Gawana

This is toughest question of them all for any traveller with the world at their feet. I was talking to a student the other day who was planning her travels for the summer. She had applied for a variety of places to work thinking that just a few would reply. Confusingly, all of them replied with fantastic offers. Countries to choice from included Korea, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain and Russia. Oh the agony of choice. [...]

Have you ever wonder what a website needs to appear on the first positions on search engines? or maybe you’ve asked yourself, how to make your own site to be at the top of the lists? well, is not just you, behind every important website there are teams of people trying everyday to beat its competitors, for some of them it’s a war, companies set big budgets in order to appear on the first positions on Google.

There are many factors that will influence your position on search engines and that’s why SEO experts charge a lot of money. What about NGOs? they don’t have big budgets, so how do they get indexed on the first positions on organic searches? unfortunately, the reality is that they do not. Looking at the Gapyear niche, big companies are fighting everyday to get better ranks and positions on the web leaving NGOs with small or null budgets far far behind, sadly the strongest (economically speaking) will get better results. I think this is very unfair, and we want to do something about it. [...]

I frequently find myself at the end of a touching documentary or a heart-rendering news piece telling myself that there must be something that I can do to help the situation. So I turn to the place with all the answers – the internet.

The empty google box stares at me, expectantly. What do I want to know? Why not try “How can I help the world” – just 469 million results appear. Seems there is no shortage of answers to that question. Where do I start? I browse through the first page and discover that volunteering seems a good place to begin the journey. A paid ad takes me to a site called the “GVN Foundation” a non governmental organisation based in New Zealand. The site enthuses me with great ideas about volunteering. My enthusiasm is short lived. To join one of the projects I first have to pay $350 which is transferable to the project and if I am (and they, I guess) accepted as a volunteer. My presence in South Africa on a conservation project for 8-weeks comes in at $1947.

$1947 + flights, visa (if required), travel insurance and personal spending money. It strikes me that helping the world is an expensive intention. My search continues. I encounter website after website offering life-changing volunteer opportunities. Projects are offered by NGO’s, charities, not-for-profit and outright businesses but regardless of their registered status they all charge you money to participate.

Interestingly when you compare two organisations, one set-up as a not-for-profit (Voluntary Projects Overseas) and another established to make a profit (Projects Abroad) all things being equal you can crudely work out the profit that the latter makes. Two examples:

Teaching in Bolivia – VPO = £1500 for 3 months – PA = £1845 for 3 months (£345 profit)

Let’s take another example

Teaching in South Africa – VPO = £1900 for 3 months – PA = £2595 for 3 months (£695 profit)

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not against paying to do voluntary work or people making profits. I have a Masters in Business Administration for goodness sake. My question is why is that?

Web 2.0! Don’t you just love the way that computer types love adding numbers after names. Imagine…when you are born you are called Trevor, wait sorry, Trevor 1.0, then you go to primary school and you become Trevor 1.1, you graduate from high school and become known as Trevor 2.0 – you get the idea. I took a Gap Year in 1993 and I have recently looked at what the Gap Year industry is offering and I have to say that I was disappointed. While the rest of the world has been revolutionising; Gap Year organisations seem to be stuck on version 1.0… [...]

Jambo!!!

If you’re looking for some travel inspiration you must watch this video. Matt is an Australian who travels the world dancing while his girlfriend films his moves. The description doesn’t sound very exciting right? well have a look and enjoy but be careful you might want to pack and catch a plane right after!

Home is a breathtaking photographic journey around the planet, directed by the french photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. “HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it. It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)”

Here’s the link to the HOME official youtube channel

As i mentioned in a previous post recommending Wade Davis “Light at the edge of the world“ books are one very important factor to consider when I am traveling

I found this post on the Telegraph.co.uk website and is worth to share it. I love the fact that they mentioned “The Journals” by Captain Cook as one of these 20 travel inspiring books, some of them i never heard of, i guess i’ll be visiting Amazon after i published this post.

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Photography is the most serious of my hobbies, I find it incredibly rewarding in many aspects. When traveling I seldom take my camera off my neck. If travel photography is as important to you as it is to me, then I’m sure we share the feeling of trying to get the perfect picture every single time cause you know when you’re traveling you don’t get too many opportunities and I hate to go back home and notice that some of my “looking forward” pictures are just not very good. I have gather some very nice Travel photography sites with very useful Tips and Tutorials. Enjoy!

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When he was just 14 years old, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book.

This is a very inspirational talk, his creative mind and driven personality are an example of what we believe here in Gawana. Enjoy it

I enjoy reading a lot, specially when I’m traveling. The books I’m going to carry with me have to be carefully selected, the criteria is always the destination, some books though are universal, by that i mean, some books are just brilliant inspiration for any trip, journey or destination, this book is one of them. “Light at the edge of the world” by Wade Davis. He’s a very well known anthropologist, he’s done many documentaries for National Geographic, I must admit I’m his fan. Anthropology books usually are stories of the authors and the style is always a sort of “coffee chat” talk, very easy to read but mostly easy to enjoy.

Wade Davis gave a talk at the famous TED conference in Monterey California in 2003, enjoy this video and read his book!