I once read on an October 2007 issue of Newsweek about “poorists”. These are tourists who forego the highly comfortable yet highly predictable tour itinerary for the globalized parts of the world. They actually pay money so they could visit impoverished and grimy places like Soweto in South Africa, the slums of New York, and one among the largest slum areas in Asia- the slums of Mumbai in India.

A Brazilian slum-tour company claims to have booked 650 tourists for a single month. The tour has its own dark charms- the prices are cheap compared to that of the regular travel packages to popular tourist destinations; the relatively well-off ‘”poorists” get a chance to see for themselves what it is like to have limited means for survival- something that they could hardly imagine possible.

The article got me thinking about Bono and how he started, years and years ago with his advocacies for the poor and the oppressed. He started with something similar; he and his wife tried living for a month with a village of natives in South Africa. It was a life changing experience that got Bono using his rock star charm and smarts. He helped bring about and is still bringing about a lot of good change for third world countries.

I know I need not go on any slum-tour to get my epiphany… but I wish other tourists would think about taking the alternate route to a more rewarding experience.