Is volunteering a form of tourism or serious development aid work?
It is a bit of both really. uVolunteer offers an alternative form of tourism that strengthens and sustainably contributes to the local economies/communities which we visit. Sometimes we work with projects that have astrong focus on community development such as building schools and housesfor AIDS education and treatment. In other projects we assist local community with eco tourism initiatives to enable sustainable employment within the visited communities. Conversely we also have projects, such as teaching in (some) schools that focus on cultural immersion and absorbsion. These placements are more akin to alternative tourism than serious development work. But we feel that, what is important is, no matter what you do, you should positively contribute to the community you visit.
