In Voluntourism Short-Term Good Is Also Good For The Long-Term

On November 16, Matt Villano over at Time.com wrote an interesting post entitled, "Room Service and a Shovel: The Rise of Voluntourism."  You can read the original post here, and don't worry, it's a short piece.  Mr. Villano writes about the volunteer projects available when you stay at The Mandarin Oriental in Miami or The Fairmont Mission Inn and Spa in Sonoma, California.  Mr. Villano writes that, "Many of these short-term voluntourism projects involved hard work.

Mentioned also in the post is Give Back Getaways, launched by Ritz-Carlton in April 2008. The Ritz designs excursions to connect tourists with the communities they visit.

As you might expect, nay-sayers and critics blasted these experiences as "easing the guilt of wealthy travelers" and "commercial side-lines."

Blogger P. Ling over at Up Take followed up the TIME post with a post of his own; "It's Time for Some Serious Voluntourism."  In that post he quoted Dave Clemmons, founder of Voluntourism.org as saying, "It is difficult for me to be critical of activities that encourage those with financial resources to come into contact with social concerns and issues across the planet."

GeoVisions sits squarely with Voluntourism.org as quoted at the end of P. Ling's post: "Residents do not want Voluntourism to take over their lives. Knowing ‘what is enough’ and not going overboard with your help is crucial. Voluntourists must learn to let go of the ‘mindset of accomplishment’ and focus on listening and interacting with residents."

You can get more information on short-term volunteering abroad by visiting any of the links in this post above, which will also take you to the Ritz site.  You can also find information here:

Hands Up Holidays

Give A Day, Get A Night

Or...you can also check out GeoVisions. We match the needs of voluntourists with projects.  The world is not "one-size-fits-all."