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Voluntourism

Voluntourism Around The World

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Today BitBook will tell you another great way to enjoy your destination. So prepare your passport, travel insurance,backpacks and suitcases.

Volunteering is a great opportunity to travel and contribute to a better world. Go with your head and an open heart to get to know new realities up close and always remember that helping others can start right where you are now.

If before this modality was aimed mainly at helping poor places, which have difficulty finding support locally, today it has become a niche for travelers who want more than to enjoy a beautiful view, they seek a purpose for their vacations.

But traveling as a volunteer has its impacts – both positive and negative. A study carried out by an NGO showed that 10 million travelers are already fans of the modality and that volunteer tourism moves around $ 1 billion worldwide, revealing that there is great market potential for connecting social actions with volunteers, but there is also the risk of people becoming commodities in this industry. In Cambodia, for example, there have been warnings that most children in orphanages are not really orphans.

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Is voluntourism for me?

Before falling into the world as a volunteer, ask yourself if it is really for you. It is important to keep in mind that volunteer work is for people looking for a different work and exchange experience. If what you are looking for is a cheaper way to travel and enjoy yourself, there are other options, such as staying in hostels, Couchsurfing, camping and other modalities.

To do voluntourism, it is important to understand that you are going to donate your time. You need to commit to the needs of the project, be willing, responsible for following local agreements, open to dialogue, willing to teach and learn. It's an incredible process for personal growth and, of course, like any trip that helps you discover new places and realities, it can be an incredible and enriching way to break the routine and gain experiences.

Volunteering trips, most of the time, require payment from the participant to cover the basic expenses of the place or even to have access to websites and platforms that help to find hosts. In some cases, it may come with a financial donation. But if money is tight, don't worry, because there are many ways to spend little on a trip like this.

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Types of Voluntourism:

There are different types of Volunteer Tourism: those that are more connected to social issues, where the volunteer seeks to help in some initiative that he believes in; or those that are ideal for travelers who want to spend little, focusing on exchanging work for accommodation, and are also known as work exchange or work exchanges.

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Ethics in volunteer tourism:

See the care needed to travel as a responsible volunteer:

Avoid orphanages: Unfortunately, in some regions, orphanages have become a business. Prefer other ways to help children, such as supporting other education-oriented institutions, especially in the case of other countries, where you will have few ways to confirm the authenticity of orphanages.

Look for a responsible agency: Make sure the agency you are closing a package with is really responsible. See if there is a transparency policy on program selection. A tip is to observe the amount of information they provide you in advance. If they are scarce and always aimed at selling, beware.

Be careful when volunteering with wild animals! In the same way that it is essential to confirm that the institution, NGO and agency you are linking with are serious and ethical, it is essential to be sure in the case of volunteering with animals. Elephant sanctuaries in Asia, for example, are some of the most controversial places with reports of mistreatment. Be wary when interaction between animals and humans is very frequent and when the animals are confined to small spaces.

Look for directions on the internet and with other travelers: The best way to find out if a place is cool, and has to do with you, is by talking to other people. Search even in other languages to get the most information. For the women's team, it is worth taking testimonials from other women, since it is still necessary to pay extra attention and different than the men.

Find out if there are local people working there: Many places are using volunteer work as a way to pay less in labor and this is bad for local development. If there is a project where most people are volunteers, it means that the surroundings may not be benefiting.

If it's for NGOs and social programs, choose vacancies for which you have skills: One of the big problems with volunteering is having people who are not able to help, which has a profound impact on those benefited, especially when we are talking about vulnerable people or animals .

Want to develop new skills? Look for places that are aimed at exchanging knowledge, such as ecovillages, permaculture, hostels, among others. Read the job description well to understand if what is being asked is someone with more experience or a learning opportunity. Many places are aimed precisely at disseminating knowledge, these will be perfect for you.

Stay longer: Can you imagine what it's like for someone who needs help to have to frequently receive new people and explain them step by step? In addition, in actions involving social vulnerability, there is also a very large emotional exchange. Therefore, the ideal is to try to take at least 10 to 15 days to integrate better.

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How to find the ideal project to volunteer?

There are many agencies that can intermediate voluntary tourism. In addition to NGOs and places you can contact directly. The ideal is to think about the purpose of your trip and carefully read the proposal for your destination, price, available food, working time and local agreements.

Now that you've got all the tips, all you have to do is set up the itinerary, choose the accommodation using BITBOOK.NET.

I have no doubt that you will have unforgettable days. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and we'll be happy to answer them!

Safe travel and enjoy!

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