1. There was a
time when a volunteering holiday was the domain of the most courageous cultural
tourists. But in the past decade, travel companies and charities have been
catching on to the call for altruistic holiday experiences through
�voluntourism�. They organize your transport, accommodation and, in some cases,
the projects themselves. However, what you put in -and get out- of your time
there, is still up to you.
2. I�m on
a two-week volunteering package holiday in Sri Lanka, created in reaction to the tsunami�s effects. The
volunteering holiday I�m taking isn�t one where people�s skills are matched
with projects, so a lot of the work involves working and playing. From the
outset, we�re encouraged to treat this trip like a holiday and not to feel guilty
if we want a day off while others are working. In the initial night�s briefing,
we were advised: �don�t expect to save the world.� But all the visitors I�m
with are keen to get out to the projects and are happy to make a difference if
only a small one.
3. My
group has been here almost a week and so far we�ve mainly been working. But
today is time out from the volunteering. Gamini, our driver is giving us his
�local knowledge� tour of the region. He
brings us to a town called Paraliya. This town is significant to our group for
two reasons. Some of my fellow group members were on the first of these
volunteering holidays to it in May 2005. It was here that they helped a
family complete the construction of their home, which we visit. And it was here
that a horrific disaster occurred. Now the only sign of such destruction is a
memorial by the shore, above the ground where almost 500 unidentified bodies
are buried.
4. The
tour group parks at the memorial, and I saw the image that could sum up this
journey to the south-west coast of Sri Lanka : a man and a boy sitting
on a fishing boat, under the palm trees, staring out to the ocean that brought
forth the fierce tsunami.
5. I ask
the man on the boat if I can take his photo. He approves and gives me his
address so that I can send him the photo. I ask if he is a fisherman. �No, a
cook�
And before I know it, this new
acquaintance is inviting me to his caf� over the road from the shore. � But I�m
with a group,� I say �I have to get back�- �Bring them, too!� , he� says.
�But I have no money on me.�
�It�s OK!� he says. �You eat�
So here I am, on holiday from a
comfortable life in London,
and here he is, a man who lives in a town that has seen far more than its fair
share of misfortune. Yet it is he who is looking after me
Adapted from The Guardian, July 27th
2006This is a text about altruistic holidays
