Customized Voluntourism vs. Do It Yourself

Do you dream of traveling to see the world, have the best, authentic experiences, and do some good? Voluntourism may just be for you.

There are definitely a whole lot of ways to combine traveling and doing good.

Voluntourism embraces vacation travel that includes a give-back component.

Give-back opportunities may range from a few days to several months to years. Deciding to help teach, build schools, renovate homes or conserve wildlife is powerful for all involved when it is done right.

Carefully structured opportunities ensure that your contribution is conducted in a culturally ethical way.

It is service first, then vacation.

Established voluntourism operators assess your skills, passions and interests, e.g. environment, women and children’s cause, poverty, education, or health and consult with you for your leisure preferences to determine the best fit for you and your family

When we think about volunteering, you may think that it is enough that we give our time and we shouldn’t have to pay. Why should we pay for volunteering? When you volunteer abroad, there’s a cost and it includes the materials you use, as well as supervision and administration. In fact, when you travel with Hands Up Holidays, you can be secure in the knowledge that your help is not taking jobs away from the local people, quite the opposite: your donation allows us to employ local people to assist you, and even do most of the work if you are short on time.

DIY Volunteering 

If you want to arrange everything yourself, of course you can – it will probably be cheaper if you do, but keep in mind that sadly there are fraudulent volunteering organizations that will still charge a fee, but there are no real benefits to those you wanted to help.

In contrast, when you travel with an operator such as Hands Up Holidays, you can be assured that the organization has been vetted as legitimate and that there are genuine benefits to those in need.

Especially when you are traveling with your family, it can be too big a risk to take to try and arrange a give-back project in a destination that you are unfamiliar with.