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.
Awards 2017 she received the first prize of the Sony World Photography Awards in category daily life and POYi – Pictures of the Year International third place category portrait. In 2016 she received the Magnum Photography Award in category photojournalism, 2015 World Press Photo Award third prize, category nature singles.
