(Photo: Flickr / 23rdstudios.com via CODEPINK)

We have a new blogger in town, and her name is Rebekah Olstad. She recently joined Global Exchange as our Cuba Custom Reality Tours Director.

For her first post, Rebekah briefly revisits the impact of a recent delegation trip to Pakistan.

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Global Exchange Co-Founder Medea Benjamin and delegates from CODEPINK recently completed sections of a peace march to tribal areas of Pakistan that have been limited to foreigners in the past decade. Their mission was to protest and draw awareness to US drone strikes in the area.

One Pakistani woman wrote to the delegation:

“Your coming to Pakistan has touched so many hearts that you cannot even imagine! You were able to do what hundreds of millions of dollars spent by USAID in TV ads to win hearts and minds in Pakistan has failed to achieve!“

By showing on the ground solidarity, the women on this delegation made powerful people to people contacts with Pakistanis, which is especially needed at a time where polls have shown that three out of four Pakistanis view the United States as an enemy.

At Reality Tours we want to applaud the efforts of these women and their allies for spreading a mission of support, solidarity, and concern for the Pakistani people.

TAKE ACTION!

To view current Reality Tours to countries such as Burma, Egypt, and Nicaragua, where you too can make a person-to-person difference, click here.

Gandhi and the Spinning Wheel

Back in 1997 Reality Tours wanted to offer a tour of a lifetime to India that would inspire our members.

When we met Dr. Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and learned about the important work he was doing in the US and India we knew we had a wonderful partner.  We developed a plan; Arun would educate our participants about the philosophy and teachings of Gandhi as we journey to historic and cultural sites important in Gandhi’s life, while also witnessing his living legacy in the work of cooperatives, ashrams, schools and NGO’s throughout India.

Exploring Gandhi's Legacy

We’ve been partnering with Arun ever since. Together our Reality Tours have brought to life the importance of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and self sufficiency.  For 15 years we’ve worked together on what Gandhi referred to as trusteeship.

Arun taught participants and Reality Tours trip leaders that each one of us has a talent that we have acquired or inherited, and that we can use this gift to achieve our goals, for personal gains or in service to others.

Last month, Arun let us know that moving forward the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (GWEI) will be organizing The Gandhi Legacy Tour on its own, apart from Reality Tours. Though a bittersweet moment it was to hear this news and it will be quite a change for us, we recognize that GWEI has grown and built the capacity to support all the administrative details and logisitcs it takes to organize a tour.

Arun and Gandhian Legacy Tour Delegates Bringing in the New Year

Arun and the GWEI have the expertise and the experience to handle the tour.  Reality Tours thus congratulates the GWEI! May the next 15 years of the Gandhian Legacy continue to educate and inspire all who participate to truly “be the change we want to see in the world”!

With almost 100 departures a year, it is easy for you to Meet the People, Learn the Facts, and Make a Difference on a Reality Tour this year!

Advocacy delegates and community walk and talk, Cambodia

Reality Tours has promoted meaningful travel since 1989. We know socially responsible tourism benefits the host economy and that the more local people benefit from tourism, the more likely it is that women receive these benefits. However, there are many negative impacts associated with mass tourism. Sex tourism is an egregious and growing trend that we have witnessed further exploiting and eroding the rights of women and children worldwide.

Because of this Reality Tours became a signatory to ECPAT’s Code of Conduct in 2010.  Tour operators can make a positive difference and do a lot to educate our communities about this growing exploitative industry.

Anti-Human Trafficking Delegation meeting with Gulu Youth Development Association

ECPAT International is a global network of organizations working together for the elimination of child trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography. The network is comprised of 81 groups in 74 countries around the world.

Since signing in 2010, Reality Tours has worked to train ourselves and train our partners and hosts. We’ve updated our materials to include this Code of Conduct, and proactively informed our travelers. This was an important, practical next step for us- especially after partnering with Not For Sale for the past 4 years on our advocacy delegations.

Bringing our public education efforts about global human trafficking back “home”, we’d like to share a new documentary released by ECPAT-USA and  WITNESS that exposes the lack of adequate child sex trafficking laws in the US.  “What I’ve Been Through Is Not Who I Am,” tells the story of Katrina, a formerly sexually exploited teen who was arrested many times. It was only after she accepted an offer of help from a safe haven that she was able to escape.

Please take a moment to learn how legislative reform measures and new approaches can shift our collective response from a punitive one to a restorative one. When you hear Katrina’s personal story you’ll understand that we are jailing children in the US, that there is no such “thing” as a child prostitute, and that it is time to change our system.

Meet the People

If you’re interested in exploring this issue, consider the transformational power of Reality Tours delegations on Human Trafficking. You’ll meet modern day abolitionists first hand and hear stories of struggle and triumph. Join us.

Pachamama Women's Group, Ecuador

Today the world reflects for a moment to honor women. We bear homage to women who have made a difference in their communities; women that have struggled and resisted discrimination and injustice; women that have succeeded in the face of immense social, political and economic odds.  As Global Exchange’s blog said today, “we celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future” and in the quotes of our everyday heroines we acknowledge the struggle and the love that inspires us to organize, educate and sacrifice for our children, community, nation and planet.

Visiting with Lucy from Generacíon, in Lima, Peru

As a human rights advocate and someone blessed to have travelled the globe, I have seen how women across the world bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s material poverty and are usually the most vulnerable socioeconomically.  Indeed despite all the progress the women’s movements have made, we still have a lot of work todo. Just look at the UN Women’s proclamation today and spend a few moments reviewing their decades of  data. Clearly, women are more likely than men to be poor and at risk of hunger because of the systematic discrimination they face in decision-making, politics, education, healthcare, employment, and control of assets that often transcends physical borders.

Girl with Nan in Kabul, Afghanistan

All Reality Tours offer an in-depth look at the reality of destination countries through direct observation and engagement of the host society, however  we are instructive with our program officers to include women as speakers, and include women’s organizations, into the itineraries. For us, this is about balance and inclusion.

Women Cultivating Tea, Nepal

Have women’s lives improved since the downfall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001? To what extent are women represented in the government in South Africa today? Are women and girls benefiting from the new education, health and job training programs that have been launched in Venezuela? Why are women and girls 80% of those being trafficked around the world today? How are economic reforms in Cuba effecting women? These are some of the questions that are explored on upcoming Reality Tours that examine women’s rights and gender discrimination.

Lastly, let me extend my deep admiration and gratitude to some the phenomenal women around the world that work their magic with us as program officers and advisors: Delia (Argentina), Marsha (Afghanistan), Virginia and Maisa (Brazil), Fan (China), Marta (Costa Rica), Isabel and Michelle (Cuba), Karen (Ireland), Annie (Guatemala), Rae (Haiti), Mala (India), Parvaneh (Iran), Faiza (Iraq & Jordan), Tasha (Jamaica), Noelia (Nicaragua), Hwayoung (North Korea), Lucy (Peru), Myesha (South Africa), Wanjinku (Uganda),  and Nhu (Viet Nam). You inspire me!