To think if teenage girls from a private school can afford plane tickets ...

[Morgansports]

.... To visit the orphanage in Africa that they have been fundraising for, then the orphanage would be better served by just receiving the money they spent on their tickets. Seriously, what actual use to the orphanage is a group of hair-flicking, ugg boot wearing blondes???

And the bit that made me laugh is that other parents at the school were asked to help fundraise for the girls' trip.

AIBU?

[ethelb]

yanbu I hate this stuff. Like the work is only valuable if a western white person turns up.

[ScreamingManAndGoryOn]

Yes YABU.
Visiting the orphanage will be an amazing life lesson for them in how other people live. Learning about something in abstract isn't the same as seeing things for yourself.

Them fundraising for the trip means they don't have to dip into the funds raised by them for the orphanage.

[freddiefrog]

YANBU

My friend is doing a sponsored bike ride in Peru.

Why not do the bike ride here and save the plane fare/accommodation costs?

[peasabovesticks]

I find your op quite sexist to be honest. Just because they are young girls with blonde hair doesn't mean they won't buckle down and do some meaningful work at a place which really needs all the help it can get.

[Procrasstinator]

i cant imagine the african children will get anything uselful out of their visit TBH is

[Procrasstinator]

oh please peas in reality there is nothing they can do that will help them...

[mignonette]

I'm sick of local newspaper appeals for people going on various 'fund raising' cycle/walk/climbing trips in exotic locations. When asked, the cost of the trip which has to be fund raised too or paid for is pretty much the same as what has been 'fund raised' for the cause.

If you want to be charitable, just raise money or privately donate.

And yes, I agree. Every time I hear about a gap year student heading off to 'teach' in a developing country school I think one of two things-

1. what have the poor sods done to deserve this;
   
2. why, when our kids are taught by graduate professionals, do we think it is acceptable for kids in poorer countries to be taught by gap yr students?

[peasabovesticks]

How can you be absolutely certain of that Procrasstinator?

[Procrasstinator]

because it is beyond the realms of what school children can acheive

[mignonette]

People in developing/poorer countries are not there to provide life and learning lessons for rich (by comparison) westerners.

Colonialism not quite post yet is it?

[Morgansports]

Screaming - undoubtedly a life lesson for them - but seriously wouldnt the money be better spent on poverty stricken babies in an African orphanage than a life lesson for a group of extraordinarily privileged kids? I think so

[Procrasstinator]

and its fairly patronising to think that Africa needs help from Europeans to be able to recover...

[ScreamingManAndGoryOn]

So fundraising should only be done on the quiet?

I have a good friend who has been funraising for a school in Somalia for years. She goes over there quite a bit to see how they are all getting on and both sides enjoy the visits.

How do you know whether the visit is or isn't beneficial to the people they've fundraised for? Its a bit arrogant to think you know what someone is thinking.

[Procrasstinator]

this is becoming a more popular understanding of foreign aid to africa

matadornetwork.com/bnt/is-foreign-aid-killing-africa/

[SoupDragon]

That's rather blinkered.

They can play with the children who may well be neglected in that respect due to staff numbers etc.

I'm fairly certain are they are able to clean, freeing up more qualified staff for other things.

[Procrasstinator]

and this is the most useful generic Africa charity i have come across

www.selfhelpafrica.org/selfhelp/Main/Home.asp?sCountryCode=GB&gclid=CMiumLbFmbMCFczHtAodHVAA7w

[SoupDragon]

Perhaps seeing it first hand will make them want to raise more money in future.

[mignonette]

Get with the programme Screaming.

Fund raising is one thing- using it to provide 'life lessons', gap years and lovely exotic cycling/mountain climbing experiences for (often) bored middle years people is another.

[Morgansports]

Procrass - exactly. And pease, What is sexist about what I said? What earthly use are schoolgirls in an orphanage? No physical strength, nursing or teaching skills. What a disgusting waste of money.

[seeker]

YANBU. But it's not just private schools that do this.

[peasabovesticks]

They are not school children though are they? They are usually at least 18 years old.
I have a friend who supports an orphanage her friends run and they welcome all the help they can get. A girl, whether she's blonde or not is capable of sitting with a young child and listening to them read, teaching basic english or digging latrines.
I don't see the harm and stand by my comment that this thread is sexist

[Woozley]

It really depends. I would judge it on a project by project basis and on the individual involved, not on ageist, sexist, classist stereotypes.