Did you watch the popular TV series Meet Yourself(《去有风的地方》)? In the TV series, Xu Hongdou travels to a village in Yunnan and volunteers at a local cafe. She gets free meals in return. As the show gets popular, volunteer travel—an old-yet-modern form of travel similar to Xu's work-has caught more people's eye. "
Volunteer travel refers to taking a trip and all or part of the purpose of the trip is to help others. It can date back to the 1960s. These volunteer trips are usually organized by nonprofit (非盈利的)organizations. During the trip, volunteer travelers often provide service like teaching, cooking, animal caring and cultural activities. In exchange for their help, the volunteers may get free or cheap living places, meals, activities and classes.
Traditionally, the volunteer activities take place in a foreign country. However, more volunteer trips have taken place within the same countries or places where the volunteers were born in recent years. I's reported that volunteer projects in the countryside are now attracting more visitors from cities. They see it as a break from the fast and stressful city life.
People try volunteer travel for several reasons. By working voluntarily while traveling, travelers may have a real and positive influence on the world. The service volunteer provide can be cheap for the communities they serve. Another benefit of volunteer travel is that it helps people living in cities to get a taste of countryside. For those who are sick of the pressure living in cities but can't decide whether to move to the countryside, volunteer travel can be a solution. And communities in the countryside also benefit by receiving more travelers for the local tourism and high-quality service.
a. Where do the volunteer activities take place?
b. What does volunteer travel mean?
c. Why do people chose volunteer travel?
d. What does the TV series Meet Yourself tell us?
