Welcome to the slum - Volunteer tourism

Volunteer tourism is booming. More and more people travel to the slums or work in relief projects during their holidays. They wish to get socially involved and therefore want to gain so- called authentic insights into the lives of other people. Who is helping whom? Is it possible to contribute to a humanitarian care project assisting for a short time without any previous knowledge? Isn`t it mostly about curiousity, adventure and an interesting cv? In Kolkata I have met tourists in their hotel rooms and interviewt them. Some of them work as longterm-volunteers for several months and some just for a couple of days. There are also volunteers who return only to their home countries to earn enough money to be able to work for free in charity projects in India again.

Sandra Hoyn (b. 1976) is an independent photojournalist based in Hamburg, Germany. She studied photography at the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, graduating in 2005. She started working for magazines, NGOs and on her personal photo projects, focusing on social, environmental and human rights issues.