Kids fundraising to "build schools in Kenya"

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A family friend is 15 and is planning to go to Kenya next year to help with building schools or something. She is supposed to raise about £2000 towards the trip and is struggling to do so. So far most of the donations have been family members and family friends. Her parents have had to lend her the money for the deposit etc. This is partly due to not putting in a lot of effort.

AIBU to think a 15 year old is too young to undertake a trip like this and to be expected to raise so much money. I was under the impression these sort of trips are usually done by students between college and university, so aged 18+. Also AIBU to somewhat resent being expected to donate money which I would prefer to donate to a charity which I believe might actually make a difference (not teenagers going on holiday under the guise of "helping" local people).

WeeDangerousSpike
Exactly!
It's about 'making memories' for privileged western kids who can then drawl on about how humbled they were and how (news flash) they came to realised they are lucky living in a developed country with schools and sanitation.

The only type of these trips I will support is when it's a case of a school to school link where there's zero implication of unqualified teens going to teach/build etc. I'll support kids fundraising for those types of trip because they are up front that it's part of a wider commitment by the school to support another school and there's no false heroics.

Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, how many parents in England would be happy with their own children's education being disrupted so they can be 'taught' by 16 year olds from another country (and by taught I mean play a few average games).

Poverty Safari.

What does a 15 year old know about building? Probably a lot less than a Kenyan builder who'd welcome the money to help build up their own community.

My niece did one of these to India. 3 weeks there but only 3 days at the actual charity. Essentially a very expensive holiday. It was good for her confidence and independence - she needed an experience away from her mum. However she could of done this 50 miles from home. She is now 19. She is doing an apprentiship which is low wages. What she needs is a car. Her parents can't afford one. She lives in an area with rubbish public transport. Her employement options are very limited because she simply cannot get to places. When I think of all the money she spent on the trip I feel so sad. While children in India are important so is my niece and her future.

I think it's quite telling that none of these trips are to places in the UK which could do with some willing volunteers....

I agree that it doesn't do much for the locals.

I have a relative involved with a project in Kenya, the only Europeans going out are engineering professionals and pHD student. These are highly skilled people passing their skills along.

The project is to use 'pods' to generate power from fast flowing rivers.

Initially the idea was to train people in kenya to repair and maintain the 'pods' which would be manufactured in the UK. The idea now is that they will be manufactured in Kenya, originally it was thought there wasn't the infrastructure to manufacture.

Link for anyone wanting to read more.

www.fern-flowing-power.com/africa-project.html

Fundraising for an individual trip is basically just asking other people to pay for it. What happened to earning the money in order to be able to do the thing you want? 15 year olds can get a wage from a part time job. It seems that noone now thinks of earning the money, just raising the money. Which is lazy and begging where such trips are concerned.

NotAnotherJaffaCake
I agree.
We have a lot of students who volunteer locally. It's amazing what they do.

Interestingly, the ones who don't volunteer at home tend to be the ones drawn to the 'gap yah' poverty tourism type trips and the ones who volunteer in the UK are the ones who are more than happy to join a committee supporting a school partnership and fundraising where there might be an opportunity to visit every few years.
Group 1 are concerned with them having the experience of a lifetime and telling tales about how they worked in Africa.
Group 2 are concerned with helping others at home and overseas and if there's an opportunity to visit then they'd gratefully accept the opportunity.
I often thought it was quite telling where students showed their interest.

These voluntourism projects are so cynical....

I told my teens they can go build schools in the developing world if they do a bricking and plastering course first....

is the child in question very good at bricklaying etc? In that case the contribution may be slightly more worthwhile.....

Lots of schools are doing this now when Dd was still at school their year went to Africa to paint a classroom only a handful went it is imo ridiculous no 15/16 year old shouldbe anywhere near Africa swanning in and taking selfies with little African children.

There was one of these trips when I was in school. I wasn’t allowed to go but I remember my friend who was going begging me to donate to him to fund it. I was like—I’m 15. I haven’t got any money??? And he went to make me feel really bad about it because they were apparently going to teach English? But that requires some expertise. A group of 15 year olds are going to be particularly effective... It turned out that the trip was just a regular school trip but framed as though it was an act of charity presumably to encourage people to donate. Ugh it’s a bunch of bullshit. I sometimes think that these kids think their grown and that they’re going out there to make a real difference when in fact it’s a holiday which honestly isn’t really fair on anyone. The organisers of the trip should just be honest about what the trip is actually for.

Is this World Challenge? A holiday for the middle classes, taking away work from skilled residents who actually can do it.

Yeah its just an expensive jolly that they can add to their personal statement would these parents send their kids down a builders yard to do a weeks volunteering that they paid for.

I work quite closely with a lot of businesses in sub Saharan Africa and have met many skilled, ambitious and entrepreneurial people through my work. I find it unbelievably patronising that theres an assumption that these could be helped by British teenagers. The notion that by being British they must surely be able to teach the ‘Africans’ something riles me. I don’t blame the teens, they lack the experience to understand the issues and I would certainly have been keen to do it at that age but the schools and parents should really think more carefully about these trips.

Same English.
When I retrained as a teacher i looked at teaching abroad for a year before buying a house and putting down roots. VSO weren't interested in me as a newly qualified teacher as they wanted people with a minimum 3 years teaching experience.

Why anyone would think a group of teens can offer anything specialist is beyond me.

<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm?CMP=Share<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" target="blank">iOSAppp<a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" target="_blank">Other

This is a good article which describes the issues around voluntourism in case you want to read up on it

YABU - it's a great thing to start teaching kids from a young age and getting them
Involved in charity work early. Seeing first hand the effects has a much bigger impact. I would feel the same as you if it were an adult looking for donations to fund their trip but not when it's teens. However, I do think schools should be more involved with charities closer to home rather than the big ones like Children In Need.

bumpertobumper great article. Explains really clearly why institutionalized care such as orphanages is expensive and part of the problem, and most countries (developed and now developing) are moving away from this model towards supported family or foster care. Volunteers often love the orphanage experience, but it isn't good for those living there, and in many countries up to 98% of 'orphans' are not orphans at all, they have living family members who have given them up hoping for a 'better life'.

The article is shocking!