Posts categorized under Corruption

11 September 2010 ~ 0 Comments

When NGOs are incentivized to keep themselves in business

Last week I wrote a blog post complaining about volunteer sending organizations trying to “sell” their 17 year old volunteers to NGO organizations.  I then got a very well written response from 16 year old Naya Herman who is considering volunteering abroad and so I decided to answer her two questions in two new blog [...]

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19 August 2010 ~ 564 Comments

A Prostitute Stole My Cell Phone (or Where Ants Eat Your Motherboard)

For the most part, my life in Cambodia is not nearly as “exotic” as people living in cities like Chicago and Cleveland might think it is. I ride my bike around our small town, I work in an office with cement walls (though of course the lack of air-conditioning and high temperatures can make it [...]

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05 August 2010 ~ 31 Comments

How do YOU define “Responsible Travel”?

I recently wrote a piece about PEPY Tours on World Nomad’s website.  I am reposting it below as it relates to a lot of the themes of this blog: Responsible Giving, voluntourism, Cambodia, etc Fast Five Profile: PEPY Tours One of the PEPY riders on her bike for Cambodian based PEPY Tours 1. Who are [...]

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22 December 2009 ~ 36 Comments

More orphanage tourism (No!)

I recently tried to post a comment in response to this listing on Trip Advisor which encourages visits to orphanages while traveling in Siem Reap. As my comment was not  a review of the area, it was not approved, so I am posting it here. — I am writing in response to a post stating [...]

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18 November 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Apathy

My friend and colleague, Soe, passed this poem by Martin Niemoller around our office today, drawing the connection to the Khmer Rouge period.  It is a powerful message which I wanted to share with those of you who don’t know the poem, and all of us who should read it again, and again, and again… First [...]

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05 October 2009 ~ 53 Comments

A Protest Against Orphanage Tourism

I try to avoid spending much time on “bar street”, a place in Siem Reap which is full of, yep, bars.  The main reasons I avoid it now are no longer just the noise, the embarrassing displays of lack-of-clothing on gap-year tourists, the drunken fools, nor the begging, though those reasons alone should be enough…. [...]

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