to refuse to sponsor this young person

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

An acquaintance has sent out a mass message asking people she knows to sponsor her son to do a 10k run in the New Year.
Son is 17, Y13, and next summer is going to Uganda to build a playground in a primary school. He's raising funding for this with a target of £2500.

AIBU to think that, if the tables were turned, we wouldn't accept this? If I was told that a group of young people, with no experience, were coming to install playground equipment in my child's primary school, I would be outraged. As would other parents. And yet children in less wealthy countries are expected to be grateful for inexperienced people pitching up at their school.

When DS was in 6th form, there was an "opportunity" to go to Malawi for two weeks and volunteer in a school. I told DS I wouldn't support this, and he didn't go.

Why do schools and colleges run these trips, supposedly to "help" less fortunate children, when in fact it tends to be middle class children who go, because it looks good on their CV.

AIBU?

You’re welcome. Not that any of the people defending this nonsense are in any way inclined to read it.

My husband had one of his students tell him she had magnanimously spent her summer "teaching life skills" to poor Africans. He said that the mind boggled as to what a particularly spoilt humanities student who had never had a job in her life could impart to people who had no choice but to stand on their own two feet.

Which is exactly the point. It has been wonderful for her.

What has been the impact on the community where she went? Do you know? Do you care?

Your trip to Malawi sounds great, but I think it's about being realistic that the person who benefitted most from the trip was you. That's fine of course, but most of these fundraising efforts don't really seem to acknowledge that.

Possibly. But they might just be labouring with someone else with more experience and knowledge directing the work.

I haven't read the thread but I think I understand what you're saying OP.

When I was a uni student we were encouraged to participate in charity work to pad out our CVs. I signed up to work for a few days on a Habitat for Humanity project. I turned up on site, it was mid-build. The men on site (who might of been proper builders but I'm not sure) had to spend all day giving me tasks, showing me what to do, supervising me and fixing the stuff I fucked up. And after I finished my stint, another batch of uni students turned up to do the same thing. I felt sorry for whatever family was waiting to move in there...

You can tell which posters on here either went on this kind of holiday or have dc who have been.

The Companyis easy to locate given information given in the OP.

YANBU
All our local schools do similar. We live in a fairly affluent area and lots of kids do those type of volunteer type holidays. Thankfully DDs year missed out due to covid I'm sure it's basically a holiday with a bit of a feel good factor that they've somehow "given back" but I'm always sceptical how much use an untrained/unskilled uk teen is going to be, for building a school/toilet/playground.

I haven’t read the thread at all.

Perhaps instead of writing that self indulgent screed, you should do so. As previously stated, this has all been addressed.

And for all this “Well their heart is in the right place” shite, no, it doesn’t wash with me. They certainly won’t just send the £2500 directly to a charity, will they? They won’t volunteer with local deprived kids and pay for their own enhanced DBS checks to do so. The (brilliant) young people that do help out locally wouldn’t dream of one of these voluntourism trips in the first place, they have the intelligence to see that it’s pointless and doesn’t help anybody, and they actually give a shit about their OWN communities.

It’s self-centred bollocks to make their CV good and all about having an “experience”. Funnily enough, I’ve never seen any private school kids volunteering with me at various groups we run for local people at our community centre, as they find it much moee appealing to go to see far-flung country and have a good gander at poor African kids. We do get plenty of local, down to earth young people though, often it is to get experience for university (often for mental health nursing or occupational therapy), but that’s because they actually care and want to help people.

@Sigma33

I use my skills and experience to train local people, enabling them to get well paid jobs. That benefits them, not me.

All of the people who get paid a wage by the charity are local. I'm not taking jobs of anyone. The charity can't afford to hire more people, hence why they use volunteers.

I paid for my flights, insurance, medicines and paid a mandatory fee of over 3k. All of this came out of my back pocket and a large chunk was a donation that went into the community. I work for a charity so I know how to tell the difference between scam and genuine.

I bought school supplies for various primary schools out of my own money, after asking the charity what specific equipment was needed.

I don't do it for my benefit. I had fun, but I wasn't doing anything for my personal benefit.

It's lovely that it has enriched your life.

The question is, whether it has enriched the lives of those vastly less privileged than you.

My niece did similar from her very expensive private girls school. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. We didn’t sponser her either.
I would however sponsor a youngster if they were planning on sending the funds raised to the country instead where locals can be employed to build the playground. I’d sponsor even more if they were then planning on volunteering in a deprived part of Britain and helping with litter picking or some such. Then they learn the lesson of their privilege etc while creating jobs for locals in a 3rd world country. Win win.

@GCAcademic.

Patronising, racist shite. I have a friend who’s the child of immigrants from a country often used (used is the right word) in these trips and she tells me she once got great joy in putting somebody in their place. She mentioned her parents were from the country to a colleague, and colleague proudly piped up that both of her kids had gone there to help ‘them’ build schools. Friend’s response was a curt “So you’re saying we’re too thick to do it ourselves, then?” and it shut the colleauge right up.

@Sigma33

And there is not enough local people with the skills etc I have, hence why I go out and train them.

"I'm getting this from the global charities I work from" and who presumably rely on this kind of thing for a lot of their financing?

No reputable global charity would go anywhere near this kind of holiday.

Yanbu. Volunteering abroad is useless unless you have a specific skill that is required . Much better to volunteer locally. Plenty of need at home.

I use my skills and experience to train local people, enabling them to get well paid jobs. That benefits them, not me.

This post is about voluntourism (which isn’t what you appear to be doing) not all volunteering in an overseas country, ever. Nobody has an issue with skilled volunteering or empowering local communities.

Everyone has been clear on this and it’s been explained to you, specifically, upthread. It’s not a thread about you, so why are you so keen to make it about you? Who are you even arguing with?

You can tell which posters have real, on the ground experience of working and living in a poor African country.

To be clear, I think there are any number of ways for people and communities to connect for mutual benefit.

Experienced surgeons linking with other surgeons who wouldn't otherwise have access to that expertise.

A school or faith group linking up long-term with another, taking the time to develop relationships and understanding.

The sort of VSO volunteering where experienced professionals commit to a couple of years with a clear remit to provide training and develop systems that will have a long-term benefit.

The example given by the OP doesn't fit into that category though.

YANBU OP. These things are ridiculous. Of course the cost of flights and accommodation would be better spent directly in the community employing people to do the work. This is a sponsored holiday.

this is completely different to a friend of mine who is a nurse who funds her own travel to Africa each summer where she does vaccination drives or treats people with leprosy - she has skills.

My son did something very similar. We didn’t feel comfortable asking people for money though. He got a couple of jobs and we paid the rest.
They were very much the muscle/dogsbody for people who did know what they were doing. Locals too.
They spent money where they went and left things in a better state. It broadened his horizons and was a brilliant experience.
But no. I didn’t expect other people to pay.