Voluntourism is traveling for good. Here we explore the many ways travelers can give back to communities around the world by going on volunteer work trips and helping people around the world.
Up the River: A Lesson in Community-Based Ecotourism in Panama By Jon Kohl The decrepit bus I just arrived on groans in the heat. I sit on a cement slab by the Rio Chagres, kicking a few pieces of muddied plastic bags… wondering when I will be picked up. I reach for my handkerchief […]
Elqui Valley, Chile: One hundred volunteer healers from across the globe arrived in the remote Andean village of Cochiguaz for their final offering.
Staying Local in West Java By Zoë Smith I scoop the wrinkled, wind-beaten hand in mine and touch it lightly to my forehead as I bow my head. The old lady in front of me blushed and dipped her head in reply, pressing a coconut into my hand. I ducked back into the shadows and […]
Beans, Bananas and Bills: Learning and Living in Tanzania By Danille Kobet I never imagined that spending three weeks at the end of the earth, or the village of Kayanga in the Kagera region of rural Tanzania with Amizade, would be the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. But it was. Dirt roads. […]
Non-Profit Supports Entrepreneurs with Tour Fees By Helena Wahlstrom In 2007, Trip Sweeney proposed an alternative to “slum tourism,” one of the fastest-growing niche tourism sectors in the world, that tempts adventure-seeking tourists from wealthy countries to visit impoverished areas. Instead of this form of tourism that more often than not offers no financial benefits […]
Kathleen Boradhurst visits the Panya Project in northern Thailand where she learns about permaculture, organic farming and sustainable living.
Projects Abroad gives high school students the opportunity to travel abroad during summer vacation and experience new cultures through volunteering
By Shelley Seale At the age of 14, Ponheary Ly died and came back to life. At least, that’s how she describes it. The year was 1977, and the Khmer Rouge was on its deadly rampage in Cambodia. After seeing her father killed, along with 13 other family members, Ly was on the run and […]
Volunteering With Ethiopian Israeli Communities By Nicole Sobel It’s been a little over a month since I left the US for an experience that has forever changed my life. I can still hear the Ethiopian Israeli children laughing and playing with me outside. I can still smell the fresh, warm falafel on the streets of […]
Helping HIV/AIDS victims in Thailand By Natalie Lefevre In the summer of 2006, I had started a degree in international studies. I had a great time exchanging ideas with like-minded people. I was learning a lot of theory on how to change the world, but I was missing the practical side. I wanted contact with […]
A fourteen-year-old from Seattle joins his cousins to help build a house for a needy person in Guatemala how much does it cost to build a house in Guatemala
Devon Magoon writes about volunteer opportunities helping orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya through the AID Kenya Foundation and Touch Kenya.