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?

If I had a choice of no school vs one built by a RANGE of volunteers who are with trained tradesman (which they will be) id be grateful of the donation. Maybe you should spend some time looking into the project before you judge. you’re looking at this through the eyes of someone who has everything they need from their country e.g. a choice of free schools…

You should read the thread.

Do the people doing this pay for their own flights or does that come out of the sponsorship money?
If they pay their own costs I wouldn't mind so much

YANBU….this kind of thing is like poverty porn. The very idea of charity to me is insidious it allows for governments to maintain corrupt practises and avoid responsibility to its people! So no do not feel bad for not partaking!

I agree with you OP but I also feel for young adventurous people who genuinely want to help someone on the other side of the world while experiencing another country and culture. I wish there was an alternative for these young people to channel their youthful energy and kindness whilst seeing the world (as I did when I was young) without doing harm. I don’t know what the solution is however.

In Uganda specifically government primary school teachers earn approximately £100 per month. Secondary school about £200-350. That's if the government can be bothered to pay them.
If helping is the goal, money would achieve so much more than the presence of unskilled teenagers.

YABU these projects ask for volunteers because they don't have the general dogsbodies basically that would cost a bomb. No different then the apprentices and trainers we have fitting playgrounds in our own country. The planning and skilled work is always done by a proper project manager who am is qualified for the job of They do it it in like this to keep costs down. How about a fact you are probably not aware of. Our own playground's are actually fitted by the cheapest firm that puts in a tender to the local council. Only 9% of the staff are trained, the rest are often 'on the fiddle' and claiming benefits, on some sort of community order for breaking the law or are young lads who have no experience and just need a quick job. Out of 7 of our local primary schools across two councils all their playgrounds were fitted by a firm who are cheap, because they only pay one skilled wage and that's the bosses, there are two members of the team who are serving community orders for criminal damage and are working for free,.one of who isn't even allowed anywhere near his own kids due to violence but the council deam it appropriate that he works at a school fitting playgrounds because the kids 'dont get in the way' and he isn't what they consider a member of staff who.would require a police check. Only the boss gets that. Two other lads are doing part time cash in hand work between signing on and the other is 14 and has been excluded permenantly from school due to vandalism. These projects abroad are actually ran 100% more safely than our own and are never unmanned every volunteer receives support in their work and help to do it. So yes YABVU you clearly don't know a lot about who fit our own kids playground's. The only legal requirement to fit a playground in the UK is that they have 1 member rof staff police checked and that it is a registered business, how they run it behind the scenes is irrelevant to councils and schools.

I wouldn’t support it. My daughter had a similar opportunity to go the Amazon rainforest (eco focus). We paid for it as an amazing experience for her. But no way would I have expected people to give towards fundraising for the trip (as was encouraged by the school/trip organisers). You are paying for them to have a privileged experience not support the issues. The same is true of those doing things like walking the Chinese walk - unless explicitly expressed they are funding the trip sponsorship goes to funding the travel/experience first and only additional funds go to the cause

*Chinese Walk

What drives me even more mad about these trips (which tend to be all private schools where I’m from) is the fundraising to include their fares!! I bet the orphanage etc would jump at 2/3k in money rather than a young inexperienced person.

I must be having a very senior moment mean Chinese wall

Jesus wept 🙄

This is so wrong it's unbelievable. Do you have any idea how cheap labour is in developing countries?
The only reason these "projects" abroad exist is because it makes us feel good and someone, somewhere is profiting from it. If building a playground was only goal, it would be easier without the teenagers.

these projects ask for volunteers because they don't have the general dogsbodies basically that would cost a bomb
Unskilled local labour in the countries being discussed is very cheap, far cheaper in many cases than the fixer fee these companies pay.

Lots of these "projects" at least in Tanzania but I suspect these companies operate the same across the countries they offer. Are not charities. They are for profit businesses selling voluntourism packages, pay a fixer to create some kind of an opportunity, that may involve paying a teacher at a school to allow these completely untrained kids to "teach" or pay someone to build some kind of project on their land or paint something on a building. Its often not needed and actively harmful, the teaching especially.

these projects ask for volunteers because they don't have the general dogsbodies basically that would cost a bomb.

You could not be more wrong @Bekstar

Hear hear!!!

They're two different things - they can channel their kindness and youthful energy by volunteering in the U.K. and go adventuring as a bog standard tourist.

I also think this is all of a piece with projects like Operation Christmas Child. Sending shoeboxes of mass-produced Western plastic tat halfway across the globe to communities who are expected to be pathetically grateful. Plus some religious colonial evangelism for good measure. Annoys me no end (if you hadn't guessed).

@EmmaGrundyForPM
I worked with disadvantaged young people for a number of years.
For some this type of opportunity is life changing. One young woman I worked with went to South America as a volunteer. She won a "scholarship" to participate on this trip and yes, they did help to build a playground. They also stayed with local families and experienced local life.
This young woman had begun to get involved in petty crime. Through this opportunity, she turned her life around.

Yes, many young people do this type of volunteering because they can. Others get an opportunity to not only change their own lives, they change that of others.
Not all volunteering is for "saviours", some of it is an incredible chance for change.
Have a look at Raleigh International, their work is fantastic.

They do these trips at my local school - one way the kids raise money is to do bag packing at the local supermarket. They can raised hundreds of £s in a day - thereby getting money from total strangers!

@ThistleTits

Kids in poverty in poor countries don’t exist for misbehaving Western teenagers to ‘turn their lives around’. Would you be happy with somebody coming from Africa, having been invovled in crime, to work in your kid’s school with no background checks?

No one is saying that the voluntourists don’t benefit massively. It’s just that a lot of people think damaging third world economies, destroying employment opportunities for unskilled labourers and traumatising children in orphanages as they are love bombed by random Westerners who then flit out of their lives isn’t worth it.

How do you balance the benefits to the people on these trips with the damage done to the people they are supposedly helping?

If this was a good model, it wouldn’t be done by commercial companies, the big charities would be doing it instead.

There are rigorous background checks.
Volunteering is a two way street, give your time and receive an experience of other societies.
I actually would be perfectly happy to work with young people from Africa who wanted to volunteer here.

There are rigorous background checks.

You can't be serious. There are NO background checks on these teenagers. None at all.

Raleigh International is a big charity. There are many organisations who use actual volunteers and not over privileged people who need to beef up their CV.