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.