£6490 Camps International trip

[saskia80]

Has anyone's child done the Camps International Ecuador and Galapagos trip? The cost is £6490 but with jabs and extras is likely to be nearer £8000. They have 16 months to raise the money. The presentation made the kids think the fundraising wouldn't be too hard despite the fact our town is in the 10% most deprived in the country. My child is very torn over the idea as would love to go but knows it's a mammoth amount to raise. My biggest concern is the mental health impact of having financial deadlines looming over them. If they miss a payment the trip is lost without refund. Not something 13 year old should be worrying about. Also massively hypocritical when the school doesn't allow non uniform days so poor kids don't feel left out! Meanwhile Camps International are turning over £17 million per year

Given you’re in one of the most deprived areas of the UK I’d be inclined to write an extremely strong letter to your schools’s Governors. It is HUGELY inappropriate of the Head to allow such an organisation in frankly. Totally tone deaf.

Well….. there’s nothing left to say - what a bunch of fucking charlatans.

Just WOW.

That's ridiculously expensive. Who on earth would be contributing to this fundraising?

They are literally suggesting a young teen can raise £500 a month consistently for 16 months. They vast majority cant. Much of this 'fundraising' is 'GoFundMe' pages (asking people for money) or sponsered events (asking people for money). You can make some money from bag packing quizzes etc. but no where near £8k. If multiple kids are going from one school you are esentially targeting the same saturated 'market'. Most of the time the parents end up paying most of it. The alternative is the company pockets the money already paid & the kid doesnt go.
Even if you accept that an unskilled teen has something useful to offer the countries they visit (debatable at best) it is about the most inefficient way to 'help' imaginable. The fact they tell impressionable young teens they can raise £8k in their spare time borders on deceitful. It is essentially asking others to pay for a long haul adventure holiday. Strangely it turns out to be difficult. I have no idea why schools host them.

Our school offered something similar through another company but only a week in a European destination for £3K I think. Asking 13/14 year olds to fundraise too!

We thought about it and debated taking the money out of DS’s savings (he was unlikely to realistically raise thet amount) but ultimately it sounded too expensive and something he could do on his own or with friends when older.

I’m not sure whether the trip went ahead. I think most parents decided it was too much.