Are You A Voluntourist?

A new way of travelling is starting to emerge – some call it ”the rise of the voluntourist”.

So what does being a Voluntourist mean?

A voluntourist, also known as a chadventurer, is simply a tourist/traveller who combines travelling / backpacking around the world with volunteer work or fund raising for charity to help the country he or she is visiting.

Todays’ travelers seem more and more to really want to give something back to the countries they visit.

I remember how shocked and disgusted I was when they started having guided tours in the favelas in Rio (a barrio where the poorest people live in abundance of violence and corruption) a few years back.

How can people pay for a tour to watch other’s misery? As if they were going to the movies, and soon would head back to their ”reality” in their four star hotels.

Now tourists are willing to take a step forward, to stop only feeling pity for the people in the country they’re visiting and actually start to help them.

Are you willing to take that step?

If you’re interested in spending a week or two of your vacation volunteering here are a few websites that can be helpful:

http://www.voluntourism.org/

http://voluntourism.co.uk/

http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/

http://www.unitedplanet.org/

http://www.gviusa.com/

http://www.americanhiking.org/volunteerVacation.aspx

http://www.godifferently.com/voluntourism.asp

http://www.handsupholidays.com/

Have any of you included a few weeks volunteer work while in a country you were visiting?

If so how was it? I am so keen to travel to south america and help out some communities over there as well as backpack around for 6-8months!

/ Sofia.