Heather talks about her experiences as a volunteer working abroad and identifies the differences between volunteering and touring.

Heather Ruiz is a journalist, activist, and humanitarian. She spent thirteen months in rural North Africa investigating and designing sustainable service. Heather's efforts helped create the first community co-op school in Mauritania, and she used music and English classes in two other schools as a successful platform to expand paradigms beyond the social caste system mentality. Her article "Voluntourism: More Harm Than Good" generated a global discourse about responsible service and thousands of shares.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx