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?

But could probably be done better by experts within that country rather than patronising them by sending children under the guise of charity.

Teach a man to fish.

When i was a student midwife, there was ample opportunity to go to Asian and African countries and basically work as a midwife in their units. Doing stuff you'd never be allowed to do here because they basically need people with SOME idea of midwifery as they are so understaffed in rural areas.

For instance, one of my classmates did a twin birth where the first baby was breech in Malawi as well as numerous other births. She was in the summer between 1st and 2nd year midwifery student.

Our lecturers were actually against these trips but couldn't really stop us going on them. They really did try to ppint out the ethics of allowing yourself to be used as a practitioner on women who really do deserve someone qualified and how the armies of western students who go to these things justify governments in not training and paying qualified staff in these countries. But of everyone that planned to go, none were put off and all were doing way more than anyone would do as a UK student or a UK midwife in some cases.

So there are some ‘orphanage’ projects that have changed over the last 10/15 years to support family fostering rather than children being taken to the orphanage. The orphanage is only a back up when child has no family, but the fostering happens in villages and the family are given money to buy food / pay school fees etc. otherwise the child would be a terrible burden on their elderly granny (for example).

I think it’s important to research the project (what are the activities, how
long is the volunteer there -longer is better, how does the orphanage support the community etc) before dismissing it as a harmful money making racket.

Don't contribute. I agree they should fund themselves.

Need to clarify that when I said it needs to be called out, I don't intend to take a megaphone to Westminster, more I mean that we should question the people who are seeking funding and making them aware it's something beneficial for them, not the other way around. Or perhaps question how the money is being used?
I worked with a man who was on a mission to do as many marathons as possible, and the easiest way to get accepted (according to him) was to do it for charity. He was "fundraising for Cancer" in the office, we all brought in cake to sell and he did loads of raffles and other events, with "£100 raised for cancer charity today guys". I discovered through conversation that this money was his package 'deal', so he had to pay £3k to the charity, which included his flights and accommodation, and I assume the charity got the remainder, but I was very annoyed that I had basically contributed to his hobby in the name of him being patron saint of charity work.

It is really important to do your research, and even then it doesnt akways work out as planned.

I waited until I had a skill to offer, and went and taught on the first physio degree programme in Nepal for a year - they had very few qualified physios there so no one to actually train and supervise. They idea was we trained the first set and then they with support would train the next set, theoretically a very sensible sustainable option. However, once trained, most left the country and moved abroad where they could be paid much higher, which no one can blame them for working to get their family out of poverty, but it didn't acheive the intended aim.

And do these genuine orphan projects facilitate buses of foreign teenagers pulling up everyday, and allow them to post their photos over social media? By all means go and volunteer in an orphanage for weeks at a time, but calling in for the day to get your good feels under the pretence of "providing childcare" is very disingenuous, and must be very unsettling to the children.

My most cutting midwifery lecturer blatantly asked what a 19 year old not even 2nd year student can safely offer a mother of 5 with a prolonged labour in sub-Saharan Africa and reminded the class that said woman has little choice BUT to take the underqualified, inexperienced student.

It didn't stop anyone from feeling like they were still well placed to perform this role. It's the height of Western entitlement and ego.

So don't donate, why do you need to 'call out' sounds like you want as much as pat on the back as you think they do

Just get on with your life and all the voluntary jobs you do yourself

I used to work with a charity that had a “gap year” program and it was mainly for raising money and awareness. That said we had a minimum period for volunteers and they were students (some of whom came back when qualified). It also builds real bridges and connections between people if done right.

so I don’t think voluntourism is all bad (of course unqualified people should not be working directly with children). It can be very helpful being a way of raising money and it’s a valuable experience

This is why I donate to the Sheldrick Trust:

The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust does not take on volunteers for a number of reasons. Firstly, caring for the orphans is a long term commitment and the keepers care for them as a temporary family and are with them for up to 10 years. Enabling local Kenyans the opportunity to play a part in the hand-raising of orphans helps create an affinity with the species and our keepers then share this conservation message with their families and communities, further spreading this essential conservation message.

it may be that a midwifery student can offer something if there are no alternatives. Of course this isn’t a great scenario and any student should be working under supervision.

But it’s a strange attitude that no help at all is better than partly qualified help.

Who is the experience valuable for? It usually bring the most value to the person volunteering. Bulks up their dating profile, gives them hippy creds in their gentrified circles etc, gives them the authority to speak on global issues because of all they've "seen". I'm not entirely sure how it's valuable to the orphans, or pregnant women, or poor people.

I thought programmes like this stopped years ago.
I’ve never seen the point in sending predominantly middle class 18 year olds with no building experience to build schools in Africa.
At best it’s pointless them going, at its worst it’s actively harmful and perpetuates the idea that Africa needs Western help for everyday life.

I would donate money to send a qualified bricklayer, but even then I expect they would have limited use due to lack of experience with local materials/climate etc.

I did some work overseas as an anaesthetic consultant in a low to middle income country and I was of limited use. You need to fully understand the local conditions before you can start being useful.

I also personally did a habitat for humanity house build in Africa. It was basically a corporate project for my employer to do team building. It worked well from that perspective and raised a lot of money to build houses. I did further work on habitat projects in London. These things can be win win. But of course people shouldn’t overestimate how useful their actual Labour is.

The best help would be from standardising the training of Traditional Birth Attendents, better access to midwifery and medical degrees, better pay and conditions in rural areas for qualified practitioners, and especially those who come as highly qualified professional training locals to those levels of expertise. As well as money for technology and facilities.

If these western students actually cared about the outcomes of these women and their babies, they'd fundraise for them to have those things instead of raising money for their unqualified selves to get "hands on". But because it's not really about the woman and babies, just about helping middle classed young adults feel good about themselves, neither they nor their parents would ever give the thousands they pay to go away directly to the people who need it.

Valuable for the person volunteering, yes. But also should be valuable to the project concerned- puts money into the local community, builds houses, schools, etc. The charity I worked with that did gap year stuff basically sent people to an area where tourists never go. So it was a huge boost financially to locals.

I agree. Does not sit well with me.

Very unpopular opinion:
I think it's very patronising to the people in said countries.

It's an extension of colonialism: our way or the highway without regard to the landscape, climate or traditions.

Of course that would be better. It would be better if they all had qualified obstetricians.

But your initial point was that it’s better not to have anything at all rather than a student midwife and that surely can’t be true

But this is what I’m trying to say. No, they wouldn’t allow buses full of instagrammers. But they do allow some volunteering. For example, it is appropriate for a teenager to help out with sports/outings/homework etc during the long summer break. It is not appropriate for a teenager to be a houseparent that is responsible for the day to day lives of the children for a few weeks. I think you’re using a straw man fallacy.

More fool, the people that donate to these

I remember David Lammy criticizing Stacey Dooley for promoting a comic relief funded maternity Centre in Africa (white savior etc). I find that ridiculous. Having worked in developing countries the locals don’t care about that and would rather have the clinic with well qualified staff (white or not).

To be honest if any Ugandans want to come and set up a free clinic with qualified doctors and nurses in my area I’m all for it! I might then have an outside chance of getting a doctors appointment

If they didnt have an army of students to "volunteer", many of these places would be forced to spend the money on training and retaining qualified staff.

There are places that literally slash their qualified posts through the summer because they know Emily and Anais will be coming over to "deliver babies".

Yes this. Projects need to be well structured but if done properly they should benefit both locals and the travelers.