The Whole Family Travels

A new type of travel is growing increasingly popular as the world grows smaller. Philanthropic travel or “voluntourism” allows travellers to give to faraway peoples in need and learn a bit about their way of life.

When it’s so easy for us to learn about the misfortunes of others through 24/7 world-wide new coverage, empathetic individuals understand that we can make a difference in the lives of many people less fortunate than ourselves. Charitable foundations serving poor children in developing nations have existed for years and most do a good job of letting you know, generally, how your charitable donation will be used by the recipients. But what if you could travel to an exotic land and see how your money is helping? Enter the philanthropic travel niche which is growing according to a recent article at Canada.com

Many travellers are now deciding to go the far-flung locales to watch their dollars at work. Tour operators are offering customers the chance to visit soup kitchens in Africa, work with the disabled in music therapy in Turkey and home restoration in China. Exotic locales need more charity and people love to travel to exotic lands so it seems like this is a match made in heaven.

Pardon my negative outlook - it is a cold, rainy morning in Vancouver after all - but there is something about this new trend that smells of voyeurism. I’m not a fan of Ayn Rand but something about her philosophy still rings true in the many years since I read her books. That is the concept that charity can be motivated out of a sense of pity, to make one feel better about one’s own situation. I don’t believe this always to be the case, and regardless of the motivation, charity is needed now to offset the imbalances in the world. I strongly believe that volunteering one’s time is also a very important contribution. But it seems a bit intrusive to want to give money to others and then go see for yourself how badly they really need it. Not to mention, how helpful is the presence of donors in already stricken areas plagued by poor infrastructure where aid workers are struggling to get help to those in need.

My issue with philanthropic travel is that I believe it is rarely helpful to bring donors together with recipients who are in the midst of a crisis. I’d love to hear the opinion of folks in the fundraising world. When a donor can help by physically being in a poor country, by digging wells, or building homes, I think that is a valuable reason to go. Or another justifiable jaunt is when well-off travellers pay smaller foundations to take them to poor areas on a learning vacation, prior to providing major donations to these regions. The tour guides take the potential donors into homes and communities to fully demonstrate the need for their assistance, so that they fully understand where their valuable contribution will go.

The value of learning about other cultures is unmistakable, and organisations like Heifer International offer Study Tours where participants pay thousands of dollars to travel to foreign lands. On their tours they will learn about people and life in the developing world and witness the company’s work in action. These are certainly not family vacations as there will be much hardships to witness. But I imagine that most participants come away with a deeper understanding of their neighbours across the globe and are deeply motivated to want to help them lead better lives.

They say that charity begins at home. We have many causes in our own communities and it’s a good idea to start there, and to show our children how to help one another. When we travel, we must make sure to not exploit the people and communities we visit, and if we can lend a hand or two when we’re a guest abroad we should do so. But when we decide to give to a good cause, we should not expect to see the appreciation on the faces of all those we’ve helped, especially if we must intrude into their tragedy to see it.