If you’ve been following my instagram and blog thus far you’ll think it’s all been beaches, sunshine and beer on my travels and to be fair it has been pretty close to that. However, a big part of my motivations for taking this time out of the UK was to learn about and highlight some topics that I’m passionate about. These revolve around overseas volunteering (or voluntourism if you prefer), social impact and responsible travel. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some incredible people and organisations so far and over the coming weeks I’ll be writing some of my thoughts on the above. I’ll be exploring the following questions:
- What is right and wrong with the overseas volunteering sector?
- Why is orphanage volunteering so damaging?
- How can travellers make a positive impact without volunteering?
- How can people create change in their communities?
I’ll also be giving a spotlight to organisations that I’ve met and are showing that positive change is possible. On top of that I have an incredible interview with an inspiring young person who lived in an orphanage from the age of 12 and is now an advocate for responsible tourism.
I look forward to contributing to the debate.
davecoles 