Voluntourism- Is it good or bad?

Below is my comment on the article of "Vacationing like Brangelina", TIME dated on August 13, 2007.

“Seeing is believing”. Volunteer work is not the exception for this old cliché. I believe that many people around the world want to help those who need help in the developing countries, but cannot do so because of time, money and other constraints they have in relation to their family matters and company responsibilities.
In this sense, volunteer tourism could give them a glimpse of harsh realities of volunteer works through some intensive works in the tour in such developing countries as Uganda, Cambodia and Thailand if they participate in it with shorter time and lesser money than they actually get into volunteer work.
I understand the critic’s saying that combining volunteer work and sightseeing is very difficult. But the important thing is to move forward to build better environments for troubled communities on earth if only a little. Voluntourism could help for that.