“Smiling And Suffering”: A Critical Take On Views On Africa From World Hum

Date: July 31st, 2007 | No Comments

“For those who look at Africa and see only poverty, I say that your view of the world is narrow and sad.. [I recommend] visiting the place; talking to the people… The real point is that Africa is so much more than the sum of its ills. It is a rich place, humanity-wise.”
These are the [read more]

Does Aid Lead To Economic Growth? Former IMF Economists Say No

Date: July 20th, 2007 | 2 comments

I was interested to find an article entitled “Economists see aid to poor nations as ineffective”, which reports the findings of two former IMF economists.
I do think this is a topic worthy of serious and also critical thought, and for those reasons I was glad to see the article.
But I also think the topic of [read more]

World Refugee Day - One More Look

Date: June 27th, 2007 | No Comments

World Refugee Day was last week, and unfortunately I produced nothing more than this post here at the Volunteer Logue. However, I’ve been holding on to one article for some time now and came across two other relevant links, and this is perhaps the most fitting connection to tie them in:

One is an article [read more]

“Voluntourism”: Not So Black And White

Date: June 19th, 2007 | No Comments

The Volunteer Logue recently featured a guest piece on the downside of voluntourism; on the whole, I think author Steve Jackson makes a number of valuable points – many of which I agree with. It is a topic, however, that I have a lot of thoughts on and in short, I don’t believe that [read more]

“Our Man In Granada” On The Downside Of Voluntourism

Date: June 18th, 2007 | 17 comments

Steve Jackson is a former VSO volunteer (in Vietnam), and a current self-funded volunteer in Nicaragua. He’s also the author of the blog Our Man In Granada.
He took the time to explain his views on some of the problems with voluntourism. While I don’t agree in full (and don’t worry – I’ll explain in [read more]