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?

That's interesting, Fellowship. Did you bog the charity and/or this story?

Ha! Smithson! You should tell that to the bloody government. I often wonder who's supposed to foot the bill for training, safety checks and supervision for all these 'volunteers' they're so keen to force into big society?

Smithson I find your attitude quite disturbing. Anyone with half a brain knows that safety checks/training needs to be done. However, volunteering is one of the more civilised aspects of this country and I'm pleased your views don't represent the majority. Your apparent mistrust of all volunteers based on the few rogue ones you may or may not have met is not nice.

Felicitywascold: i work with very damaged people and my experiences with well meaning volunteers are common amongst my colleagues too. I also teach this stuff so be as disturbed as you like, i know what i am talking about. At one point in my life i was phoned more or less monthly by film students wanting to make gritty black and white documentaries about some of the people I was working with. All voluntary of course. All of them expected me to be thrilled and were really cross with me even after I had long conversations about how filming people in these situations undermined their right to privacy/ confidentiality and so on and so forth. This thread is about orphans who I would call vulnerable and consequently there should be care taken about who is given access to them and why. tree planting? pond clearing? tea making for older peoples' lunch clubs. go for your life. all good stuff.

Smithson. I agree. volunteering can be great. I have been a volunteer and managed volunteers, but it needs to be done with the same discipline as employing someone to do a job, which is ultimately for the benefit of the people you are serving.

To be honest, even tree planting is usually symbolic volunteer activity - if you want to keep the trees alive you need long-term staff to manage the forest. Although no body is harmed, it is a nice day out and the conservation organisation hopes to get more financial supporters.

Felicitywascold - I don't think it is about 'rogue' volunteers, it is about the fact that it would be irresponsible for organisations to put well-meaning but unskilled volunteers in positions where they are out of their depth. That is more important than being 'nice'.

Neither of the two well meaning flicking hair blondes were natural blondes. Perhaps they should have stayed mousy and at home. They raised their money by writing to their parents' in a well-honed reciprical agreement amongst their set. Neither have any intention of any continuing support of their gap year projects; it was just what all their friends did in their gap year.

Neither had any insight into the issues raised on this thread and both had loads of wonderful photographs of cute African orphans. Princess Anne has objected to photos of her doling out gruel to African children and I have always admired her for that.

I am interested to see if anyone has got any ideas to answer the original question- i.e what could the air fares be better spent on? OK so my computer programme idea was a bit crap but i wonder if we can come up with an educational programme that the kids could do that would teach them some critical skills and awareness of the ramifications economically, socially, ethically of this kind of voluntourism? Its really relevant to them as it is so prevalent in gap year kids. Plus if the project could get them doing some of their own fundraising (that doesn't involve hassling their friends' parents) to raise the equivalent air fares that they would have originally spent, wouldn't that give them something to really be proud of/ get behind?

obviously i meant the money raised would actually go on their airfares but to a charitable project of their choice!

long term sponsorship of individual children through education via the UK school?

But would the newly qualified doctor/nurse/teacher chose to work in the home country or to come and work over here for the NHS. The NHS appears to be staffed by staff from African countries. I don't know.

True words in the jest,Boerwar.Leave it now Procrastinator...you know and have seen much more than they could ever imagine.People become wilfully blinded when their motifs are shown to not be so pure after all.

You can't be saying charity's worthless if motives impure? [hconfused]

nope course not. just saying that most people have political, professional and personal reasons for wanting to volunteer for a project (whether they are aware of this or not) and a good volunteer will have interrogated WHY they want to do something (or will be supported to do this by an adviser) so that they can locate their motives and ego in the support they are wanting to give. This helps everyone concerned pinpoint whether these motives are compatible with the beneficiaries well being or not.

@garlicbaguette- tis really scary what this govt. is doing in terms of undermining crucial services for vulnerable people by pushing the big society agenda etc. With the NHS reforms and such the contracts for services will go to the organisations offering the cheapest deal- and this means Virgin.homeless.com or whatever will get the commission because they will be willing to keep their costs down by using volunteers. Whereas the current services for the very vulnerable- which can be expensive as all their staff are fully trained- will not be able to compete.

garlicbaguette I blogged and tweeted for the charity, yes. Did I blog my thoughts on the graspy nature of going en masse at the charities expense and my thoughts on it being self promotion gone too far? Hell no!

In the blogging community I get lumped in with, you learn pretty quick not to rock the boat and disagree with your fellow blogger. Or those who are seen as higher up the food chain than you are. You smile politely and bitch in private

The same time as the first blogger went over it was seen as out of order not to have a Twibbon and tweet about said visit, along with fawning gestures and much sanctifying of aforementioned blogger, so to say it out loud on my blog that I found the whole thing leaves a bad taste would have practically had me hung drawn and quartered at the next available blogger event.

I don't doubt that most go over with the best of intentions, but I think, as someone else suggested with all these Privileged westerners going over and looking sad and angst ridden (very Lady Di), the money would be far better spent sponsoring a child, or putting in a water pipe, or supplying education to ward off the sort of stories where some women in some cultures believe that sleeping with a virgin will cure AIDS. Education, that's what's needed, not us lot traipsing over for our own reasons.

Those who volunteer for long stretches, get really involved, yes those are saints- the likes of Bloggers or Cheryl Cole going for a mere day or two and looking sad- not so much.

Smithson -

In terms of better use of the money, I think you have to separate out the learning experience for the students and the idea of a charitable donation to help the poor. At the moment it is all rolled into one.

I think it would be great if more UK schools could do exchange visits with schools outside Europe ; Africa and Asia etc... Whether this is reciprocal two week trips for a group, or a regular year-abroad type arrangement with Rotary etc...

The students would spend time with students in poorer countries as peers, not as "pretend aid workers" - it is a mutual cultural exchange- it wouldn't be with the poorest of the poor, but shouldn't be with the prime ministers children either!

There might be an element of cross-subsidy between the schools - to pay for trips back this way, or for facilities at the host school, depending on their priority.

Fundraising for charity should be seperate and follow a research process like you suggest - teach kids how to research charities, what questions to ask. Make it a project to pick the right cause etc...

This was my argument- the answer to everything is money. I think it a very bad example to tell DCs that all they need to do is send money and leave it to the experts. I want them to give what is far more important, their time and personal commitment, to think that we all need to help in a practical way and not just salve our consciences with money and then walk by and ignore.
I don't see why they have to go to Africa- if they were on going, with a long term commitment they could do a lot with vulnerable people in their own country- thankfully many do.

That's very well put exotic.

To those asking what they can do instead, how about TeamMNCatapult, MN link co-ordinated by our very own MmeLindor.

This is indeed blogger-launched, and as with all "aid", the proof will be in the pudding. But for the many people here obviously looking for something less monolithic than Oxfam, this allows you to contribute to individual charities without donating to an airline.

um no one was suggesting that, you have totally missed the point.

I think exotic put it well Smithson. Basically saying that she wants her children to get personally involved with charity work but that it is something that can be achieved at home.

The children travelling to Africa is a totally different issue in my view.