To think this is tone deaf and a dreadful use of charitable money?

[fuckthisprivilage]

I live in a very affluent area where most kids are at independent schools.

We have a local WhatsApp group and a teenager has posted offering to do odd jobs to earn money (several thousand pounds) towards paying for a school trip - a month long holiday to an amazing destination under the guise of doing "community work". Now personally I hate this kind of western saviour type shit but whatever, and there is nothing wrong with the kid offering to take on odd jobs to help fund a tiny fraction of it.

What's really boiled my piss is that some trustees of a local charity have now responded and encouraged him to apply for funding from them. WTF?!!! In what world should a charity be sponsoring a privileged child from a hugely privileged background to take a month long holiday that will cost five figures, in the middle of a COL crisis that is seeing families using food banks and kids that will literally NEVER experience even a week by the seaside during their entire childhoods? Surely it should be the responsibility of the parents to pay for this hugely indulgent experience, not a bloody charity?

I bet you’ve read some guardian article about a rogue operation and now decided all projects are bad. Pure daftie.

Nope.

You call the “global south” the “majority world”? Yep, not surprised you get some blank stares.

as for all the white saviour crap, if a load of African or Asian kids wanted to pay to come to the uk and clean the beaches or count badgers I would be perfectly happy. If they want to come and do just tourist stuff that’s ok too.

Go on. Post it.

Well you can see a (very well researched, addressing multiple such operations) Guardian article for yourself - it’s linked in one of my previous posts along with two other relevant documents.

It’s not one operation, it’s the model as a whole.

Most reputable charities don’t do these sorts of projects. They might send skilled people to teach particular things but they don’t ship unqualified labour half way across the world at a cost that could pay locals to do the same job for literally years, thereby depriving said locals of paid employment and damaging the local economy.

If this was all about helping people, the way to do that would be to raise however many thousand pounds are requested for the trip, do some research and donate the lot to a reputable charity in the country in question. Less exciting but far more useful.

That’s 4 hours more than they would do otherwise plus their money funds the project. The choice is no money and no volunteer or money and a volunteer. The second is better.

Lol so you’ve already posted your guardian article. Very good

And if they wanted to spend hours a day with your kids with no background checks to confirm they aren’t paedophiles, get your kids attached to them and then vanish after 6 weeks leaving said children broken hearted? Oh, and post multiple pictures of themselves cuddling said children on public social media.

All of this without any suggestion your permission might be necessary?

That’s basically a standard ‘helping the orphans’ trip. Many aren’t orphans but it’s more profitable to cram photogenic children into one place for tourists to visit and (not) help than provide funding where it is actually needed so that desperate parents don’t have to surrender children to these orphanages just so they can be fed.

The other types of trip where the voluntourists build or help build something just damage the local labour market by shifting paid jobs to volunteers and reducing the wages paid for the jobs that remain.

Yes? Hours ago? Do you not read the thread before wading in? How odd.

Go on. Post it.

Well the thing is I just don't care if you think I'm qualified enough to comment.

It could be debated that it's still more Nobel trip, than just wanting to party

Bearing in mind two articles and an academic paper are posted and she hasn’t bothered to read them (or in fact read enough of the thread to realise I’d posted them), I’m not sure there would be any point in you posting more material for her to ignore.

The guardian article posted with a massive picture attached. It’s a bit hard to miss!

A party trip puts money into the local economy and, most important, doesn't use local people as props, especially children.

These organised trips will make sure to keep as much money in their pockets as possible and the clients won't be buying anything from locals at all. There are organised truck trips and similar and they're probably no better. But independent travel is the least worst.

if a load of African or Asian kids wanted to pay to come to the uk and clean the beaches or count badgers I would be perfectly happy

What if they wanted to hang out at a nursery, hug your kids and post the photos all over social media...all without any background checks? What if they wanted to paint local community centres for free putting local workers out of business?

YABVVU to assume just because this child goes to a private school his family are rich and can/should fund it himself. Do you know him and his family’s financial circumstances? He may be on a bursary/scholarship and this could be something he can’t otherwise do. You need to keep your beak out.

Well the OP says yes, she does know the family and that no, she’s fairly sure he doesn’t get a bursary or scholarship.

Also, if the kids being conned into these trips with a belief they are ‘helping’ have to struggle to afford it, I think that’s worse. It means the kid and his parents are spending money they either can’t afford or which could have been better spent elsewhere under false pretences. Not only is harm being caused to the local community where the teenager goes on his ‘helping’ junket, harm is being caused to him as well.

She does not know for sure this child isn’t on a bursary/scholarship nor does she know the intricacies of the family’s finances. She’s making assumptions/generalising and being really quite nasty about a child trying to raise some funds for a school trip without knowing all the facts. She’s not being asked to contribute personally, this really has nothing to do with her at all. It’s between the child/family/school/charity.

I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. I think these trips are so morally dubious (and racist) that raising concerns no matter the circumstances is reasonable, particularly when actual charitable funds are suggested as being possibly used to pay for the trip.

You obviously don’t. I suspect we won’t convince each other.

All the charity have done, is asked him to apply for funding. That doesn’t mean he will get the funding, it means they will consider an application and presumably, then decide if it falls within their stated aims and objectives.

Also true.

YANBU I don't understand why these trips are even being arranged. No teenager can build a school. There was a teenager of an acquaintance of mine raising funds for him to go on one of these trips and I point blank refused to 'hire' his services.

Happy to give to charity but will not give money for a teenager to go on holiday (which is basically what it is).

I'd love to hear what the people on the receiving end of this endless stream of gormless teenagers turning up to build a school think about it all. Probably not much!

I recently started working at a private school in admin and I was irritated to find they have one of these saviour trips to Africa coming up. YANBU OP.

The teenager doing odd jobs to help fund it is admirable, irrespective of background.
However I totally agree with you about the charity.

I actually agree with this provided it’s actual work not pretending to work. I just think that some of these kids spend literally years raising funds then blow it on a 6 week trip that isn’t helping the way there are told and which may even count against them on university applications. There was a poster on the other thread who said her husband who works in university admissions (I think for medicine) at best saw these trips as neutral and depending on the applicant’s attitude, marked them down for lack of critical thinking.

That is most definitely not how they are sold to the teenagers and their parents.

£4000 could pay a local's wage for a year.

I'm sure it was a wonderful experience but what did the locals get out of it?

Yes I know them personally. They have three children at the school and the father has a high profile and successful business. They are very comfortable.

Thays irrelevant though, my issue isn't with them, they are a perfectly nice family. My issue is with the school and the charity for encouraging this kind of shit.