It'd be great if any time we took ourselves travelling and volunteered somewhere that it was a purely good act. The problem is, of course, that we are now getting to understand just how damaging some kinds of volunteer tourism can be. Is it all bad, though? I don't think so! But we definitely have to be very, very thoughtful any time we sign up for voluntourism.

In Episode 288 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three travellers about their thoughts and experiences with volunteer travel. First up, I speak with Eliza Raymond of Good Travel, who has a very telling story about an experience she had volunteering in Guatemala at just eighteen years of age.

Next, I talk to Jonathan Coleman from the Reset Tourism Fund at the UnTours Foundation. After working with NGOs hosting volunteer groups, along with various other tourism experiences throughout his career, he's very sceptical about the ability of almost any travel volunteer experience to be a truly worthwhile one for every party involved.

Finally, I chat to Kayra Martinez of Love Without Borders For Refugees. Kayra was living in Germany when she saw an influx of refugees on the news back in 2015, and tried to find out what she could do to help - this led to a seriously big commitment to voluntourism in Greek refugee camps.

Links:

Eliza Raymond - Good Travel - https://www.good-travel.org/
"Youth, Let’s Be Good Travellers" video - https://www.good-travel.org/blog/youth-lets-be-good-travellers
Jonathan Coleman - Untours Foundation - https://untoursfoundation.org/
Kayra Martinez - Love Without Borders - http://lovewithoutborders4refugees.com/
Episode 228 - Volunteering Experiences - https://notaballerina.com/228
Episode 145 - Volunteering Experiences While Travelling - https://notaballerina.com/145
Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin
Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/288

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

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January 11, 2026

Letters from an American

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