The travel industry has evolved tremendously over the last few years as the wanderlusters of the 21st Century yearn for local experiences, ultimately measuring their journeys by their level of authenticity. While the term has its own flaws that somehow lets us become the judge that street food is more “authentic” than elevated local cuisine at a hotel restaurant, some might argue that a volunteer vacation, or a workation, is as real as travel gets. Volunteering while on holiday gives you a glimpse of people’s daily lives and the hardships they have to undergo to get by, which provides you with this new perspective that you’d never get just by simply visiting tribal villages instead of the crowded tourist hotspots.
It’s true that travel is one of the most downloaded categories in the App Store, but volunteer holidays is such a small niche by comparison that no one has been able to come up with anything remotely related. On a global scale, we’re expected to reach 2 billion smartphone users next year, and according to Gaming Realms, operators of multiple gaming hubs that offer online slots, it was only three years ago when we had reached the 1 billion mark. Our reliance on our mobile devices demonstrates our desire for an app that caters to our interest of giving back while traveling the world.
In fact, one of the most popular trends in the industry today is a volunteer vacation as more organisations offer extra opportunities in various areas of work for all ages, all over the world. While there are lots of websites we can peruse through to find the right volunteering opportunities, our smartphone dependent lifestyle begs us to ask the question: “Is there an app for that?”
 | As a serial voluntourist, I also asked the same question many times and I bet there are other people like me too with the same question! PHOTO: Storytelling session in a public school in Quezon City |
Connect with Volunteers Worldwide with Your Smartphone
Some of my friends and fellow SSEAYP batchmates from Singapore flew to the Philippines earlier this year for a community reach-out and storytelling sessions.
 Now, I'm very excited to download this app on my smartphone and start connecting with friends and other people around the world who just like me would like to give back and make a difference one trip at a time! Let's connect on GiveGab!  | While it’s not a volunteer vacation app per se, GiveGab is a great social networking platform for volunteers to help communities around the world and promote people’s efforts. From the app itself, you’ll be able to search for specific nonprofits or opportunities that you can reach out to, whether that may be just in the next town over or halfway across the world. And the best thing about the app is that it’s built for those that find volunteering time consuming, inevitably convincing everyone that giving back can be lots of fun, even those that aren’t very passionate about philanthropy. GiveGab is available for free on iTunes.  |
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