Stage 14: Inspired
Stage 14: Inspired
The Episode
When we travel, many of us come back with more photos on our phones and souvenirs in our bags. We may feel a deeper shift within us.
We have seen things that we cannot unsee.
Slums
Environmental damage
The remains of war
Or sometimes it’s what we don’t see.
Clean water
Healthy bodies
People that look like us
Many of us return knowing we need to do something bigger, something larger than our own tiny selves.
We help communities that touch us or start building our own.
We make the effort to learn each other's languages and share local stories.
We see that people are in need and ask them how it is best to help them.
We have crossed a point of no return. We can no longer remain in the ignorance that harbors at home.
We have to do better; we know we can.
This could be as simple as giving more compliments to people, being kinder.
Or it could be enough to evoke a humanitarian career.
But ultimately, how can we make sure that we are helping, and not falling into the lens of white saviorism. How can we construct true conversations around areas that are in need without tokenizing them.
In this episode, we will talk to travelers who were inspired to make the world a better place.
We Discuss
How travel inspires us to make the world a better place
How travel can help make the world a better place
Why it’s important to volunteer
Why it is essential to give back
What it is like to do an Americorps program
Why Americorps is the best way to travel
Why it is important to learn languages
Why languages need to be preserved
Why losing a language is detrimental
Why languages need to be saved
What is the best way to learn a language
Why are learning languages important
How to learn languages quickly
How to travel and work
How to work abroad
What is white saviorism?
How do we prevent white saviorism?
Where does white saviorism come from?
How to support local economies
How to support local education
How to give back to your home country
Why representation is essential to traveling abroad
Why communities are essential to traveling
Why the travel industry needs to
Why group trips foster a greater community
How storytelling is a form of giving back
Why storytelling is essential to building communities
Raymond Blakney- Live Lingua
Raymond was born into a long traditions of givers. People who gave their time, their skills, and their purpose to help others. When it was his time to give back, he wanted to leave a lasting impact. So he started saving languages. He developed a website that shared some of the worlds most rare and unusual languages and gives free access to everyone around the world to learn them. Preserving a language is saving more than syntaxes, grammar, and vocabulary: it is saving a way we see the world. Raymond and his wife have continued to share their love of languages by creating an immersive language learning school, Live Lingua.
You can learn your next language with them at Live Lingua.
Ann Davis- Venture with Impact
Ann thought she didn’t have much time. At 23, she had a seizer on a run and then found out she had brain cancer. Ann realized how everything could be taken from you in a second. She didn’t want to waste the time she was given once she recovered. She wanted to find a way to optimize her skills while still being able to travel the world. That is how Venture with Impact was created. Ann found a way to have professionals work abroad and give back to the community. They didn’t have to leave their job to live out the other dreams they had. With over four locations, Venture with Impact is creating a cycle where professionals can offer their skills to local communities who need it and have an immersive cultural experience.
Kat Nejera- DeManos Con Amore
Kat loves her homeland of Honduras. She would visit there as a kid. But when she started to grow up, she noticed that it didn’t have all the amenities that her home back in New York and that the country had some serious corruption and violence issues. She knew she had to give back. In a flash of inspiration, she decided to create De Manos Con Amor- Of Hands With Love. She noticed the two most vulnerable populations- women and children- and created an empowering system to help raise both populations out of poverty.
Evita Robinson
Evita got bitten by the travel bug the moment she landed in Paris. Her love for travel took her all over the world from Thailand to Tokyo. But she noticed something…not many other people looked like her. and when she came back home, her family just couldn’t relate to what she had gone through. So she created a little facebook group of other black travelers she knew and before she knew it, that tiny group turned into a world wide movement. She didn’t know she was answering the call of so many other black travelers who were looking for people to connect with, travel with, and explore with. That is how Nomadness was born. Evita now puts on group trips and festivals honoring and celebrating the black travel experience.
Here is a link to her TED talk.
Resources
Lost in Translation: Hidden Brain
Honduras Travel Advisory: US Gov.
Most Dangerous Cities: World Atlas
White Savior Industrial Complex: The Atlantic
Unpacking White Saviorism: Medium
How to Tell if You have a White Saviorism Complex: HipLatina