Image source: Blog.geovisions.org
After yesterday’s post I started to do some digging. I was looking for information about scam voluntour opportunities and unfortunately, I found a very long list. It makes a whole lot of sense. By definition, many of these opportunities are in impoverished areas. These areas are home to many desperate people who see foreign voluntourists walking through town and think, “hey, I’m starving and those people have money to burn.” A desperate person sees that as an opportunity for personal financial gain, which may truly mean the difference between life and death. It’s hard to get enraged by desperate people doing desperate things.
Of course, there are plenty of un-desperate people simply out there to take advantage, but it’s not uncommon to find scams orchestrated by local people driven to commit unsavory voluntour crimes by extreme poverty and fear. I make this distinction because, if we’re all really out there to help, we have to try to see the whole picture objectively. It would be easy to learn about scams that take advantage of generosity and think, “forget this, I’m going to Honolulu for my vacation.” But the truth is, often crime is just one more symptom of an overarching problem—the very problem we want to help solve.
Image source: Actnow.com.au
Still, whatever the reasons behind the crime, you need to protect yourself from exploitation. There are a few steps you can take to find a legitimate opportunity. Think of it this way: is the person giving you information benefiting monetarily? If so, take the information they share with a grain of salt. If not, chances are good you can trust what they have to say—at least insofar as you use them as one of several sources.
Visit the travel blogs. One to try is PlanetD, a blog by a Canadian couple traveling the world and documenting their adventures. They have honest information about worthy charities they encounter during their travels and they have a contact link on their website if you’d like more information. Another great resource is GuideStar, a charitable giving database that includes financial information alongside reviews. Some third-party information sites (that do not benefit monetarily in any way from your travels) include Universal Giving and Great Nonprofits.
Image source: True2ourselves.com
Sometimes, even if a company is legitimate, the voluntour jobs do more harm than good. They may take jobs away from local people, or they may infringe on the efforts of other local charities or aid groups. This is why it is so important to thoroughly research the opportunity you choose. Consider traveling through a non-profit organization like TravelAid, a student-run voluntour placement group out of the UK that charges a minimal amount of money for training. Or, go directly to the source by contacting a locally-run non-profit with good word-of-mouth reviews.