"Trip of a lifetime" half way through A-levels - good plan or not?

[AChickenCalledKorma]

DD1 has the opportunity to sign up for a Camps International trip to Tanzania. It will be for four weeks during the summer holiday after year 12 - ie midway through her A Levels.

She's planning to do Physics and Maths, plus either another science or a humanity - as yet undecided. She will almost certainly also do an EPQ.

We have a few concerns about the trip, one of which is the impact it may have on her studies. There is a massive fundraising commitment which would start now, in year 11 and continue until May of year 12. And then she would be away for two thirds of the long summer holidays. And I have no idea what the expectation is likely to be that she also uses that summer to study and/or complete her EPQ.

She is potentially interested in applying to Cambridge, so A level grades will really matter if she goes ahead with that.

But on the other hand the trip does sound fantastic and it's very likely that at least some of her closest friends will be going.

Just wondered if anyone has any words of wisdom. We intend to talk to the sixth form staff about expectations and whether they think it's a good idea. But as the school is promoting the trip (and it looks great in their marketing material) they may not be entirely unbiased!

It was a good old fashioned no from me when dd was offered world challenge. I was utterly unconvinced by the ethics. I was utterly unconvinced about the feasibilty of fund raising the amount required from the limited pool of people and it would basically be asking others to pay for a jolly. I think it was 3k each. I thought that if 7 kids could raise 20k for charity in a year there were a million and one better charity uses for those funds than riding an elephant and daubing some paint on a wall.
I was also unconvinced that dd would not get drawn into politics and arguments about who was doing what.
And i rarely said just no to anything

What sort of course is she interested in doing?

Haggisfish
I agree.
And if she is the first to go to uni or you hit other criteria then she may be eligable for the Sutton Trust summer schools.

Sciences - so the trip would not be remotely useful!

I hadn't thought about university summer schools. That is a very good point.

I would also have a massive problem with Charity Tourism and also the pressured way in which organisations make money out of it.

Do the children understand the ethics (or lack of them) in these programmes and would it help if they had more information on that aspect?

If it has anything to do with “Orphanages” then read the stuff from Lumos.
I would also suggest she signs up for NCS after GCSEs and then looks at doing ICS after A’levels if she really wants to volunteer overseas. There are other ways of travelling, especially when at University.

When we went to Tanzania on a plain and simple expensive holiday, we saw some of those kids at the airports.
They were very loud and very gap yah

We also saw Rwandan refugee orphans (they had tags on their coats) being relocated across the world by the UN.

I know which one I'd rather money was spent on.

My DD went on Camps International trip to Tanzania 4 years ago. Had a great time, and learned a lot. If finance is a worry, I certainly wouldn't rely on Camps for help - I think most of my DD's friends were parent funded (she went at the end of Year 11, so obviously GCSEs were her main focus).
There may be other reasons for not going, but I wouldn't let A Level study or EPQ work stop you/her. If she is organised, that shouldn't be a problem. (My DD of course wasn't part of the new A Levels, so I am not sure if that has any impact).

I would just say no. Simiilar was mentioned as a possibility by one of our DCs but there are so many negative factors, ;charity tourism, cost, binding commitments very early on, the marketing aspec of it etc) that I am afraid we quashed it without feeling the need to be tactful. The timing is n't ideal but that by itself would not have been a deal breaker.

Times might’ve changed but I don’t remember doing much work over the summer during A-levels and I went to Cambridge. We’re talking 20 years ago though...

I went on a school trip to Italy and took a book about quantum physics to read. I’d been told at the end of first year that I needed to study harder or I’d miss out on an A in Physics.

So I did extra reading and some revision. Turned out ok for me. Got 4As went to Cambridge. Personally I didn’t fancy any of the expedition type trips that some went on.

Laser like focus probably less important than being well-rounded and a creative, critical thinker.

Apart from anything else, if your dd and a friend raised that sort of money they could have the most amazing independent adventure without contributing to the coffers of the voluntoutist industry........

I would hope that the university admissions people realise it’s unethical and would penalise the applicant for lack of critical thinking / research.

No I wouldn’t let my child do this. There are plenty of ways to volunteer and travel.

My DD has done a Camps Int trip and it was amazing for her personal development. She came back a different girl (in a good way). However we paid for the trip as we thought the fundraising would seriously interfere with school work and her extra curricular activities. We can afford it and were happy to do this. If that is not an option for you I'd reconsider. And in my experience no-one does much work over the summer holidays. If she's worried then the trip will give plenty of opportunities for reading!

Strong no from me based on ethics. I feel irrationally cross when local public school does bag packing in Waitrose to fund their World Challenge holiday. Not sure why I should fund rich kids holidays. I don’t feel the same when local scouts do it.

I think the message this gives already privileged youngsters is of concern. I don’t think developing countries need their little ones to have lots of photo opportunities. Tell her to go on a fabulous trip but not through the profiteering of charity tourism. Tell her to go back with some skills that are useful and offer a longer period of time where she can actually do some good.

When we were waiting at Dar airport to fly home,
watching kids wearing every piece of clothing they owned
carrying their one donated cuddly toy
clutching onto the adults' hands
with labels on their bags saying
"Orphan -> San Francisco"
"Family -> Houston"
and the helpers from the UN trying to give them a chance of a better life
it reduced us all to tears.
There were over 100 of them on our plane alone.

The frankly paternalistic, imperialist approach of bods like Camps International
yah, we clever rich white people can do it better than you
annoyed us before
but it made us seethe afterwards

Go to Tanzania, but do not pretend its "charidee"

summerschools.suttontrust.com/subjects-and-dates/

talkinpeace so the cess pits and drains my DD and fellow travellers dug while on a Camps Int trip were of no use to the locals?? I don’t think anyone was under any illusion that this was a holiday with some project work on the side but it’s a bit cynical to say that there is absolutely no value to the work done at all

Homebythesea - do you not think that the money would have been better spent on paying local people to dig said cess pits, thereby providing employment and contributing to the local economy? Not to mention the fact that they probably filled them in once your dd left and got the next group to do them again...

I'm sure there are local 17 year olds available to dig chess pits and drains......

So why didn’t local people do those jobs? I don’t know the answer to that question by the way. However having seen the benefit to my daughter of going on the trip I’m a bit wary of the very cynical attitude demonstrated in this conversation.

And there was local employment in the various camps they stayed in, Trekking guides and money spent in the local economy just like all the other tourist spots

"However having seen the benefit to my daughter of going on the trip I’m a bit wary of the very cynical attitude demonstrated in this conversation"

Hmm. Do you really think a function of the developing world is providing experiences for privileged developed world children?

"And there was local employment in the various camps they stayed in, Trekking guides and money spent in the local economy just like all the other tourist spots
Nothing wrong with tourism. A lot wrong with pretending that this is volunteering, or aid work.

My then 15yr old did Sutton Trust summer school at St Andrews last summer, and hopefully will again this year, she loved it, had a blast but found it really helpful too, and apart from lunch money and around £15 transport cost nothing

Of course it isn’t the “function” of other countries to do that any more than saying it isn’t the “function” of Spain to provide us with Beach Holidays. But they do.

DD was (and is) privileged enough to have had an experience which both changed her and provided (a little) help to some communities. I can’t feel bad about that,sorry