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?

That’s actually sad as it sounds like he was conned by the volunteerism company into paying money he didn’t have and which he had to raise from not very well off people. At least well off kids tend to have an idea they are on a jolly.

Voluntourism actually disadvantages locals - it damages the unskilled labour market by replacing paid labourers with unpaid volunteers. Somehow ‘build a school and help starve a child whose father can’t find work’ doesn’t have the same ring to it - I guess that’s why it’s not in the voluntourism company advertising.

YANBU OP. The work could be done much more cheaply - and probably far more quickly and efficiently - using local labour - who might well be very glad of the chance to earn some money. The cost of each participant’s flights, accommodation and keep, could do so much else in a poor area.
IMO it’s basically just a ‘worthy’ jolly.

Having said that, a niece of dh’s went on a similar trip and found it very rewarding and worthwhile - IMO it was probably good for kids like that (boarding school, all very well off parents) to see just how the other half live - quite salutary in many cases, I’m sure - and they did physically work hard.

However there was no question of being ‘sponsored’ - her dad just wrote a cheque.

Yep.

Other than all the locals thrown out of work who can’t feed their families because their labouring jobs are replaced by British teenagers of course.

Please check out the Facebook group No White Saviours.

If your kids want to go on holiday (which is basically what this is) then you / they pay for it themselves. If they actually want to do something that will really help communities then raise the money and give it to a charity that trains local people to build and maintain their own infrastructure.

this is pretty nasty. Teaching skills is useful and free education is a win. And of course not every young girl in Uganda is an expert sewer - don’t be ridiculous. What a silly stereotype.

No way would I be funding someone else’s child to have such an experience. Voluntourism indeed.

The argument against voluntourism is strong.

But.

I do think that it’s important that young people from developed countries such as ours understand and experience first hand the challenges experienced elsewhere in the world and feel inspired and empowered to contribute to positive change.

Think about COP27 for example. I would be glad to think that some of the Western leaders around that table had a concept of what it is like to live in a developing country.

Yes, the money alone would probably be be just as beneficial to the host country, but it isn't JUST about the money. Maybe this young man is going to learn something about another culture, about himself and about humanity more broadly. The “just send them the money” attitude negates the importance of human connection and understanding.

None of this is new. There have always been people who do stuff and others who'd prefer to complain. There's no depth the complainers won't sink to in the hope of justifying why they can't possibly spare any of their money. Usual favourites (in no particular order) are why doesn't the money stay in the UK; why don't the teens do something else, etc.
Funny thing is those people who complain loudly aren't helping disadvantaged communities in the UK either; and they aren't campaigning about the structural causes of poverty; and they aren't doing anything at all to support local communities overseas. It's almost as though they don't care about any of the issues ... until someone asks them for five pounds and then they feel the need to start a thread about it

What did she say?

@MilkshakesBringAllTheCoosToTheYard Did I say that? They are a very deprived country and these women went to to teach them to be self sufficient, where's the wrong in that? Clearly you think it unnecessary.

Yep.

@Clymene they were taught, and had supervision on the trip.

This is absolute bollocks. I actually work for a charity. I have spent several years of my life living in developing countries - working. I donate plenty of money to charity. I work directly with people in Britain whose lives are very challenged. And I think voluntourism is wrong for all the reasons articulated here by me and others. Think what you like but it is actually possible that people's objections to this practice are because it is exploitative and is a con.

I think a lot of the replies on here are very unfair, both of my grandchildren have taken part in similar projects, they certainly do not come from privileged or wealthy homes or schools.
It’s not a case of just dropping kids a random and saying build a playground, the schools have often spent many years raising money and funding projects which are ongoing and are a huge benefit to the communities that they support.
I would suggest investigating the project fully before just dismissing it, these trips can have a beneficial effect not just on the communities that they help, but on the kids themselves who go and do the work involved.

These companies take jobs away from local people and provide sub standard, untrained labour carried out by in sure well meaning teenagers, but you’re right, we wouldn’t accept it here so I see why the people of Uganda should have to

YANBU

YANBU. My nephews' school in Dublin do an annual sleep-out in December to raise money for homeless charities and I'd much rather support that than this sort of voluntourism. I've witnessed these schemes first-hand. It takes money away from the local economy and the only people who benefit are the British teens and the organisations who run these schemes.

@DWMoosmum I absolutely do think it unnecessary for white saviours to fly half-way around the world to teach competent women to sew. Have a zoom and donate some materials, or go into your local secondary schools and teach the skills. I'm am not here to support charitable colonialism.

i know of a company that does trips to a
developing county over the summer for uni students who go and volunteer in an orphanage. the students help them with 1:1 work - cue lots of social media posts showing students bonding with the kids and talk of sadness leaving that bond behind to come home.

what about the kids left behind ? they bonded with someone who stayed a couple of months full time (long time in their lives) giving them 1;1 support. they then leave and there is no 1:1 support for the next 10 months.

and yes - lots of sponsorship needed for the trip.

i HATE stuff like this that taps into well meaningness but is actually harmful

I should actually make it clear that I think these 'fixer' companies are ripping off idealistic young people in the west, as well as their host communities.

Now I have returned to the UK I am involved in local charities here.

And still retained my links to the community where I worked (as an experienced, qualified professional in my 30s, having proved there were no qualified South African applicants to get a work permit).

This type of activity is damaging to these communities, and further distorts the local economy without bringing any long-term (or medium-term) benefit.

The type of playground pictured will become dangerous without maintenance, and the relevant skills and materials will probably be far too expensive for the community to fund.