Blog

This is a guest post by Learning Service follower Elizabeth Bezark.   Part I Thank You for Staring: A Day in the Life of an Unengaged Volunteer During my first international community engagement experience, my group and I took a daylong break from learning how to...

This is a guest post by consultant and campaigner Martin Punaks.   Rising awareness of orphanage voluntourism A decade ago very few people had heard of the term ‘orphanage voluntourism’, but now barely a week goes past without the media covering it.  For anyone who is...

This is a guest post from Jenny Adhikari, a tourism professional based in Nepal.   As someone who works in the tourism industry, and who tries hard to ensure that the company I help to run is responsible and sustainable, I am often dismayed when I see travellers...

This is a guest post written by Canadian student Meredith Brown.   I’ve been an explorer since the day I was born. Ever since a young age, my curiosity has always kept me on my toes. I questioned everything I got my hands on. Even the short weekend trips to national...

This is a guest post from Jonathan Brown, a high school teacher in the UK. I was a teenager in England in the early 2000s. At that time I saw opportunities to volunteer abroad being advertised in schools, but I had little desire to do it myself. Most of my friends...

This is a guest post by human rights campaigner Meg Lewis. Earlier this month an orphanage tourism taskforce was launched in the UK by ABTA and Hope and Homes for Children. The taskforce aims to halt the trend of well-meaning international tourists from visiting and...

I sat near the window, sipping coffee and observing the workers outside as they loaded all of the luggage onto the plane. I watched intently as a young man in an orange vest heaved my two overweight suitcases onto the conveyor belt. My eyes followed those big, blue...

I walked into my first class and saw a room full of girls whose appearances closely resembled mine; dark hair, brown skin, and deep, energetic eyes. I sat down at a table with some of them and didn’t say a word. I noticed their eyes wandering around the room,...

This is a guest post from Rishi Bhandari, a Nepali who grew up surrounded by international volunteers. For Part One of this post, see here.   Most of my work is with international students who come to Nepal, and the first thing I say to them is: “Please do not make...