Can short-term volunteer trips be doing more harm than good?
Volunteer trips abroad, or “voluntourism” as it has come to be known, is one of the tourist industry’s fastest growing sectors. You can’t skim through your social media without seeing another university student with a backpack and a bleeding heart, headed on a two-week trip to build a school.
This growing fad should come as no surprise. As we embrace globalization, the spread of information becomes wider and the world feels smaller. People all over the globe know more about what is going on in other countries than they do about their own backyards. With this knowledge comes—for some—the desire to help those they know are in need. There is little doubt that a volunteer trip abroad can be very rewarding for the volunteer. But it is important to consider how all of this outside help affects the community we are entering.
In her article for the Huffington Post, internet blogger and activist Pippa Biddle warns us of the dangers of “voluntourism.” She recounts her experience volunteering in Tanzania, where her main goal was to build a library. One morning Pippa woke up early to find the construction crew at the work site, taking down all the work the students had done the day before and rebuilding before they woke.
“It turns out.” she says, “that I, a little white girl, am good at a lot of things. I am good at raising money, training volunteers, collecting items, coordinating programs, and telling stories… On paper, I am, by most people’s standards, highly qualified to do international aid. But I shouldn’t be.”
This, in my opinion, is what most young volunteers have failed to realize. The vast majority of young people just don’t have the skills or training to provide concrete support and long-term solutions to communities in developing countries.
One of the main goals of international development work is sustainability—helping communities gain the skills and develop the resources to meet their own needs. If we really wanted to help a community we could train locals in construction or teaching. We could provide jobs for those within the community, stimulating the economy while also making sure the job gets done well.
We aren’t teachers or engineers, we aren’t doctors or agricultural experts. These are jobs that people train for years to do properly. Why do we think we can execute them effectively with one day of orientation? If you wouldn’t be allowed to do it in your home country, what makes you think you can do it somewhere else?
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…develop the resources to meet their own needs.[/pullquote]
Many critics are also finding that working with children in developing countries can do more harm than good. During their time in Cambodia, Detective Eric Meldrum and Al Jazeera reporter Juliana Rufus found that many orphanage directors purposely make the children look as poor as possible to make people more likely to donate or spend money to volunteer. This money, however, never reaches the children.
According to an episode of Doc Zone on CBC, “The growth of orphanages in Cambodia is actually driven by the fact that there are Western volunteers who want placements in orphanages.” No criminal records check, no prior experience with children and no knowledge of the language are required. This can’t be what’s best for the kids.
Why aren’t we working to give these children a hero they can relate to—someone who speaks their language, understands their circumstances and won’t be ripped away from them at the end of the week—instead of perpetuating the ‘white saviour’ complex that already exists?
Keeping these facts in mind, I urge everyone considering a volunteer trip abroad to do their research. Choose an organization that is a real partner in the community. Make sure they work in the background to encourage community independence, and make sure you’re choosing a project that does more than make you feel good about yourself. Volunteer trips can be great eye-openers, resumé boosters and can even be good for the community if executed properly. I simply urge you to consider; perhaps your presence in a developing country isn’t the God-send you were trained to believe it is.