Voluntourism: New way of holidaying

Do you want to holiday in the backwaters of Kerala even as you do community service at the local village? Or take a vacation package to the Himalayas mixed with white-water rafting and social work? If so, you have just become a tourist with a social purpose.

After living 27 years of her life jostling between two cities, hometown Kolkata and workplace Mumbai, all Runah Nag, an ad executive and Khar resident, wanted on a vacation was to live in a village and do what the locals did.

And after going through 20 holiday packages, Runah found the ideal package. The package was one of its kind, a 10-day voluntourism vacation in the backwaters of Kerala along with an opportunity to teach poetry at a local NGO, all for just Rs 11,500.

Says an elated Runah: “I have never heard of a voluntourism vacation, but after hearing what I was offered, there is nothing more I could ask for.” Runah spend the next 10 days in Kuttanad, a small village, staying in a Chinese houseboat.

Her mornings began with breakfast specially prepared by the locals; her evenings were mostly spent sightseeing. But what caught the ad executive’s eye was the time she got to spend with local kids: “I taught kids how to sing at  an NGO run by nuns.”

The social work used to last for 2-3 hours, after which Runah had all the time to herself. “Even though I had an opportunity to sightsee, I used to visit the locals and help them in their daily chores,” says Runah. During her 10-day stay, she managed to teach the kids one patriotic song. 

“The holiday didn’t seem like a holiday; it seemed like a life-time experience,” says the ad executive. Runah is not the only one. This year’s summer trip to Haryana was a different experience for the Khannas, a family of four and residents of Nashik. 

“We lived in houses with thatched roofs, ate rotis and sabji from earthen pots, and worked in villages. While my kids went on bullockcart rides, roamed orchards, and flew kites, my husband and I taught kids,” says Rashmi Khanna.

The Khannas worked in a community-service project for women and girls. The couple not only helped the girls with English lessons but also taught them to make bouquets and flower baskets.

The Khannas customised the trip in such a way that mornings were kept for sightseeing, while evenings were spent on social work. They spent around Rs 5,500 per head on their stay in one of the 13 farmhouses that organised the voluntourism programme.

It is not just Indians who seem excited about Indian voluntourism. Val Foster, 60-year-old resident of UK, is currently enjoying her two-week-long voluntourism vacation in Goa. “It’s not like we didn’t go sightseeing. I have been to Old Goa and seen the churches there, along the beaches.

But we devoted a few hours everyday to social work at a local NGO.” Val’s vacation cost her around £1400. The NGO, which is run by nuns, has kids whose parents have no time for them.

“I taught the kids to paint windows and doors, besides teaching them English.” Val is here for the first time in India with a group of five other volunteers in the 55-60 age group.

“Spending time with these kids, getting to know them, and giving them your time, is what voluntourism is all about. Anything one does for these kids may not change their destinies, but it has helped me learn a lot and made my vacation more meaningful.”

With both Indian and the foreign travel outfits pooling in, the Indian tourist has a wide range of voluntourism packages to choose from. Relief Riders, an UK-based travel agency, organises a 15-day caravan tour in the desserts of Rajasthan with a stay in tents, old havelis, Rajput villages.

And, of course, there’s a community project too, where holidayers work with a Red Cross team to distribute books and education materials to local schools. 

Travel Interserve Kerala has a 20-day package called Lullaby@Varkala, where tourists can actively participate in pre-school education in anganwadis for children below the age of five along with a stay in the rural villages.

Wanting to cash in on the new trend, Indian travel operators are now preparing tailor-made voluntourism packages for Indian travellers. For these holidayers, sight-seeing is just an add-on.