My friend Matthew Snyder wrote this blog today. It gives a good insight to what The World Race is all about (or isn’t about)…
I’m kind of disgusted with tourism. I’m in the process of
creating the October 2010 World Race Route page and as I’m researching
facts on a lot of these countries, I can’t help but feel like they’re
being neglected. I mean, most of these websites are talking about how
beautiful the countries are in Africa and all of the touristy things
you can do there. They ignore the history. The ignore the poverty in
the countryside. They ignore the millions of lives dying from
starvation and disease.
creating the October 2010 World Race Route page and as I’m researching
facts on a lot of these countries, I can’t help but feel like they’re
being neglected. I mean, most of these websites are talking about how
beautiful the countries are in Africa and all of the touristy things
you can do there. They ignore the history. The ignore the poverty in
the countryside. They ignore the millions of lives dying from
starvation and disease.
I‘m really disturbed by it.
W
hy?
Because that’s what the world sees. When the world looks at these
countries it sees all of the nice hotels and fun places to go
snorkeling. It doesn’t see the twelve-year-old girls in the huts two
miles outside of town that can’t hold in their own urine because
they’ve been raped so much. It doesn’t see the four-year-old boy that
walks seven miles to get food for lunch and dinner. It doesn’t see the
men enslaved in the kitchen of their fancy hotels. It doesn’t see the
injustice littering the lives surrounding the glamor.
hy? Because that’s what the world sees. When the world looks at these
countries it sees all of the nice hotels and fun places to go
snorkeling. It doesn’t see the twelve-year-old girls in the huts two
miles outside of town that can’t hold in their own urine because
they’ve been raped so much. It doesn’t see the four-year-old boy that
walks seven miles to get food for lunch and dinner. It doesn’t see the
men enslaved in the kitchen of their fancy hotels. It doesn’t see the
injustice littering the lives surrounding the glamor.
Tourism sees what it wants to see.
And I can only sit here and thank God that I know the truth, that
the World Race isn’t a nice vacation around the world. I’m glad that
the World Race is something that pulls people out of their comfort
zones and asks them to live in the huts with those girls, to walk the
seven miles with that little boy so that he can eat, and to do
something about the injustice in the world. Because, really, World
Racers get really frustrated with tourist. When given the option to go
snorkeling or eat lunch with the man without legs, we’ll choose the
latter.
the World Race isn’t a nice vacation around the world. I’m glad that
the World Race is something that pulls people out of their comfort
zones and asks them to live in the huts with those girls, to walk the
seven miles with that little boy so that he can eat, and to do
something about the injustice in the world. Because, really, World
Racers get really frustrated with tourist. When given the option to go
snorkeling or eat lunch with the man without legs, we’ll choose the
latter.
Tourism sucks.
*sorry to the girl in this picture. i don’t
know who you are but you were on Google when i typed in ‘tourists
ignoring beggars’. thank you for illustrating my point.*
