Volunteering in Africa – On the Rise!

Rise of tourism in Africa combined with years of unrest and fund-raising around poverty, human rights and health issues has increased the number of pay-to-volunteer programs. Granted, you are doing something enriching and positive with your time, but do ask yourself whether the money you will be spending to fund the administration of such a program is really optimizing the net benefit you want to have as a volunteer and a donor.

These programs can be profoundly satisfying but before you take the plunge and spend thousands of dollars on voluntorism, do ask yourself the question who are you doing the volunteering for. If it is more for yourself then please consider an alternative of splitting the money into two portions, 1) spend it just on tourism, and 2) donate it to a charity that offers very low administrative fees.

A great information source if you want to learn more is: Summer volunteer program (about.com)

However, if you are interested in the broader subject, you may want to visit: VolunTourism.ORG

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