To think voluntourism needs to be called out?

[icreaminbarnsley]

I've had numerous requests this year by parents of teen dc who are going to various African countries to contribute to their crowdfunding "to help the people in [insert country]". They further explain that said child will be building schools/wells, teaching English, designing sanitation projects....but the latest I received was that their child would be "advising locals on how to set up a business". This in particular has really annoyed me, as the child is doing A Levels, has no business of their own, and no business acumen that I'm aware of. How can you be so brass necked and unaware to be spouting stuff like this? I totally get going to a different country is going to be a fantastic experience for the dc, but who is dressing it up to make it sound like these teens have something important to offer and are needed abroad, in areas that they have absolutely zero experience? I also get that the locals might benefit from the money that the dc need to pay to undertake such an experience, but is it really the locals who benefit, or is it the mainly the 'charitable' organizations that are based in the UK?

AIBU to feel we need to call this a unique opportunity to experience life in [insert country] and not delude ourselves into thinking the locals are benefitting from groups of western teens, who are not builders, engineers or business advisers?

Presumably these kids aren’t going on their own and will be under the guidance of an organisation who does know these things?

YANBU. I'd like to send DS to play football with children in Ghana, but a) will pay for it myself, and b) am under no illusion that it's altruistic; they're doing him a favour.

The narrative you've described is cringeworthy and racist.

This bullshit is the natural consequence of capitalism amd monetisation. We see it now in every area from Easter/ pride/ Trans / birthdays / SEN / charities and their chugging... laterly their will swindle schemes.
There are all out there commoditising things.

There is a whole industry built around sending MC kids to x for gap yah/u as. Each person taking a crumbs from the 10k crowd funded biscuit.

This is hardly a new phenomenon, but why do people feel the need to ‘call out’ things we don’t agree with. Obviously things like child abuse need to be reported, but otherwise just let other families parent in the way they see fit. Don’t donate to things you don’t want to. There’s no need to shame people who decide they want their children to do something different to you.

I wouldn’t call it out directly, but I wouldn’t donate either. If you don’t have something useful to offer (like MSF for example) you’ll be more of a hindrance than a help and they’ll probably knock down the wall you built before you’ve boarded the plane home ready for the next group of British teenagers to start it again. Unskilled labour is really not a deficit.

If they were talking about visiting orphanages, I might call that out though. There’s real harm in the orphanage industry- taking children from their parents to keep a steady flow of children for the visiting teens to ‘help’ with. And even if the children’s parents were genuinely unable to care for them, we wouldn’t treat children like that here. No British children who have experienced that level of trauma are subjected to a rotating cast of untrained, unchecked Ugandan teenagers, presumably for the profit of the orphanage owner, so it’s not acceptable the other way around. I’d also feel similarly about any wildlife ‘sanctuary’ who allowed them close contact with the animals.

I'm sure the locals aspiring to set up a business will love being patronised by a bunch of A Level students 🙄

I wouldn't call it out directly but I certainly won't support things like that. I guess I might do a bit of passive aggressive 'did you say Fabian here will be advising them? On running a business? Oh! Advising who? Who runs this?'

I can only hope that the organisation is fully aware of what it is doing and won't let Fabian do any actual harm. If it were me I would have Fabian shadowing all the different bits of the business for 4 weeks and get him to do a 10 minute presentation on his great thoughts at the end. While charging his parents him as much as I could get away with.

Find an organisation that is working in a different model and circulate a fundraiser around. Camarados, something like that.

It'll be the "charities" who are benefiting financially. Great experience for the kids no doubt, but it's basically just 3rd World tourism.

My grandad was part of a UN exploratory commission many years ago due to his at the time ground breaking agriculture knowledge. He basically had a mental health breakdown as a result of touring the countries dying on their arse from poverty, lack of information, and no desire to try to support themselves. He said they had the necessary equipment shipped over and it was literally rotting as nobody either knew how to use it, nor wanted to.

The problem is that some countries are legitimately so fucked that people don't even have a starting point to help themselves. Their governments skim donation money for themselves, and the public are generationally reliant on just being supplied with handouts.

It's all nonsense and I won't support it personally.

YANBU at all. As you said, all it is is an opportunity for the teen to go and experience life in an African village for a couple weeks. Nothing more. The family can fund that themselves and making it a fundraiser is horrible. I’d never donate to one.

I agree and it is important to add that these schemes are regarded very poorly by genuine charities.

For example VSO hasn’t taken unqualified or inexperienced people for at least two decades. They only accept experienced professionals who are willing to work for years not weeks. The projects are carefully designed to work in partnership with local people (rather than replicating existing local skillsets) and to leave activity behind that can be continued. Because anything less than that is pointless and potentially damaging.

Local volunteering is always best!

I thought this was well known?

I take issue with CYP "helping" in orphanages. Orphans need consistent, predictable care to form attachments, not a revolving door of white saviours

It's very "white saviour"

I agree a lot of the time It's very patronising

I thought we had stopped doing this sort of thing.

Can’t stand the phrase!

I find it a bit dishonest and I wouldn't contribute. At the same time noone is forcing anyone to contribute to their crowdfunding. People seem to set those things up for all sorts of spurious reasons and if people are daft enough to put in then it's up to them.

Agree. I have no objection to teens with the funds going on an "adventure of a lifetime" trekking in Costa Rica or whatever but don't pretend it's altruism. If they want to help there are plenty of plays schemes, residential nursing homes, charitable schemes here.

My DN did one through a charity which I thought was much more 'honest" in that she basically bought a double-price holiday. Half the money went to the holiday (employing local businesses think accommodation ,wildlife guides etc) and as much again was donated direct to a charity. Mind you Im not sure if everyone donating knew what a wonderful holiday she was getting, but there was no pretence that a uk student had anything to offer other than the money she could extract from uk friends and relations.

And she didn't just beg, she ran a marathon etc.

However of course we didn't all look into the effectiveness of the charity.

But agree, Tristan and his wonky brickwork sounds like an arrogant little prick learning 'kind' racism at his parents' knees.

I lived in a very poor Africa country for a couple of years, probably one of the ones these students are visiting, and I can safely say that there are a lot of very savvy business people out there and anyone trying to tell them how to run a business would make themselves look like an idiot. In fact, I would argue that African business owners are better at running businesses that many people in the UK, because there is no government help (the government is probably a hindrance) and the corruption all make it more difficult to run a business, so they have to be extra good at it.

They'll give the locals something to laugh about at least.

My biggest concern is that these kids are being taught extreme racist thoughts at such a young age - someone is putting it into their heads that westerners with no knowledge of anything, are better than Africans with extensive knowledge. I really thought we'd moved on from this kind of thinking.

The organisation knows how to extract cash from the kids / their parents.

Usually at best the ‘projects’ are useless (play equipment torn down as the group leaves for the next group to build), at worst (and more commonly) actively damaging.

The damaging ones include the orphanages mentioned above but also general tasks performed by Western volunteers that prevent locals doing the job for pay.

What’s racist about it?

I agree with you @icreaminbarnsley

It’s based on the idea that untrained (usually white) teenagers automatically add value to projects and that the locals need their help.

It’s implicitly saying an untrained white teenager is better at doing something than a fully trained local - usually a POC.

You are definitely not being unreasonable. These trips are run and arranged by profit making companies and cost a few grand at the very least. I don’t know why the schools let these companies through the door to sell their charitable bull@@@t. A few kids from my DCs schools have either done it or are raising funds now. Every day there is a FB post on the local community page selling or asking for money. It is very tedious.

I think the only way this can stop is if we call it out. I am shocked that so many people think it's acceptable to ask others to fund these trips. I always decline, but so as not to offend, I generally don't answer with 'Why does a village need your unqualified 18 year old to build a toilet at a cost of €10k, rather than the money to pay some local people to build it?' and 'why should I pay for your daughters holiday'?

Yes we do need to call it out. I find it's being done subtly by fund raisers I've supported recently, a few long distance cycles where the people taking part have really stressed that they are paying for all of their costs, seeking sponsorship for a cause very close to their hearts and to stop themselves from giving up halfway.

Another great one was a fruend of a fruend who was a midwife and going to work with a charity in a developing country and wanted to collect funds for the clinic she'd be working in - again she stressed that everything she earned would be used to provide supplies, none of it was for her.

There was a campaign a few years ago to stop sending Western young people to volunteer in oprhanages, as it's so difficult for the small kids to bond with new people all the time who leave after a couple of weeks.

So yes, it's a big probelm, and that's without the whole issues of white saviour complex etc

I remember reading a comment on an article about this in a newspaper, where the poster said that when teenage children of friends approached him for money for such ventures, he would ask how much the trip was costing them, and then offer to pay double that sum to the charity if they didn’t go. He said he had yet to be taken up in his offer!