To think voluntourism needs to be called out?

Yes, that is exactly the saying I was referring too. Catchy! Well done.

That they allow others (strangers, undoubtedly unqualified) to make their own opinion a decision (unwanted/unsolicited…I didn’t write the op, you realise that?) upon their words? 😁

Talking about a fool 😏. I will pass! Have a good life 👌

You know what they say about fools and their money...

Everyone chooses how to spend their money 👍🏼

Volunteering is good...when done properly.part of a chain moving aid from air drop zones to good distribution centres... great.

Packing up emergency kits, tents , clothes ina warehouse in UK to be sent to areas if natural disasters...great.

Helping sort and distribute food bank donations? Good.

Helping raise funds and donations for baby banks and shelters for people living less than 10 miles away... perfect.

But anding teenagers across the world to do skilled tasks in order to "help" the poor? "Teaching English" to 7 year olds... Building walls in schools? Taking readings in the jungle for some vague research aim whilst hiking to see a waterfall and swim...

Nah, won't be funding that, thanks.

Agree with you op

This happens a lot in my dads home country. Apparently people are so thankful. Well yes some of them are as they are part of the scam

and they know how to please westerners acting so grateful just to be in their presence

The ethical side has been commented on and I agree that it's beyond cringeworthy.

My point - why would I part-pay for an 18-year-old who is not my family and who I barely know, to go off on a trip/holiday that I myself would love to do but can't afford?

Who do these Crowdfund Requesters think they are, I mean c'mon, what an audacity this is 😂😂😂.

I have a friend who paid a hefty sum to participate in one of these holidays, in practice she was telling grandmother's looking after grand children whose parents had died of AIDS to feed them more as they were not hitting their growth targets. They were too old and tired to work more. She came home with very bad TB and PTSD.

Completely agree with your post.
I'd be more inclined to support a scheme providing micro-loans - especially to women - they seem to be effective and the percetage of loans repaid is very high apparently. Also makes a very real difference to the families involved.

On the subject of donations towards teen volunteering travel.

I was once co-erced into giving money towards flights, being under the impression that the kids were doing something hugely practical in a rural community. However on interaction with the kid they told me they were looking forward to going body boarding. I am standing there, hard earned cash in hand, being told stories by proud parents with the big houses on the high street, asking me to fund this trip. I can't even afford petrol to the airport. Never again.

True…you probably had it done many other times when as a younger person, you were « helping » in any other way…or do you think you were really doing it? Did anyone around you drilled into you that you weren’t helping?

No, the pretence isn’t the problem at all. The companies trying to make profit and abusing populations are. Volunteering is good. Profit orientated companies, not so much.

Agree, that’s a completely different story, 16 year olds know have no Corrientes and nothing to add other than what they have found on the net which anyone ( even people living in poverty) can do

I did try it.
Many times, backpacking for months on end. Brilliant!

What I didn't do was travel as an experience for me under the guise of "helping" others.

It's the pretence that is the problem. Or ignorance, for those who really believe they're helping.

Then it will probably be upgraded to equitable volunteering.

Read, very useful.

so the cause is profit/money really and not volunteerism. Like many thing, it started with a good idea, been used as such and then some companie(s?) have used it for their own benefits.

I wouldn’t slag voluntourism still though…more the org which were in charge of these particular fiasco.

Yep same thing happens in universities. So they’ve come up with this thing called ‘ethical volunteering’

In regard to ‘not understanding’ the orphanage point:

https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog/orphanage-volunteering/

https://www.savethechildren.org.au/about-us/save-the-childrens-charity-work/orphanage-tourism-and-voluntourism

1. Parents cannot afford to feed their children.
2. Volunteers want pictures of themselves playing with a group of pretty children - not possible if the children are living with their families.
3. Rather than provide support to keep families together, orphanages are set up and parents told they are the only option (or worse - see Haiti orphanages).
4. Volunteers pay thousands to spend a couple of weeks playing with the orphanage children (all carefully filmed - no concerns about plastering children in care all over social media the way there would be in the UK).
5. Profit!

As the links show, volunteers in many orphanages in developing nations are not checked in any way.

As for constantly changing carers not causing emotional damage, would you be happy if your children’s nursery changed staff every two weeks with no continuity of care? You can ‘nah’ as much as you like - experts in early childhood development don’t agree.

The first two points are addressed by actual experts in the links I’ve already posted.

Orphanages - many children are not orphans but funding them living with their parents doesn’t draw paying volunteers like the opportunity to frolic for social media with a group of photogenic children —-> not understanding that

Useful piece below, @laraitopbanana
It's from 2018, but note in particular that the estimated funding received was in excess of 100 million dollars, and then consider the motivation such a sum will provide to those whose interest certainly isn't the needy

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/20/health/haiti-orphanages/index.html

I see where you are coming from but you kinda state things that are not of your choosing…

1. ecological damage from flying in unskilled labour that could be hired locally —-> same kids will take planes to go in holidays instead
2. Economic distortion - volunteers doing work that could be done by paid locals (for a fraction of their flight / accommodation costs) thereby reducing the amount of paid work available ——> probably will not get done as funding comes from people sending their precious
3. Orphanages - many children are not orphans but funding them living with their parents doesn’t draw paying volunteers like the opportunity to frolic for social media with a group of photogenic children —-> not understanding that.
4. Emotional damage to the children from having a constantly changing set of carers who love bomb them for a couple of weeks then vanish. —-> emotional damage??? Na.
5. None of the volunteers are DBS checked - the children are at risk of abuse. —-> volunteers are normally dbs checked if working with children. If not working with children then of course not necessirly.

Could it be better? Yes of course. Is it Western fault? Yes of course. Is it volunteerism fault? Na. Is volunteerism bad…still not convinced that what it brings to the pop is not outweighing the bad you talk about.

Orphanages - many children are not orphans but funding them living with their parents doesn’t draw paying volunteers like the opportunity to frolic for social media with a group of photogenic children

It can sometimes be even worse than that, @CandidHedgehog
You're probably already aware, but if not look up Haiti, where families were actually paid to give up their children to "orphanages", where they were then used as funding bait

Already listed several times but:

1. ecological damage from flying in unskilled labour that could be hired locally
2. Economic distortion - volunteers doing work that could be done by paid locals (for a fraction of their flight / accommodation costs) thereby reducing the amount of paid work available
3. Orphanages - many children are not orphans but funding them living with their parents doesn’t draw paying volunteers like the opportunity to frolic for social media with a group of photogenic children
4. Emotional damage to the children from having a constantly changing set of carers who love bomb them for a couple of weeks then vanish.
5. None of the volunteers are DBS checked - the children are at risk of abuse.

In my view it also encourages a ‘white saviour’ / racist / colonialist attitude in the voluntourist who is told they are needed (with the implication the locals can’t manage for themselves). Not appropriate in the 21st century to say the least.

Edited to say: Not a finalised list - I’’m sure there’s more

Depressing, too, to see the widespread thought and research that's gone into this - some of which has been linked - dismissed as "a few Guardian articles"

I'd have thought anyone with genuine concern for the disadvantaged would at least have read widely enough to appreciate the issues in the round, but apparently not

A pp gave an example of a headteacher encouraging volunteering in the UK.
We live in quite an affluent area but there will be loads of people who can't afford the trips even if the student themself is fundraising for part of the cost (tbh most of the fundraising round here involves capital and/or skills from the parent anyway)
There are learning opportunities and volunteering opportunities close to home that can also be beneficial to a student and the charity or cause.

I would look up and contact the company running the (dreadful) scheme as a teen advising grown adults is ridiculous. What is the company?!