Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and global free tree policies on agriculture and
modernization) and modernization influences are exacerbating health prob-
lems and poverty in rural communities around the UNESCO World Heritage
Site of San Miguel de Allende and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de
Atotonilco (Advisory Body Evaluation, UNESCO, 2008). Food is a physical
necessity and a cultural good; it adds to cultural identity, social well-being
and a sense of community through the rituals and traditions that revolve
around the production and consumption of food. The NGO Apoyo a Gente
Emprendedora AC is a small, locally-based NGO engaged in economic devel-
opment, microlending and community health. In addition to microfinancing
small enterprises in the villages it works with, it engages in health initiatives
and education (to counter the lack of understanding about the nutritional
benefits of Coca Cola, for instance), and financial education (e.g. to counter
forays by the formal banking sector to lend high interest loans to impover-
ished villagers).
Some rural residents around Atotonilco prepare and sell food to visiting
religious pilgrims and tourists, and some of Apoyo's microlending goes
toward encouraging the development of such linkages. The basic lack of
infrastructure and amenities in these communities indicates that much com-
munity development work is needed before PPT may be feasible to under-
take, and would require careful assessment against other forms of possible
community development. Microlending by Apoyo has started to create suc-
cess stories for local residents, helped by funding and health-related assis-
tance from its networking with other locally-based NGOs like Feed the
Hungry (Apoyo a Gente Emprendedora AC, n.d.). Its food kitchens and rural
activities are facilitated greatly by American and other foreign expats and
retirees in San Miguel who contribute volunteer time and donations. The
town hosts a large retirement and expatriate population (approx. 8500-
10,000) of mostly Americans, followed by Canadians, Europeans and other
nationalities. Visiting academics and students are also invited to assist with
these grass-roots initiatives as well.
One might thus ask: What role does volunteer tourism play in sustainable
community development through tourism (the online newsletter at www.
voluntourism.org/newsletter.html offers useful information on voluntour-
ism). McGehee and Santos (2005: 760) describe volunteer tourists as having
'discretionary time and income to go out of the regular sphere of activity to
assist others in need'. Brown and Lehto's study (2005) grouped voluntourists
into two groups: 'volunteer-minded' individuals who may be more driven by
altruism, and the 'vacation-minded' tourists who are more attracted by the
leisure offerings of a destination. Emerging study into this new area suggests
that voluntourism offers the potential to assist in poverty alleviation and
community development, but much further research is needed to understand
this activity, especially in the context of poverty alleviation (see Benson, 2011;
McGehee, 2012; Wearing, 2001; see Chapter 4).
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