip is spent wildlife-watching around Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate National Park. The next departure is on June 24. (www.world-expeditions.co.uk)
Early adopters
In response to the perception that volunteering trips are becoming increasingly popular with families, tour operator The Adventure Company has launched a new “Hands on Adventures” programme for groups with older children. Its 16-day “Monkeys in the Jungle” group tour in Sri Lanka offers families with children aged eight and above the chance to enjoy the island’s wildlife, beaches and temples, plus two days spent observing torque macaques, purple-faced langurs and gray langurs at a primate conservation camp.
More details from www.adventurecompany.co.uk
Smooth with the rough
For some, the big attraction of volunteering is the opportunity to step temporarily outside day-to-day life and share a more frugal existence. That’s not likely to be the case for those joining ITC Classics’ new voluntourism programme. Launched in April, ITC Giving is the first such programme offered by a luxury tour operator. The company is working with the responsible volunteering organisation People and Places (travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk) to ensure its projects are properly managed. More info from www.itcclassics. co.uk/itcgiving Experiential Tours, a new brand of volunteering holidays launched by Explore earlier this year (www.explore.co.uk) also works with People and Places.
Seeing the sights differently
Helping out on holiday doesn’t have to mean working in a different language – if you’re English-speaking. Sighted volunteers with the UK charity Vitalise sign up to help visually impaired travellers get more out of their holiday, from describing various sights on the itinerary to giving more hands-on help. In return they receive a reduction in the cost of their own trip. (www.vitalise.org.uk)
What Google won’t tell you... until now
“The best way to assess whether an organisation is concerned with the volunteer issue or more interested in the money is to ask for evidence of tangible achievements from previous volunteer activity,” says Peter Lynch, author of Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering: The Complete Guide (Bradt). “A genuinely philanthropic organisation will be able to swamp you with detail.” – The Independent