Voluntourism Scams - Beware

Many voluntourism organizations will offer day trips or weekend excursions at an additional cost.

But do your research and see how much you'd pay to go on your own rather than with the program.

In 2009 when I volunteered in India with Volunteering Solutions, I went to the Taj Mahal with my group and paid $100, which did not include entry fees to the site.

Heather Newgen at the Taj Mahal

At the time I thought that was a good deal, but unfortunately, this volunteer company was highly unethical and many volunteers left the program, including myself, because we realized they were taking advantage of people.

Our volunteer housing was a cockroach-infested basement and we were told to go to the slums by ourselves to volunteer, which wasn't safe.

How are foreigners supposed to find their way to a place that has no address in a city they've never been to before?

For those of us who did make an effort to go, once we arrived, there was no volunteer work.

Taking volunteers to the Taj Mahal was just another scam.

Not only were we rushed and didn't get to spend much time there, we could have gone on our own for half the price.

People who spend their time helping volunteers and taking them on day trips should absolutely be compensated. I'm happy to generously pay for this service, but with Volunteering Solutions, it was unfortunately just another way to profit off volunteers.

They didn't care about helping the needs of their community or taking care of their volunteers. They only cared about helping themselves. If the money was going to a good cause, I wouldn't care. But to overcharge and not go anywhere except for in the organizations's greedy pockets, that's not alright.

But I learned a valuable lesson. If I had done more research into this organization, I probably would have realized how unprofessional and shady they were.

So always ask where your money is going.

Read my review about them here.