Ethical volunteering

I thought I should write about an interesting and relevant conversation I had with some other travellers about ethical volunteering. They had looked for a company who organised ethical volunteering projects and then were happy to pay to take part in one project in Africa, they found an organisation called 'Quest' who met their requirements. They pointed out that it was important that if one is voluntering abroad then it is *important that they are doing something that they are qualified to do in their own country, and I can give the example of when I took classes with the children in Ladakh, I am not trained teacher but if I went into a class to help then the teacher would dissappear....? Then mayhem often ensued.... * Only take part in long term projects, rather than a project that only exists for the sake of the volunteers who are participating * Don't do something that a local person would get paid to do. My friend gave the example of when she paid to participate in a project teaching english in Camaroon, but the people who she taught paid to take the lessons and the host family who hosted her did not recieve any payment.....