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?

It's true that there are problems with some of these programmes.

But, what's the alternative?

Apathy?

yes, you missed lots of 'stuff' eternalhope

Eternal yep you have missed stuff.

Kitchenandjumble. I think the 'outrage' is the OP's assertion that blonde 'Flickr-haired' girls are of no use in challenging situations.

Procrastinator. Nice

The substantive issue is important peas, I agree.

A lot of people are focussing on the 'flick hair' stuff and not really the main point. Do these children add real value when they go out to deprived villages; is it the best use of charitable donatiions? In my view the answer to those questions is 'no'.

If children want to earn money themselves by being perfectly upfront by what they are using the money for or parents want to pay for their children's air fares that is fine,.

If kids are collecting for their air fares in a way that confuses donors into thinking that they're actually donating to a third world charity or pressures people ie by being present shaking buckets at every single checkout in the supermarket (and it is very difficult to say no even if you can't really afford it) then that is not fine.

peas i have no idea what the is for

I don't disagree about the air fare point. Of course the main issue is hugely complex and worthy of proper debate but I also find it hard to ignore teenage girls, no matter where they are educated, being written off as superficial bimbos as the op has tried to do. Sexism needs challenging wherever we may encounter it.

Procrastinator.
I find your comments towards a new poster aggressive and sarcastic. That's what the is for.

Exotic - seriously?- so would it be ok for vulnerable kids in Britain to be cared for by revolving parties of Chinese or Indian school kids on a field trip?

Of course not.

Sounds a wonderful idea to me. How wonderful to have a few in each school, nursery etc to play with the DCs and get to know each other-only what teenagers from the UK would be doing if they went to China or India.

DCs particularly like teenagers helping-they are more on their level.

I am a bit surprised that anyone would turn down an 18yr old from China who was offering their services for a week-I wouldn't.

Justfloating - I broadly agree, but i think there is also a responsibility of the school i endorsing and promoting the program - confusing children and their parents into thinking that this is a charity program and not an adventure holiday.

Somerset - the alternative is educating children (and adults) here about global issues, and about being smart donors - which means assessing the organisations they give money to in the same way they assess their investments.

I think that Chinese and Indian children would particularly like fashionable blondes-they would have a novelty value!

8pm in middle-class land.

Ring ring. Ring ring. (that's the 'phone by the way)
Morgan: "hello?"
Another school mother (Latest range rover driving, country pile occupying, mother of flicky haired blonde Jack Wills wearing, ugg-boot clad child. Dad 80's pop star, you get the picture): "Morgan daaaahling, Tiggy here. Listen, Flicky Felicity has got chance to go on trip of lifetime. Yup, to see that orphanage she and her friends raised all that money for, to see what the money was spent on. We think it would be fabulous for FF to go to Africa and see that not everyone lives like we do - giggle, giggle - They want to go in the October half term for a 10 day recce, but they need some cash to pay for their tickets. Can we ask you and Mr Morgan for a contribution?

Seriously, all the people who said IBU. You'd be getting your cheque books out at this point would you?

You might well be onto something there-send some to Kenya and send some Kenyan teenagers here-they can both engage with local children.

'Sexism needs challenging wherever we may encounter it.'

I couldn't agree more. I just don't consider the OP sexist. More importantly, some posters seem to be trying to deflect attention from the issues raised by the OP by focusing disproportionate attention (and indeed, outrage) on the phrasing of the OP, rather than the content.

Morgan. You're experiences of other mothers at school are not typical though. Most people on these boards don't Move in those sorts of circles.

Fair enough Kitchen but personally I thought it was sexist
[shrugs]

I think that some of you are very unfair-the most terrible prejudices are coming out.

But Morgan you have the choice to say no.

The One - you seriously think we said yes?

Exotic -

The whole point though is that these are not schools/nurseries they are orphanages - where children who have lost their parents, or been abandoned by their family, are living.

You wouldn't see anything wrong with bringing in a changing cast of untrained teenagers into UK care homes to work with low levels of supervision for two weeks at a time with children who had lost their parents to disaster, war or illness?

Wonderful idea

Morgan. The One said 'have' not 'had'. I didn't think she thought you'd agreed

I have a terrible prejudice against vulnerable children in institutions being cared for by untrained short term volunteers.

We have a fantastic track record of caring for looked-after children in the UK don't we

There is a valid point in the OP's post but, I do think it wrong to use "girls" and "blonde" as perjorative terms as the OP has done by singling them out for ridicule somehow by terming them as such (why else did she mention those attributes? I don't think she meant it as a compliment). Nobody can help their colouring or gender, nor can they change it, and so it is something that should not be used as a stick to beat someone with. Had the OP just talked about "people" asking for sponsorship to go out to the third world then I would have had more sympathy. I am also not quite sure about her holding their parents' choice of school against them.

Kitchen that is because sexism and prejudice based purely on colouring needs to be challenged wherever it is found.

My point was that you have a choice. No one is forced to contribute and as I said before, people that care how their money is used will usually ask for clarification.

Those that don't care won't be upset anyway.