Page 11 - Ulpanor E-Tone (10.01.17) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #2 (Advanced Level)

Travelling Differently

In the morning fifty Americans who came for a trip in Israel filled the
streets of the Shapira neighborhood in Gedera. They’ve convened for a
tout and lunch with the Ethiopian community in the neighborhood. At the
same time in Vietnam, Rachel and Leo from Brazil learned (how) to make
traditional Vietnamese food, and Carolina and Talya had a crash course in
sewing bracelets in Peru. What links all these tourists together is that they
didn’t settle just for a pampering vacation for themselves, but (instead)
they’re taking part in a trending traveling culture – social tourism. And no,
this isn’t a volunteering trip where (you) pet endangered tigers or give out
food to children in Africa. Here (you) bring the power back to the local
community itself. Michal Alter, an Israeli who worked in hi-tech and
traveled around the world volunteering for years, decided to put both
worlds together in a social startup she established. Today visit.org is
already running in sixty countries and works with five hundred social
organizations. The website offers diverse activities, starting at making
coffee with farmers in Colombia, a cooking workshop with immigrants’
wives in New York and up to a surfing lesson in Bat Yam with at-risk
youth. So a moment before you plan your next trip, check if you could also
do something good en-route.

Page 11 - Edition 01-10-17

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