My travel companion sent me an email today saying that she had booked us for a guided tour called the "slum tour". My brain is in overdrive. Why am I so excited to go on this tour? It seems so wrong and exploitive. Is this ethical? Is it ethical for me to want to go on this tour in the first place?
I am not sure what this says about me as a person, as a mother of 2 kids. I will willingly pay money to walk through a place where children are dying of hunger on the streets. Do we simply walk by and mumble "how sad" under our breaths? How can you keep walking and not stop?
In my mind right now I picture the irony of the wealthy tourist on this tour, with their Swiss Army back packs and their HD multi-lensed Canon camera hanging around their necks, staring at crowds of poor, hungry, and disparished people. Yet I can't wait.
Perhaps it's that I can't wait to finally see with my own eyes the plight of those that you simply read and hear about. I remember World Vision ads growing up. I had to change the channel.
Now I will be faced with it. I will put myself in the midst of it, safely, well-guided by my paid tour guide. Will that change me as a person? Of course it will. Maybe this justifies the whole thing. Something has to.
Note to myself. Hug my kids twice tonight.
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