A blog I wrote was featured in an article on Worldchanging today… funny how the social media world works… you never know who is reading what you say. (sort of fun, sort of scary) Anyway, Carissa Bluestone is clearly a much better writer than I am and was able to take my verbose and train-of-thoughty [...]
Thank you for being a part of the PEPY Cause! Only 5 years ago PEPY hadn’t even been named yet, and now we are one of 10 finalists in a 600+ entry contest by Nat Geo/Ashoka thanks to the lives our small group has helped to change and the over $1 million dollars y’all have [...]
I was recently asked what I thought about the argument that international volunteers often take work away from local people. I thoroughly considered this objection when we designed our trips at PEPY, and I’m constantly aware of the question. At the same time I believe that it is important to encourage a spirit of volunteerism, [...]
Someone asked what the impact of many tour companies and individuals looking to offer philanthropic opportunities in developing areas might be…. here are my thoughts and a story from my experiences in Cambodia. I think that it can be a tricky line to walk for those entering a new culture or area and looking to [...]
My thoughts are, it’s not black and white – it’s not “all good” or “all bad”. In fact, personally, I find it mostly bad. Yet, it’s an industry I work in and believe in, because I think it CAN be done better. Added my thoughts to the discussion started by Easterly’s criticism of MDV projects [...]
I added more thoughts to this week’s development tourism discussion here. – I very much agree with your final paragraph: “voluntourists… should not be led to believe that they’re directly contributing anything other than cash to a development project on the ground.” The fact that many voluntourism and even longer term “volunteer” projects, marketed as ways [...]
First off…. we aren’t charging people to “volunteer”. We are charging people to go on a tour, feed them, put them up, and give them a chance to learn. But that’s besides the point…. Here are my other thoughts in response to a post asking why people should pay $280 to join our August PEPY [...]