Learning (and thinking) Resources for Travelers
It’s exciting when people look past the bottom line of their own company and spend their time and resources to take action to improve the whole field in which they work. Priscilla Macy of Global Sojourns is someone who does that on a regular basis. Priscilla and her company offer a range of adventure travel options and she also runs “Giving Circle” trips where travelers have a chance to support and learn about development programs in Africa. Having worked in development for many years, Priscilla has strong reservations about having short-term and inexperienced volunteers get involved in any development projects, so “voluntourism” is something she has stayed away from. She does though try to encourage people to support the projects they learn about on their travels and is always looking for the best ways to facilitate that.
As we have seen proven in Cambodia as well, Priscilla believes that there is a lot of learning which must happen on the part of travelers and novice donors in order to translate their good intentions into positive results for local programs. As such, she has created and collected a wealth of resources with which to educate her guests and provide context for their travels.
Here are two of Global Sojourns’ reading packets for their Giving Circle Tours. The “Ambassadors Booklet” has information about traveling and supporting development work in Africa. It is an interactive PDF and it has a wealth of valuable resources which are useful for travelers looking to support programs in any country.
The “It’s More Complicated Than It Looks” reading packet includes a few short reflections (including one of my own) about Traveler’s Philanthropy gone bad – a sort of how not to do global giving handbook – which is intended to highlight the importance of long-term planning for travelers looking to support development programs.
Check these out and use them in your travelers! If you love them (as we do), then please visit Global Sojourn’s website and tell Priscilla you’re impressed with her work! We sure are!