MEANINGFUL VOLUNTEER
www.meaningfulvolunteer.org
Meaningful Volunteer is a 100% non-profit, volunteer placement organization dedicated to
empowering volunteers to make a meaningful impact in developing countries. They currently have
volunteer programs in Uganda and the Philippines.
Founded in 2008 by Malcolm Trevena of Auckland, New Zealand, Meaningful Volunteer was
founded with a vision of volunteers having a meaningful impact on the community--to be more than
just "volunteer tourists."
Currently, they operate the Recycle Your Education (RYE) program, in which underprivileged
students collect garbage to pay for schooling provided by the organization.
Meaningful Volunteer needs your help; either as a potential volunteer, or as a financial contributor.
When you purchase from Jeremiah Hill Photography, select Meaningful Volunteer under
"Donation" on the order form, and a portion of or your purchase will go toward this cause.
Find out more about the unique way in which Meaningful Volunteer operates, visit their website
above, or on Facebook @: www.facebook.com/pages/Meaningful-Volunteer/244090726582?ref=ts
Why Jeremiah Hill Photography supports Meaningful Volunteer:
In the early days of his as-yet-bank-rolled wanderlust for India, Jeremiah was surprised to find what
the rest of the volunteering world seems to take for granted: it costs you big money to be a volunteer!
Low on cash and big on dreams, the notion of traveling across the world in the service of others fell
flat fast.
Since then, Jeremiah came across a few stories of volunteerism that didn't do much to raise his
impression of the industry.
Over breakfast in Colombo, in February 2005, a veteran photo-journalist covering the war in Sri
Lanka tells of NGOs coming in after the Tsunami. When the logos for their tents were delayed in
arrival a few days after set-up, said NGOs refused to start handing out relief--they couldn't begin
'helping' till they ensured that they were identifiably branded.
In Mysore, India, a young British man, fresh from the mountains of Northern India, speaks of
teaching English to Buddhist monks. He'd paid a middle man a volunteer fee of more than a
thousand dollars in a town where anyone could live well on a few dollars a day, discovering only
later that the middle man actually had to convince the monks that they needed to learn English.
Hearing stories like these, we wonder: where does all this 'volunteer' money go? Especially when
the cost of living is so low in a 3rd world country. Why are foreign volunteers being wasted on
causes that the locals don't even need?
We find the fact that most volunteering has become a kind of profitable tourist activity rather
disturbing. It seems like hidden money trails and making people feel like they've contributed have
far overshadowed the primary goals of effectively solving the issues at hand.
We support Meaningful Volunteer because they recognize the short-comings of volunteer tourism;
through seeking to address these issues within their own organizational mandate, structures and
policies, we believe they are on the forefront of a new kind of volunteerism--one actually holds
efficient problem solving as a top priority.
Meaningful Volunteer is a 100% non-profit, volunteer placement organization dedicated to
empowering volunteers to make a meaningful impact in developing countries. They currently have
volunteer programs in Uganda and the Philippines.
Founded in 2008 by Malcolm Trevena of Auckland, New Zealand, Meaningful Volunteer was
founded with a vision of volunteers having a meaningful impact on the community--to be more than
just "volunteer tourists."
Currently, they operate the Recycle Your Education (RYE) program, in which underprivileged
students collect garbage to pay for schooling provided by the organization.
Meaningful Volunteer needs your help; either as a potential volunteer, or as a financial contributor.
When you purchase from Jeremiah Hill Photography, select Meaningful Volunteer under
"Donation" on the order form, and a portion of or your purchase will go toward this cause.
Find out more about the unique way in which Meaningful Volunteer operates, visit their website
above, or on Facebook @: www.facebook.com/pages/Meaningful-Volunteer/244090726582?ref=ts
Why Jeremiah Hill Photography supports Meaningful Volunteer:
In the early days of his as-yet-bank-rolled wanderlust for India, Jeremiah was surprised to find what
the rest of the volunteering world seems to take for granted: it costs you big money to be a volunteer!
Low on cash and big on dreams, the notion of traveling across the world in the service of others fell
flat fast.
Since then, Jeremiah came across a few stories of volunteerism that didn't do much to raise his
impression of the industry.
Over breakfast in Colombo, in February 2005, a veteran photo-journalist covering the war in Sri
Lanka tells of NGOs coming in after the Tsunami. When the logos for their tents were delayed in
arrival a few days after set-up, said NGOs refused to start handing out relief--they couldn't begin
'helping' till they ensured that they were identifiably branded.
In Mysore, India, a young British man, fresh from the mountains of Northern India, speaks of
teaching English to Buddhist monks. He'd paid a middle man a volunteer fee of more than a
thousand dollars in a town where anyone could live well on a few dollars a day, discovering only
later that the middle man actually had to convince the monks that they needed to learn English.
Hearing stories like these, we wonder: where does all this 'volunteer' money go? Especially when
the cost of living is so low in a 3rd world country. Why are foreign volunteers being wasted on
causes that the locals don't even need?
We find the fact that most volunteering has become a kind of profitable tourist activity rather
disturbing. It seems like hidden money trails and making people feel like they've contributed have
far overshadowed the primary goals of effectively solving the issues at hand.
We support Meaningful Volunteer because they recognize the short-comings of volunteer tourism;
through seeking to address these issues within their own organizational mandate, structures and
policies, we believe they are on the forefront of a new kind of volunteerism--one actually holds
efficient problem solving as a top priority.
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Photos ©2010, Meaningful Volunteer
| Photo ©2010, Meaningful Volunteer |
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