By Lisa Andersen and Robert Wake-Walker

What is to gain, who are the recipients, and how is it done?

Tuesday the 27^th September 2011 was World Tourism Day, so therefore we have spent the week reflecting upon the subject, and want to share our thoughts with you. We talked to different people at different levels within the field of responsible tourism, in order to gain a wider, more thorough perspective on the matter and on the issues.

What is responsible tourism, and what is to be gained and learned from it?

Is this idea of learning the same both at the top and at the bottom? In order to find answers to all of our questions, we talked to the executive secretary of the Responsible Tourism Network in Argentina, to the founder of one of the organisations, to a founder of one of the projects, and last, but certainly not least, one of the many volunteers in Buenos Aires. 

Tourism and production

Juan José is the man behind the Argentine Responsible Tourism Network or in Spanish, Red de Turismo Responsable. He is also behind one of the organizations in the network: Generación Par. Generación Par is focused on promoting responsible consumption. For example, by hosting workshops on recycling. Juan’s work with the organization is deeply entwined with his work with the network, and the visions of the two seem to be similar. Talking to Juan it seems more and more obvious that responsible tourism and responsible consumption are one subject, not two. As he talks, he weaves back and forth between the two, not seeming to distinguish between them.

“We need to choose what and how we consume” 

The idea of a network of organizations promoting responsible consumption came to Juan when he realized that there was a general problem regarding the labelling of responsible products and services. The problem is, according to Juan, related to an idea of an ever-present government, also governing production, employment and environment. However, as Juan sees it, these issues are not being governed. Instead the consumers must act responsibly themselves, paying attention, not only to their own and others’ working conditions, but to the environment as well. Therefore Generación Par wants to open the eyes of the consumer: “we are alone and we have to choose what and how we consume”, Juan says, and further explains that the most responsible company is one who provides its consumers with information about production, employment, environment and so on.

He later started working on the idea of a network where organizations and companies who are interested in the idea of responsibility. However, joining Red de Turismo Responsable does not mean that the company must be working one hundred per cent responsible in all aspects, because that simply is not possible, says Juan. What is possible is to commit to a process of changing for the better. Each year every member sets goals for the next year. And the organization is planning to launch a new set of icons, which will provide the consumer with readily available information about the production of the product, including accessibility, waste-handling etc.

“It’s not just a brand”

With this, Argentina seems to be taking the lead within innovative ways of implementing responsible tourism and consumption, and to Juan, the reason is obvious: “it is different when you think of responsible tourism as a brand and when you think of it as responsible production.” In this perspective, responsible tourism is something that comes with responsible production, and as Red de Turismo Responsable believes: everyone is ready to benefit from good employment.

“This is where I can make a difference”

In order to gain another insight into the matter of responsible tourism, I went to Pablo Nogués, about an hour train ride outside of Buenos Aires. Here I was going to visit Silvia, who runs a small after-hours English school. She bases her work on the idea of quality education for everyone. That means that the school has very few resources at its disposal, as Silvia makes a point of charging the lowest possible tuition fee. It is not easy to run a school at such low cost, but Silvia seems to have what it takes: lots of energy, insight and compassion. And this seems to be where her motivation stems from. She grew up with the privilege of quality education, and when she realized that not everyone has this privileged background, she knew she had to change that. Even if the change looks small on a national scale, in the lives of the families, the opportunity is life changing.

Silvia employs volunteers from all over the world (recruited through Voluntario Global). This adds to the children’s understanding of geography – it becomes relevant and thus interesting to them to know something about a specific place, when the person in front of them is from there. It helps them realize the differences in the world, and sometimes the meaning of these differences. To Silvia, the most significant help for the school is the volunteers. Without them, the budget would not be sustainable, and the children would miss out on a lot of interesting lessons.

Further, Silvia recognizes and highly appreciates the lessons the volunteers learn, what they gain and what they take home with them: new insights, thoughts and ideas. This aspect of cultural exchange is as important as the main-objective. This is what keeps many projects within responsible tourism going: the prospect of giving and receiving on equal terms. At least that is Silvia’s take on it. In order to investigate this objective further, Rob had a talk with one of Voluntario Global’s founders, Valeria. 

Living in a globalised world has meant it has never been more valuable to speak another language. The ability to move freely between countries has meant we are now far more likely to encounter other cultures and languages than previous generations, and speaking another language helps us to integrate properly and understand more about how different societies live. Most importantly however, it is vital they are taught correctly in order to preserve the understanding of the spoken and written word.

I arrived in Buenos Aires at the start of June having listened to several hours worth of Spanish tapes convinced I could speak some basic Spanish, however it proved far more difficult than I first thought. Whilst I could repeat some basic phrases droned into my head, I was unable to comprehend any answers, or react to unforeseen questions. Thankfully I started my Spanish course a couple of days later, which has helped immeasurably. I started with intensive Spanish for four hours a day, which was split between grammar and vocabulary.

Despite the difficulties in learning a new language, the process was smoothed by the attention to detail of the teachers (the grammar class was one-to-one). Gradually, as I understood more of the language, I was invited to speak more with other students in order to help improve my fluidity and my ability to understand others. For me, the most important aspect of the course was the grammar; whilst verbs and vocabulary can be learned outside of the classroom, it is imperative to understand the grammar in order to be able to adapt in conversation.

Learning in a class has also helped me understand the nuances between languages. I have often been caught out saying distinctly un-Argentinean phrases in Buenos Aires and having a teacher to confide in has helped me realise my mistakes. Having completed four weeks of Spanish, I ‘graduated’ with a very good understanding of the basic principles of Spanish. The relaxed environment of the classes did not make it feel like school, whilst all of the teachers all make you feel part of the community. I hope to continue learning Spanish when I return to the United Kingdom through meeting up with Spanish natives and I feel confident enough to do this now. Whilst it may take me a lot of practice and effort to improve substantially, I feel I have benefited greatly from the experience of learning Spanish through the classroom and would thoroughly recommend other beginners to follow the same path.

My name is Bree and my friend Izzie and I came to Buenos Aires from Sydney, Australia two and a half months ago. We have been volunteering with Voluntario Global in orphanages known as ‘Querubines’ (meaning ‘Angels’) outside of the city located in Beccar and Olivos. Their purpose is to give children from complicated backgrounds a second chance at a family lifestyle in a caring and stable environment.

I (Izzie) was placed in an orphanage situated in a suburb called Olivos. Like Bree’s  is as well, Olivos is a middle class suburb on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The house was donated with the intent of providing a comfortable, safe neighbourhood for the kids to grow up in. I remember my first, not-so-shiny-impressions of the 1.5 hour commute to Olivos, however I quickly became accustomed with the help of my iPod and easy ability to power-nap!

The orphange (or ‘homenage’ being its preferred name) turned out to be a sweet, little, yellow house. One seems to picture an orphanage in a certain way, but I soon learnt that it was not dissimilar to a typical home- only one which houses a larger sized family. The homenage in Olivos is home to 10 children at the moment. With all girls except for two boys, the youngest is 3 and the eldest, 16.  With that great range I have been able to a do a variety of activities with the different kids as well as helping out the ‘Tias’ (the women who work there). An average day may consist of helping the elder girls with their English homework, singing along and teaching the words of ‘Baby’ to some Justin Beiber-obsessed tweens, playing in the plaza and copying out pictures of Hello Kitty! For Bree, having a houseful of little boys, it’s a bit of a challenge but they’re always happy to muck around outside and get their hands dirty with colouring and paints.

Being as hard-working as they are, the Tias couldn’t always give me things to do for them. This combined with the language barrier certainly made things difficult in the beginning. I would sometimes find myself feeling like more of a nuisance than a help, but no sooner learnt that like any other household, plates need to be washed and clothes need to be folded and by talking more with them I would no longer feel like a stranger in their home.

When I initially started fundraising, I didn’t really know what I was fundraising for! All I knew was that I would be working somewhere in need of donations and I knew that 3 months with the same people was enough time to become emotionally invested. I created something called ‘The Buenos Aires Project’, writing a letter to friends and family explaining what I knew about what I was doing and that, with promised updates and a final report, we had a chance to make a contribution to something worthwhile and see it in the process.

For me (bree), I created a Facebook event inviting friends and family to a cinema fundraising night I held at my local cinema and I found that everyone was more than happy to help. Like Izzie, I also sent an email around to friends of my parents who were also more than willing to contribute to what I was doing in South America.

In our second week in Buenos Aires, we had a meeting at Voluntario Global to give us information of where we would be volunteering, the days and times, and also a brief overview of the organisation. We found it very helpful and well managed and we were given timetables of our placement days and the addresses of the orphanages we would be volunteering at. On our first day of volunteering, a Voluntario global staff member came with us to introduce us to the Tias and to make sure everything was going smoothly, and that we knew our way there and back. It made the day less daunting and we felt more comfortable.

During the two months we have been volunteering, we have never had a problem at the orphanage or with Voluntario Global. They send regular emails and updates and we know we always have that help there if we need it. So when we were thinking of how to donate the money raised in an appropriate manner, we emailed Voluntario Global and they got back to us immediately and arranged a meeting to discuss what was to be done.

We found the meeting very reassuring as they told us the money would go directly to the orphanage and they also spoke to the Tias and emailed us a list of things they actually needed. With the money raised we are in the process of purchasing a freezer, stoves and medications for the children. Sadly we know that Querubines’ needs extend far beyond what Izzie and I can provide. However, we are glad we can help and do something that we are sure others have done and will do later.

We were really lucky to get to work with this project as with everything the children have been through, the boys and girls are still able to experience family atmosphere and just act like normal kids! We would recommend Voluntario Global to anyone thinking of doing something like this as they are a reliable volunteer organisation and are always willing to help and provide information. It has been a great experience!

For the last 9 months I have been volunteering with Voluntario Global fulfilling the compulsory third year abroad part of my university degree.  I had volunteered before on my gap year in Ecuador where I spent a month in three different locations helping to build whatever was needed.  It was that volunteer organization who introduced me to Voluntario Global.  However despite my previous experience I was nervous before I flew out here.  Firstly my stay in Argentina was going to be three times as long as my previous stints abroad, secondly I was only going to be based in Buenos Aires (which as a girl from the English countryside I was terrified I would not like!) and finally it was helping in a totally different way than I had experienced. Needless to say within weeks of arriving here I knew I had made the right decision and I was already thinking that time was going by too fast.  Buenos Aires is a wonderful city even if you do not think you are a city person.  There really is something for everyone and you can never be bored.  Voluntario Global’s projects are based all over the city, so you get to visit lots of different areas and communities that you might not have otherwise seen.   The reason that I chose to spend all my time abroad in one place was that I wanted to go home feeling that I had really got to know the city and for ten months part felt like a local.  Thanks to volunteering I was given the opportunity to see the true city or rather the non tourist side, and I am leaving with much wider knowledge of this wonderful city than I could ever have imagined. I volunteered in three different projects during my time here.  I started off working in a local health centre in one of the poorest areas in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Jose Leon Suarez.  I worked in reception dealing with administrative tasks, making medical history files, handing out the government provided milk and helping the locals complete any paperwork required.  It was a great project and suited me perfectly as it was quite hands on and everyone was so friendly. 

The locals and other staff were patient with my poor and nervous Spanish and I grew in confidence working there.  It was also where I first begun to appreciate mate!  I then started working for the Voluntario Global communications team. 

I visited projects and wrote blogs for the website, helped translate information and emailed the volunteers about the weeks social plans and other events.  It was a great way to get to know other parts of Voluntario Globals work and see yet more examples of their invaluable help. 

My final project was in the famous barrio of La Boca.  I worked in the “prensa” section of the Comedor de los Pibes, a local community and political centre.  I translated news articles and also other relevant documents such as a wikileaks US government document about the Argentine “piqueteros”.  As a student of Spanish and Politics this project could not have been more perfect and thanks to my increased confidence with my Spanish after months here, I felt like a proper translator/journalist!  Everyone in the centre is so friendly, we ate lunch together every day and I always felt so welcome. 

On my last day I was given a flag of Argentina with the centres logo printed on – I was overwhelmed by their generosity and gratitude and I have already thought of the perfect place to hang it in my bedroom back home in England! My time here has been eye-opening and I cannot begin to thank everyone enough.  If anyone is thinking of volunteering with Voluntario Global in the future I highly recommend it.  I have never felt more like part of a team, nor felt so appreciated even if it was for doing what seems like a simple or irrelevant task.  All those involved in the projects, be it the locals, the coordinators or the volunteers have made my time here so special and I will always be thankful for all I have learnt and hopefully I have taught others something too.

Tudo começou com a vontade de fazer um intercambio, mas não tinha noção nenhuma por onde começar esta pesquisa e então fui ao Salão do Intercâmbio em São Paulo e conheci a instituição Voluntário Global que me proporcionava condições para realizar o intercâmbio, praticar o espanhol e o inglês, conhecer gente do mundo inteiro e lugares maravilhosos além da oportunidade de realizar trabalho voluntário. Foram quase dois meses me preparando, conhecendo, falando com outras pessoas que fizeram este trabalho e no dia 15 de maio embarquei com destino a Ezeiza (Buenos Aires). Quando cheguei, passei pela alfândega e sai do aeroporto que vi uma “plaquinha” com meu nome que era do taxi que iria me trazer até a casa de voluntários, foi uma sensação inexplicável. Quase 01 hora depois e por fim cheguei ao meu destino, “moro” na casa de voluntários, que é muito segura e confortável, já estavam morando aqui duas meninas de Noruega e duas de Inglaterra, mas com o tempo chegaram mais pessoas. Não tenho nada do que reclamar da casa, tem internet disponível, cozinha com um armário próprio para guardar suas coisas e é limpa três vezes por semana.

Para lavar roupa basta ir a uma lavanderia que é muito próxima daqui. Nas duas primeiras semanas estudava espanhol de manhã e trabalhava a tarde na parte de comunicação, meu trabalho era de atualizar os meios de comunicação do Voluntário Global, fazer análise de mercado para a vinda de novos brasileiros, parcerias e contatos com organizações do Brasil etc, (optei por trabalhar em comunicação por que é que o faço no Brasil, mas existem muitos outros programas que se pode trabalhar, como orfanatos, jardim de infância, aulas de computação e inglês, comedor, centro de saúde, entre outros). Nos tempos livres, saia para conhecer a cidade e os pontos turísticos com os amigos que fiz na casa e com os amigos que fazem voluntariado, mas não moram na casa de voluntários. Nas duas últimas semanas, somente trabalhava (a carga horária sempre foi de 04 horas por dia / 04 dias por semana) e então tive mais tempo para sair e conhecer outros projetos e mais pontos turísticos como Tigre, Puerto Madero, La Boca, San Telmo, Recoletta, Galeria Pacífico, Palermo entre outros. Passei por momentos divertidos, típicos de um estrangeiro, como não saber o nome de algumas coisas e ter que desenhar e fazer mimica para tentar explicar o que quer, cozinhar        (que era uma coisa que não sabia fazer no Brasil e aprendi aqui. Obs.: somente cozinhei macarrão e sopa ...rs) os outros dias comia nos restaurantes. Quanto as noites em Buenos Aires..... saia tanto para jantar quanto para ir a uma balada ou as aulas de tango argentino, como é formoso dançar tango, passos firmes e sensuais... Mas o melhor é que encontrei alguns restaurantes brasileiros e podia comer arroz e feijão, por que acredite aqui não se come, em Argentina no almoço e na janta vai encontrar pastas, pizzas e muito frango. As amizades foram tantas, que no final eu estava dando aulas de espanhol , e uma inglesa me dava aulas de inglês... assim praticava os dois idiomas.

Quando digo que conheci gente do mundo inteiro é verdade, conheci gente da Bolívia, Peru, Estados Unidos, Canadá, Inglaterra, Noruega, Paraguai, Alemanha, Irlanda.... tem muitos outros países, mas não vou listar aqui que vai só vou ficar falando disso... Uma coisa que gostei muito da Argentina é a cultura e os lugares arquitetônicos como as danças, feiras artesanais, roupas típicas, museus, Mafalda, alfajores.... ah quanta coisa.... 04 semanas é pouco para desfrutar de tudo. E ao contrário do que dizem, os argentinos recebem muito bem os brasileiros, eu só não podia falar de futebol...., mas somos muito bem recebidos aqui. E agora já está na hora de programar a volta ao Brasil, meu voo estava programado para 11 de junho , mas o vulcão do Chile não me quer deixar ir embora, acredito que tenha que ficar por mais alguns dias aqui, mas não tem problema nenhum, vou poder desfrutar mais um pouco desta experiência que está valendo muito pena.

Por isso, convido a todos os brasileiros a vivenciar este intercambio, porque não existem palavras para descrever o aprendizado, a mudança de vida e a evolução como pessoa que este tudo isso proporciona.... desejo aos que fiquem na casa, que aproveitem muito e aos que estão em seus países que tenham a oportunidade de viver estes momentos ..... Ao Voluntário Global só tenho que agradecer pelo auxílio em todos os momentos e parabenizar pelo trabalho maravilhoso que realizam pela incansável busca da igualdade social, e por promover o intercâmbio e mostrar para o mundo a cultura de vocês. Assim me despeço, agradecendo por tudo que vivi aqui e muito feliz pela oportunidade de ajudar a fazer deste mundo e a mim mesma uma pessoa muito melhor.....