To think fundraising to send teenagers to Africa is for their benefit not the orphans they are going out to 'help'

[Batwomanrisesagain]

I'm probably being a complete cow but just left my local supermarket where I was asked if I wanted to have my bags packed in return for a donation to help send local school children to Africa. They were going to help the orphans apparently. When I asked the teacher how, she said they would learn about their situation, gain greater insight then come home to raise money for them. I heard another packer tell a customer they planned to build an IT suite.
I asked why not just send the money they were fundraising directly out there to charities that are already working out there, she just shrugged.
So AIBU to think the fundraising is really for the benefit of the English school children, to pay for an 'enriching' experience and that actually if they want to go their parents should bloody well pay for it?
Or am I a complete cow (as the teacher clearly thought I was?)
I did bung them a quid as I felt guilty at not just keeping my mouth shut and saying no Thankyou....

You are not being unreasonable. As others have pointed out, these types of initiatives achieve nothing. In fact, it's a bit patronising to the people who live there. And if people want to go to Africa, etc. they should pay for it themselves!

YANBU I was very cross to be hit up for a "donation" for a cousin to travel on one of those. Meanwhile my other cousin was working hard and saving cash for her working trip around Australia & New Zealand, she didn't ask for anything.
I can't imagine if your lazy enough to expect someone else to fund your trip you'll be contributing much to another community

If you/your children think you'd help out people in another country, please think whether you'd be employed to do the same thing here on that timescale. I do have friends who are qualified and experienced as doctors and IT professionals who've spent a couple of weeks helping in a developing country. I think they were able to genuinely benefit the local population. However a teenager with no childcare/construction experience is a very different question - the amount it costs to send them could typically employ a local person to do the same for months or years. The doctors and IT professionals I mentioned above funded themselves.

yanbu.

I hate this too. And it IS only for the benefit of the people going. Nothing wrong with a bunch of millennials going to Africa of course, but they shouldn't expect people to fund it for them.

i point blank refuse to give money to those kids packing shopping at the end of the till in sainsbury's. I purposely go to the self serve checkouts. I am not funding their trip to Africa, or funding the ice hockey team's trip to Ontario! Fuck that.

The daughter of a friend of mine did something similar, and the charity explicitly said that, whilst the work they did was worth it, the real benefit came from the children who go on these trips raising the profile of the charities when they come back, with many of them going on to fundraise for the cause on their return.

We had boys from our local £18k pa private school doing this in waitrose last weekend. three of them by the door as you enter chatting to each other, not in the least bit interested in collecting money or raising awareness for the charity. They know their.parents will make up the shortfall and this trip is purely for their benefit and no one else's.

I think they're worse than not helping. By flying out, you're actually contributing massively to the environmental degradation that will make poverty so much worse. For some little benefit.

There are lots of places and charities here in the UK that could do with the money and some help. They do some amazing things for children, teens and adults. I know, it's easier to go far away and "pretend" these problems (social and economical) are 3rd world problems. You go there and have a great time, but once back home it can all comfortably forgotten.
YABU - I'm one of these miserable people who believe charity starts with the family across the road that uses the food bank, or the pregnant young mother in a hostel that can't afford to by basic baby things, or all the young people leaving care without a support system (after they have been fucked up by a game of pass the parcel).

Yes quite a lot of people are making this point these days.

Which is interesting as it seemed that nobody was making it back in the 90's when I was of gap year age and going off to work for some charity abroad was a highly-praised thing to do. Now it's quite widely recognized that that sort of thing just takes work opportunities away from local populations.

There is working/volunteering abroad for a charity then there is painting a classroom wall pretending you are volunteering when it is a holiday which is fair enough but schools need to make it clear it is a 2k african holiday

I always imagine the next school party paints the same wall

YABU- why not donate to young people trying to fund raise for whatever reason. There are some tight miserable folk on mumsnet!

We were moaning about it in the 1990s Upsy but then I was into sustainable development and self determination so ahead of the curve!

I always imagine the next school party paints the same wall

They actually do in some areas! I watched a school wall opposite a family members house get painted and then painted over white emulsion before the next gap year group came out a couple of summers in a row I haven't been in last couple of years but doubt much has changed.
And in places where it's actually needed and not just painting the same spot, it's just taking jobs off labourers, African countries are not lacking labourers to do unskilled work, middle class 18 year olds from the uk is something I'm not sure any country is crying out for skills wise.

My mum did one of these trips (self funded for the record!) The organisers on the ground were explicit with her when she questioned it that a lot of the money raised does go directly to the organisation in question. They generally don't care if the volunteers themselves show up, they just want the cash.

So raising money for the organisation is a good thing, but it would be even more worthwhile if a large chunk of the money wasn't used on flights and accommodation for the "volunteer".

I have seen many of these school or gap year build a well/teach English/work in conservation schemes in Africa first hand and bar a few exceptions they tend to fall well short of their noble aims. One thing that the developing world is not short of is unskilled labour so shipping in a bunch of well meaning but mostly useless kids to do jobs that locals can do a lot better is a bit galling. Better to fund raise here and donate the money to organisations that have trained people who can make some kind of difference.

Yanbu. Not sure if it's an urban myth but I've heard that locals re-do the badly made brickwork etc. when the students have gone. It's known as voluntourism, which I'd thought was a satirical term but I've seen organisations proudly trumpeting it as an amazing opportunity. JK Rowling had something to say about it recently.
And it's not just youngsters getting involved; neighbours of ours were recently considering going out; he's retired early and is going to manage people renovating bicycles; she's a long term sahm and will be finding jobs for locals .
Can't believe there are no locals capable of organising teams of bike-menders.

It is complex. Whilst it's true that locals could be gainfully employed doing a better job than a young person from the UK or wherever, but I think one of the benefits for the young people involved, and ultimately for the communities, and the charities that work with them is the understanding of the wider world that the young people get. To actually go and spend a couple of weeks living alongside a very poor community and to see what real poverty is can transform a young person's outlook and give them a real global perspective that might last a lifetime and lead to long term giving and maybe more importantly, political engagement with the issues in the places where a lot of the problems come from in the first place, i.e. the rich First world. I also understand that whilst people in an African (or wherever) community might chuckle about the poor skills of the visitors, the fact that people have cared enough to come and learn about their lives, to listen to their stories and to understand the connection between, for example, the low wages of cocoa workers and the chocolate the young people eat means a great deal.

Many charities support this kind of thing for this reason.

It all seems a bit white saviour/colonial to me. There's lots of projects locally that need help and support....I'm pretty sure orphanages in Ghana could be better built by local builders. Maybe volunteer in your local foodbank, and help run sessions at Cubs and Rainbows...

There's ways you can do it though Busy. My mum self-funds trips to majority world locations and also fund-raises for the charities she goes with. She pays for her ticket, though. I have a friend who fund-raises for water systems in Africa. Her and the group go on holiday to see the projects they build but it is a holiday and they fund themselves.

Go on holiday to a majority world location. We just did. DD saw little kids there, saw the life, understands a little better. She doesn't want someone to either give her money, or polish her halo. I hope she will understand poverty a little by the time she is a very privileged teenager!

And the people saying that the majority world has people who can do labour? They do. As well as PhDs! White people love to go and solve the majority world`s problems. Seeing as white people caused most of them, the idea that the solutions come from us is laughable.

YANBU. Some of my DCs took part in a trip to a poor region of the US (we are in the US) at a group cost that was eye watering. It's a very organised trip where the teens take part in repairing homes for locals and it is run by an organisation that has been around since the Lyndon Johnson administration or thereabouts. The money that is spent every summer on multiple teams of teens from all over the US to go to the aid locations and stay there for a week doing unskilled house refurbishment could be used to provide superb preschools or meth clinics or vocational courses or university scholarships for the locals. I think it's a racket.

Isnt it a good thing that it benefits our young people though? Might teach them to be less spoilt and apprechiate how lucky they are.
I went and taught in Nepal. I had the time of my life... it was not a jolly though.. i washed under a cold tap snd went to the loo in a cockroach infested pit.
It changed my world view completey, made me into a wonan, made me more compassionate.

And guess what? The kids loved having me as a teacher, cried when i left and learned some English. It is a GOOD thing for both sides.

A friend of mine is raising money for her niece to do one of these. The family are quite wealthy so I can't help thinking 'pay for it yourself' but I'll be expected to donate and will look bad if I don't. Annoys me though..

Malificent7 yes, good for you and it's helped to change you but has it really made any difference to those kids long term??