Wondering what it’d be like to participate in a voluntourism trip? Interested in making a difference through travel but not sure where to start? This week, TIES asked Danielle Weiss of Planeterra Foundation and Daniela Ruby Papi of PEPY Tours for their insights into on-the-ground voluntourism experiences and some advice for travelers interested in learning more about voluntourism.

Read on to find out what voluntourism means to Danielle and Planeterra Foundation!
*For our interview with Daniela, see: “Considering Voluntour-ing? Tips for Travelers – Daniela Ruby Papi, PEPY Tours”

Ask Danielle – Planeterra Foundation

TIES: If you were to summarize, in 100 words or less, the reason Planeterra is engaged in voluntourism, what would it be?

Danielle: Planeterra was founded by an adventure travel company, Gap Adventures, that was already providing meaningful cross-cultural experiences for hosts and travellers alike. Our voluntours take the cultural experience a step further to inspire travellers to give back to the people and places they visit on tour and afterwards. Our hope is for travellers to really impact sustainable community development through mutual learning and by making connections with local people.

Through Planeterra, travellers can continue to support our partner projects on a longer-term basis. We are engaged in voluntourism because it is a form of tourism that contributes to the local economy not only through the volunteer service provided, but because the mission of the tours is to do just that. Voluntours utilize local guides, incorporate homestays, visits to local markets, restaurants, and other locally-owned businesses, all of which provide additional positive impacts.

TIES: Have you received any requests or suggestions from travelers who have participated in Planeterra voluntours to change the way the tours are run? If so, what was the feedback and how was it implemented?

Danielle: We have had many travellers say they would like to spend more time at projects. Therefore, we are working to develop trips with longer volunteer components.

TIES: We encourage travelers seeking responsible tourism experiences to be proactive and ask questions about the tour company or accommodation provider’s social and environmental sustainability practices. What questions do you recommend travelers considering participating in a voluntour to ask before they book their trip with a voluntourism provider, in order to maximize their experience and ensure positive impact?

Danielle: These questions by Daniela from PEPY Tours are great, straightforward and helpful for any would-be voluntourists.

In addition, here are some other questions that our Director, Richard Edwards, encourages people to ask of themselves and of their voluntour providers:

• When is my need to “do good” potentially a selfish act on my part?
• Am I helping or hindering by taking time and resources away from the community and project managers just so I have a “feel good” project to work on?
• Are valuable time, effort and resources being wasted and misappropriated just to prepare for and accommodate a voluntourist?
• Can I really make a contribution in a lasting, significant way in the short time I’m there?
• What is the optimum duration for a meaningful voluntourism stay?
• Is the project just a “front” for fundraising or attempt to generate exposure, creating contrived situations for my benefit and not really the benefit of the community?

TIES: Tell us about your first voluntourism experience (personal or professional) and the impact that the trip has had on your life.

Danielle: My first volunteer experience was a two-month solo trip to the Middle East when I was 19 where I divided my time between volunteering on a kibbutz and travelling throughout Israel and Egypt. This first experience enabled me to make lasting friendships with local people, gain an in-depth knowledge of their daily life, and build the confidence to know that I could travel alone as a single woman.

With that experience under my belt, I embarked on an adventure to South America that would change my life forever. Through a university study abroad program, I spent four months living in the Ecuadorian coastal jungle assisting a local non-profit with community outreach in surrounding villages.

It was the year of El Niño so we would walk for days along paths through the jungle at times with mud up to our thighs, through torrential downpours and wading through rivers to get to remote communities. We worked alongside local farmers to plant fruit trees around the schools so the children would have fruit to eat, we taught environmental education, and started a women’s co-op teaching them how make jam and weave hats out of banana leaves to sell.

It was the experience of working with local people that had an incredibly profound impact on my life. I learned that the poorest people in the world are also among the most entrepreneurial, and that it was always the people that appeared to have the least that gave me the most. Now with over 15 years of experience volunteering and working with numerous community development projects, I have found that the projects and organizations that succeed are the ones that are based on solidarity, not charity. Local people have the capacity to move mountains when provided with the right tools to do so.

Travelling and volunteering have opened my eyes, my heart and my mind allowing me to experience new cultures, to appreciate the natural beauty of each destination and to make lasting friendships with people from all over the world. It is my pleasure to have spent the past 10 years working for Gap Adventures, first as a tour leader and now as the South America project manager for the Planeterra Foundation, which enables me to continue working with communities throughout Latin America and to develop meaningful cross-cultural volunteer experiences for our travellers.

TIES: What would you recommend first-time voluntour participants to do before their trip so they will be prepared to make a difference?

Danielle: Think about the fact that this type of trip is “community-based” which means you will be working and/or living side by side local people, often in rural areas. So you probably speak a different language than they do! Learn basic phrases in their language to show them that you are interested in their culture – and it will help with communication! Learn about the country, the customs, and the organization or project you are going to be volunteering with.

Be open-minded, flexible and willing to pitch in a helping hand where you can. Think of it as a learning experience, where you learn from them – about their way of life, and appreciate the differences, always remembering YOUR way is not always the RIGHT way. There are many ways in the world and we can all learn from each other.

About Planeterra Foundation

Planeterra is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and support of small communities around the world. With its international partnerships, projects, and voluntours, Planeterra strives to be a global voice for voluntourism in the rising movement toward sustainability in travel. Planeterra is working with TIES as a Voluntourism Partner to collaborate on a number of initiatives to educate and engage travelers in voluntourism activities that give back to destinations, contribute to the sustainable development of communities, and provide unique opportunities to make personal connections with the local people.

About Danielle Weiss, Project Manager, Planeterra Foundation

Danielle Weiss has over a decade of experience travelling, working and volunteering in Latin America. Starting with Gap Adventures as a Tour Leader, she led trips throughout Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Danielle contributed to the development of the Planeterra Foundation which supports almost 30 projects worldwide and she is currently based in Peru working as the Planeterra Project Manager where she oversees the development, implementation and management of our projects throughout Latin America.

Photos by Planeterra Foundation