Posts Tagged ‘Tanzania’
The Value of Voluntourism: Interview with Stephen Greenwood
In a time when voluntourism – the act of travelling to volunteer, or volunteering to travel – is becoming big business, there is one question I keep coming back to: Does voluntourism help the people who are supposedly being served, or is it primarily for the benefit of the volunteer?
It’s the question I asked Brian Hermon about his volunteer work in Ghana; and it’s the same question I asked Chris Guillebeau, who also volunteered for a time in Africa.
And now Stephen Greenwood. Last year, Stephen spent five months living in Tanzania, shooting footage for a documentary and film about an orphanage in Arusha, a city in northern Tanzania. His blog, Observations, is a treasure chest of insightful snippets, beautiful photos and probing questions. After spending an afternoon browsing through, I asked Stephen to share more about his experiences in Tanzania.
Observations
Stephen Greenwood is in Tanzania for 6 months, learning through experience about international aid, street children, corrupt orphanages, and the Tanzanian way of life.
Volunteer Work in Ghana: Interview with Brian Hermon
How valuable are volunteer experiences? And who do they benefit the most: the volunteer or the community being served?
Brian Hermon has done his fair share of volunteering, from an early two-week experience in Costa Rica to longer-term projects in Tanzania, Vietnam, and now Ghana.
In this interview with TravelBlogs, Brian talks about the impact volunteering has had on his life, the work he is doing in Ghana, and some of the difficulties of life in Africa.
