Welcome to another Mere Mortals interview. Sally Hetherington is an author, CEO and recipient of The Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). Sally's backstory is of travelling to Cambodia in her 20's and learning of the negative effects of voluntourism. To make up for her own inadvertent contribution to this she began working with local Cambodians to register the charity organisation, Human and Hope Association Cambodia (HHA).

This interview began with a detailed look at her backstory and the tangible effects of voluntourism on the local communities. Sally provided some interesting anecdotes of her own failures and subsequent learnings of helping on the ground. This naturally led onto the topic of volunteering in general. How one can start out making sure that good intentions are actually good and actually lead to positive benefits. To finish off Sally answered some questions on travel, goal setting and how she read 170 books in one year!

Timeline:

0:00 - Introduction to Sally & overview

1:02 - Mere Mortal Moment

2:45 - Sally's Cambodian backstory

8:09 - What is voluntourism?

10:54 - Frustrated with crappy resumes

17:11 - The backstory of voluntourism

20:24 - Empowering and supporting locals

31:16 - Prioritising your volunteering role

34:16 - Clarifying intentions, red flags and resilience

38:40 - Managing dichotomies within the charity sector

44:40 - Influential books, travel and goal setting

48:13 - Reading 170 books and bookstagram

52:54 - Sally's book, charity and useful links

As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!

Sally's Links:

Charity Website: https://humanandhope.org

Charity Brand: https://hopeonpurpose.org/

Sally's Website: https://www.sallyhetherington.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallymareehetherington/

About Mere Mortals:

Striving for excellence through life's lessons. Daily uploads @ 5pm AEST. 4M's, Book Reviews, Musings, Bonus, Themed Podcast, Interviews & Meanderings.

Connect with Mere Mortals:

Website: https://www.meremortalsmedia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mere_mortals_media/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/Meremortalsmedia