Taking off Travel blog

A couple of weeks ago when I wrote a post on responsible travel, I ran into Alexia Nestora on Twitter. Alexia runs the Voluntourism Gal blog. With this type of tourism regaining popularity, I interviewed Alexia about voluntourism in general and her experiences in particular.

So what is voluntourism and how did it start?

Voluntourism has been around for as long as people have been traveling, it’s nothing new but recently it’s gotten a lot of media attention and as a result is rising to the surface a lot more. The Peace Corps was one of the first organizations to formalize volunteering abroad and of course missionaries have been going abroad to serve for years.

The real voluntourism boom in the US happened after 9/11 and the tsunami. All of a sudden it seemed that people wanted to get more out of their vacations, they didn’t just want to sit on a beach anymore, they wanted to give back and get involved in the community.

What are the chief advantages of voluntourism for travelers?

As a voluntourist you will see a side of a community that is hidden away from traditional tourists. While most people will only take pictures of a sight, a voluntourist will live with the community that surrounds the sight and will truly understand what local culture is like – it’s so much more than a bus tour could ever show you.

What are the chief advantages of voluntourism for destinations?

There are many ways that, when voluntourism is done well, destinations benefit. Firstly, they get free labor. Maybe a local school needed to be rebuilt for decades but the workers in the area are spending every second they have trying to make money to support their family, and while they’d like to build a new school, they simply are too busy trying to survive.

Secondly, the communities benefit from the resources volunteers bring with them. Maybe the volunteers will bring new books for the library or maybe they’ll donate money so a group of local women can start a cooperative; this can be a slippery slope but as long as the giving is done responsibly the communities benefit greatly. Lastly, the intercultural relationships that are formed and the understanding of different nationalities greatly contributes to global cooperation. It’s easy to hate all Americans if you have never met one, it’s a bit harder to hate them if they lived with your family and diligently helped on your farm for 2 months.

Tell us about your Voluntourism gal blog

I started VoluntourismGal.com in October of 2008 when I realized that there was no communal place for the voluntourism industry to share information with each other. There are a couple of associations but some have membership fees and some don’t have forums yet, so I just sat up in bed one night (literally) and realized that I could create this forum where anyone can say anything and in doing so everyone can learn from each other. It’s been a great eye opener for me and I’m thrilled to see people really engaging in debates and conversations on a daily basis as a result of the postings.

What was your first experience of voluntourism and how did it affect you?

My first voluntourism experience was a trip to South Africa, I volunteered at a couple projects including an orphanage, a lion conservation project and an animal rescue center. I didn’t really know what to expect when I landed, as I’d never been to South Africa and had heard mixed reviews on how safe it was, but I was met at the airport by the i-to-i coordinator and everything was clear sailing from there.

I’m an animal person so being able to help in conservation efforts really touched a chord with me. I loved feeding the lion cubs and playing with the animals that needed a little bit of extra TLC. I also really enjoyed meeting the local people ‘at their level’, I wasn’t simply a tourist that they would meet for a day and then never see again, I became a friend and an ally in the fight to preserve animals.

The trip to South Africa really affected me for the simple reason that I’ll never travel as a traditional tourist again. I don’t want to simply be taking pictures of new cultures, I want to be on the other side of the lens from now on – living with the local people, helping them in whatever way I can and creating lifelong friendships.

What’s your favourite voluntourism holiday to date and why?

My favorite voluntourism experience has to be conservation work I did in a cloud forest in Ecuador. It’s really an amazing story. The local community in an impoverished area of Ecuador had resorted to cutting down their forests for income, the forest seemed plentiful and it seemed a logical choice until a few inspired leaders had an idea. If the community banded together to preserve the forest the rewards in the long run would be far greater than the short term gains of cutting the forest down.

The community joined their communal bits of land and create the Santa Lucia preserve where today hundreds of bird and animal species flourish. The community then built on the top of one of the mountains a true eco-lodge, everything they do is truly sustainable and considers the environment first. What struck me the most about this eco-lodge was that every single piece of wood, carpet, bedding was carried up the mountain on someone’s back as they couldn’t afford a helicopter to drop supplies off.

The lodge now caters to volunteers (who help in the organic garden, teach locals English or plant trees), bird watchers, hikers and general tourists wanting to support local communities. It’s a raging success and I couldn’t be happier for them as they are the nicest people I’ve ever met. When I was there I was lucky enough to make sugar and help in the gardens and it was an absolute blast.

It truly is a great story of a community uniting to preserve their natural resources and in doing so create a source of income for generations to come.

What voluntourism resources would you recommend?

• www.flyforgood.com recently launched and it’s a voluntourism portal, there are loads of FAQs on there as well as a trip finder so you can find the ideal experience for you.
• www.volunteercard.com offers discounts for people going abroad to volunteer.
• www.worldnomads.com is great travel insurance for people looking to volunteer, they are really flexible and provide ideal cover for volunteer activities

Anything else you want to mention about voluntourism?

The first time you volunteer abroad I highly recommend you go with a company and pay to volunteer. It seems odd and doesn’t make sense that you would have to shell out for working but there are many safety components behind that price that make it worthwhile. Once you are a bit more of an experienced volunteer then go out and find your own placement, but for first timers going to a developing country, pay for a safety net.

Here’s a great article on this: http://www.i-to-i.com/why-pay-to-volunteer.html

Favorite travel quote?

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

Favorite book about travel?

Trekking in Nepal by Stephen Bezruchka, I used it to plan my own trip to Nepal and loved its usability and cultural tidbits

Best music for traveling?

Whatever the local culture I’m in listens to

Complete the sentence: travel is …

life changing

Tags: eco tourism, tourism, travel, voluntourism

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 4:49 am and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.