recent natural disasters around the
world have led to the increasing
popularity of voluntourism hi I’m
Rebecca Brayton and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with farmers editor Jean Shannon about
this travel style can you explain to us
the idea of voluntourism concept is
incorporating some volunteer work into
your vacations it can be as short as an
afternoon to the entire vacation around
that it’s really got popular in the last
five years people saw what was happening
Katrina how you can make a difference in
these places so there’s a lot of trips
now based around getting in and seeing a
different side of a place that way what
are the pros and cons of this type of
travel well I think one of the great
strengths is that you know it really
lets you see a side of the destination
that you wouldn’t otherwise get to as
appeals to a lot of experienced
travelers that way cons I think really
one thing that people are surprised
about is that there are fees associated
with the trips people think you’re
volunteering it’s free but a lot of the
peas are to cover your accommodation and
your food while you’re there and just
have a program set up so that you can
actually make the maximum contribution
once you get that right away could you
give us a few examples of possible
travel locations that would fall under
this category working with kids is one
of the most popular ones so there’s a
great one in Ghana where you can go and
work they have a special school for
special needs kids you can think there’s
not a lot of facilities for special
needs kids in Africa so it’s a great
place to do that complete opposite end
of the spectrum as you go to Bordeaux
and work in the vineyards there with
scientists though and there it’s
basically it’s become a monoculture in
the vine the fields there so they’re
working at ways to boost biodiversity
for example they’ll plant rose bushes at
the end of the row of vines that keeps
away a certain kind of insect that eats
the grapes and so you get to work with
the farmers and the vintners stay in a
nice Shelley and have your food cooked
by a French chef while you’re there what
do you need to know or consider before
going on a trip like this you want to
basically find the right thing that’s a
fit for you you know is it something a
topic that you’re passionate about how
experienced is the tour operator what
other kind of people will be on the trip
with you where will you be staying has
the community been involved in selecting
this is a priority for that Aryan
something that community actually needs
is it really possible to make a
difference in as little as a week this
is where you see why it’s important to
actually do it through an organized
provider because they’ve done all the
groundwork in the leg work so that when
you get there you’re making a difference
right away
maximising that and we also designed it
around you know remembering that your
vacation and having great things to do
around there so if you fly all the way
across the ocean for example you want to
have at least a few days to look around
and taking some of the sites that are
close by is there ever a danger on a
trip like this it’s minimized I think
because you’re going through an
organized provider who you know usually
is based in that area has no interest in
you getting in trouble because that’s
bad for their business that said I mean
it obviously depends on your level of
comfort there are certain trips where
some of the risks may be higher in terms
of you know just less access to clean
water or you may be sleeping in rougher
conditions and you’d be used to certain
kind of travelers are totally okay with
that another kind of people may not be
appropriate but we have lots of other
choices there for them thank you very
much my pleasure
world have led to the increasing
popularity of voluntourism hi I’m
Rebecca Brayton and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with farmers editor Jean Shannon about
this travel style can you explain to us
the idea of voluntourism concept is
incorporating some volunteer work into
your vacations it can be as short as an
afternoon to the entire vacation around
that it’s really got popular in the last
five years people saw what was happening
Katrina how you can make a difference in
these places so there’s a lot of trips
now based around getting in and seeing a
different side of a place that way what
are the pros and cons of this type of
travel well I think one of the great
strengths is that you know it really
lets you see a side of the destination
that you wouldn’t otherwise get to as
appeals to a lot of experienced
travelers that way cons I think really
one thing that people are surprised
about is that there are fees associated
with the trips people think you’re
volunteering it’s free but a lot of the
peas are to cover your accommodation and
your food while you’re there and just
have a program set up so that you can
actually make the maximum contribution
once you get that right away could you
give us a few examples of possible
travel locations that would fall under
this category working with kids is one
of the most popular ones so there’s a
great one in Ghana where you can go and
work they have a special school for
special needs kids you can think there’s
not a lot of facilities for special
needs kids in Africa so it’s a great
place to do that complete opposite end
of the spectrum as you go to Bordeaux
and work in the vineyards there with
scientists though and there it’s
basically it’s become a monoculture in
the vine the fields there so they’re
working at ways to boost biodiversity
for example they’ll plant rose bushes at
the end of the row of vines that keeps
away a certain kind of insect that eats
the grapes and so you get to work with
the farmers and the vintners stay in a
nice Shelley and have your food cooked
by a French chef while you’re there what
do you need to know or consider before
going on a trip like this you want to
basically find the right thing that’s a
fit for you you know is it something a
topic that you’re passionate about how
experienced is the tour operator what
other kind of people will be on the trip
with you where will you be staying has
the community been involved in selecting
this is a priority for that Aryan
something that community actually needs
is it really possible to make a
difference in as little as a week this
is where you see why it’s important to
actually do it through an organized
provider because they’ve done all the
groundwork in the leg work so that when
you get there you’re making a difference
right away
maximising that and we also designed it
around you know remembering that your
vacation and having great things to do
around there so if you fly all the way
across the ocean for example you want to
have at least a few days to look around
and taking some of the sites that are
close by is there ever a danger on a
trip like this it’s minimized I think
because you’re going through an
organized provider who you know usually
is based in that area has no interest in
you getting in trouble because that’s
bad for their business that said I mean
it obviously depends on your level of
comfort there are certain trips where
some of the risks may be higher in terms
of you know just less access to clean
water or you may be sleeping in rougher
conditions and you’d be used to certain
kind of travelers are totally okay with
that another kind of people may not be
appropriate but we have lots of other
choices there for them thank you very
much my pleasure
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