PLAN YOUR TRIPRESPONSIBLE TRAVELCharity & Direct-Aid
Volunteerism
Tourism isn’t going to fi x all of Myanmar’s
problems, of course, but there are some
small things you can do to help during your
visit. Ask guesthouse owners, agents, teach-
ers and monks about where you can donate
money for medical or school supplies. Or
stop at a village school and ask what materi-
als they lack. Often less than $100 can get a
book, notepad and pen for everyone needing
them.
One remote Chin village we visited in
Rakhaing State sees occasional tourists,
and donations to the village leader had re-
sulted in something they quickly pointed
out: a corrugated metal roof on a stilt house.
‘Tourists paid for the roof of our school’, the
leader told us.
Outside of small donations, some NGOs
prefer tourists to stick with their trips and
leave bigger projects for them. Joel Charny
at Refugees International, who supports
tourism in the private sector, told us, ‘I am
not a fan of tourists trying to turn into de-
velopment workers. Let tourists be tourists.’
During research for past editions of this
guide, however, we met several retired trav-
ellers who acted as ‘direct-aid volunteers’.
They felt there wasn’t time to wait for aid
to reach locals, so they come twice yearly to
fund projects on their own. One, who has
built and overseen many new school proj-
ects, told us: ‘When I fi nish one, I only have
to drive 10 minutes to the next village to fi nd
another in need.’ In To ny W h e el e r ’s B a d
Lands the founder of Lonely Planet writes
about how he and his wife fi nanced the con-
struction of a 300m wooden bridge connect-
ing the fl oating village of Maing Thauk to
land at Inle Lake.
Another charity-minded traveller told us:
‘Never give money. Go in a shop and buy a
kilo of rice for someone. Ask what they need
and get it, not money.’
For further information on volunteering,
see p 370.Giving Gifts &
Donations
Travellers handing out sweets, pens or
money to kids on hiking trails or outside
attractions have had a negative impact (as
you’ll certainly see when begging kids fol-
low you around a pagoda). It’s not the best
way to contribute to those in need, and
many locals will advise you not to give to
children anyway. If you want to hand out
useful items keep this in mind:
» Try to give directly to schools, clinics and village
leaders, not kids. A rewarding way to spend a day
is going to a village school, asking a teacher whatTHE PERILS OF MASS TOURISMDespite the country’s serious problems, there’s a tendency among visitors, expats
and some locals to talk about Myanmar as an ‘unspoiled’ tourist destination, one
where the atmosphere, values and friendliness of ‘old Asia’ prevail – as fairytale-ish
as such an assumption is. One of the reasons for this view is Myanmar’s relatively
tiny number of tourist visitors, in the region of 300,000 per year. Contrast that with
the 14 million who descend on neighbouring Thailand annually for their holidays and
you get an idea of how under-developed tourism is in the country.
While we met many people who would like tourism to continue to grow, we also
spoke with others, such as Thant Myint-U, author of The River of Lost Footsteps, who
told us of their concerns. ‘For years I’ve tried to advocate tourism, as a way to create
jobs for ordinary people and help open up the country,’ says Thant. ‘But now that tour-
ism is beginning to take off and seems set to grow signifi cantly over the coming years, I
think we need to also have a serious public discussion about both the potential dangers
as well as the benefi ts of mass tourism, learning lessons from the experience of nearby
countries, and looking at concrete options for how tourism might best be managed.’
The NLD, who are now cautiously encouraging independent tourists to visit Myan-
mar, recognise the perils of mass tourism and have urged the government and busi-
nesses to avoid further damaging the environment in the process of developing
tourism infrastructure.25