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?

Stacey Dooley isn't qualified staff.

And by the way, I adore Stacey Dooley. And Stacey Solomon fwiw..

Sorry but sadly it often doesn’t work like that in developing countries (or developed ones) especially where women’s health is concerned. Just because people don’t turn up to help doesn’t mean there are the resources or inclination to set up a good maternity system. Thinking that the problem will fix itself if you do nothing is magical thinking

It actually does work like that because it has been tried and tested. Paying qualified people more and providing better conditions actually meant they were more likely to take up these posts and stay in them.

It's just cheaper to allow middle classed western students to do it instead and they feel a sense of entitlement to be allowed to do it so it becomes a vicious circle and breeds corruption.

No I’m not suggesting she is qualified in healthcare. She was promoting a free maternity clinic with qualified staff funded by comic relief. So people would give money to fund the clinic. That’s her job - and good on her.

David lammy is an idiot with luxury beliefs - poor women want good healthcare. We don’t have the luxury of foregoing it to wang on about skin color or student politics nonsense.

Heck, it's smacks of 'let's go and see how the poor live' before returning to our naice, well equipped home and feel good about ourselves. Thankful that it's them and not me living in a shack.
These trips get a wide swerve from me, you want your kid to go you fund it yourself.
I'll stick with sponsoring children in 3rd world countries that really need the help, and not kids on a jolly up poncing around.

It really doesn’t. Healthcare in many developing countries for women is woeful even if bad forrins are not volunteering.

Yes I agree that is the job of celebs on comic relief. I didn't agree with Lammy fully on that part, but I'm well aware of the general problems of volunteering in these locations.

What i actually liked about the Lammy thing is the conversations in the black community about why black celebs weren't being asked or taking up these positions when they were asked.

Do you work in women's and public health at all? Because I'm a midwife with a special interest in this area. What I'm talking about actually comes from solid research and my connections with various maternity initiatives across the world.

Where is yours coming from?

They’d do better to get a job in the UK and donate their earnings to Lend With Care.

No one in Africa thinks that the teens doing this are having any more than an enriching youth experience.

While they are there they mix with other kids/young people who get to meet teens from another culture too who also have a good experience.

The white saviour idea isn't about the teens going abroad - it's about missionary organisations. It's also an issue with how we have historically portrayed Africa on TV. Its about restrictions tied to foreign aid.

What I don't agree with is a crowd funder. You should do sponsored events to raise money for it.

We had a highly qualified friend who did VSO and said the same. Tried and tested simply engineered techniques that could have improved so much for people’s lives for their village and farming were laughed at and nothing changed.

Go and do some charitable work, thats great. Asking others to fund it, is just plain CF erism. Fund your Mother Therisa experience week yourself !

Thinking that the problem will fix itself if you do nothing is magical thinking

But the problem needs to be fixed from the inside out (by local people & politicians in other wors society to have true lasting effects) not from the outside in (student volunteers and people who have no connections to the land and people).
The most successful projects with real change are the ones where local people are trained and given real jobs from managers to cleaners, creating economic viability.

One example is training ex poachers as game keepers and guides for tourist in big national parks.

I don’t think it should matter whether Stacy Dooley is black or not tho. To me much of the debate is about politicians v people. People like David lammy likes his student politics grift that keeps him in a privileged job. He doesn’t need to worry about actual poor women who need healthcare. Stacey Dooley to my mind is on the side of the ordinary woman who just needs healthcare.

interestingly having studied development, many of the reasons for countries being poor is a lack of accountability of their politicians and institutions to ordinary people. They tend to spout dogma rather than worrying about what ordinary people want. That’s here in the uk too but not as bad.

To understand why the colonies are in the state they are now, you'd have to understand the perils of colonialism and this isn't the thread (or possibly the site) for that conversation. Or any of the conversations about why it would be important to have Black celebs (not exclusively) in those roles.

Of course those types of projects are best. Volunteers from overseas could and often do have a role in those projects. But thinking that if there are no foreign volunteers good services will magically appear is nonsense.

None of the evidence shows that colonialism itself has anything to do with whether countries are rich or poor. Making basic healthcare into some middle class dogma about race is hideous imo.

You're not wrong. Dd went to (insert country) to help rebuild school and add to academic calender. In reality she painted a few walls, avoided being bitten by deadly snake, propositioned by local village chief and had a really fantastic time. Was not cheap holiday.

It’s called racism.
To think your own culture is so superior that you’re doing people a favour, it’s grotesque.

I’ve worked and studied development. Sadly problems don’t fix themselves in the absence of foreign volunteers.

It’s racism to volunteer at a clinic or to bold a house or do a beach clean in another country?

wow, I’ve heard everything now

History and current affairs are riddled with countless examples.

Colonialism destroyed local economies, cultures and structures. But that's a discussion for another thread.

What type of development? Are you currently involved with any global organisations which provide health and social care in developing countries? Are you currently involved in academia in this field?

Absolutely. Fund your own trip. There is something colonial about it