Volun-tourism: The Dark Side to Volunteering Abroad

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Thinking of volunteering abroad? You have seen all the photos of fulfilled travelers hugging orphans and building schools, and now you want to be a part of it. Let’s delve into the world of “volun-tourism“.

Travelers tend to be kind-hearted people. People who care about the world and those who inhabit it. Travelers are the kind of people who like to give back and make a difference. Unfortunately, that kind of giving spirit can get taken advantage of.

Orphanages, schools, hospitals, and all kinds of other organizations welcome western foreigners volunteers…and the money that comes with it. In 2017 short-term travel volunteer projects were a 173 BILLION dollar industry. You may be thinking….what’s wrong with that? A whole ton of money going to helping poor and undeveloped regions is a good thing, right?

But thats not exactly how it works.

The Problem

Let me paint a picture for you. These are impoverished people. People who struggle every single day to survive. For basic needs like food, water, and shelter. Put in this kind of situation people do unthinkable things to survive. A study done by thinkchildsafe.org that determined that 80% of children in orphanages around the world have at least one parent. They end up in orphanages SOLELY to lure westerners into contributing to these fake organizations.

Another major issue. Unskilled labor. If you are not skilled enough or certified to do this activity in your home country why should you be allowed to do it in an impoverished country?

A little story for you. During my undergraduate years, while I was pursuing a medical degree, I heard about the opportunity a fellow classmate had experienced in Africa. I won’t name names or organizations but they were allowing students who paid their way to stay at the hospital and help with surgeries. Now as an aspiring physician, naturally I wanted to hear all about it. Not only was she (with no medical training, whatsoever) able to watch the surgery but she ASSISTED in ALL procedures including emergency amputations and craniotomies.

Real lives were on the line but for a couple thousand dollars, hospitals in certain countries in desperate need of help are willing to look the other way. The same goes for building schools and bonding with children in orphanages.

Additionally,

• Locals lose jobs to tourists.
• Organizations are set up for the sole purpose of making money. In other words, we are literally creating orphans. Australian legislation went as far as to call it modern-day slavery and is working to stop their citizens from volunteering in orphanages abroad.
• It creates more work and often makes local’s lives more difficult rather than easier. Often schools built by tourists are taken down and re-built (in the correct and structurally sound way) overnight. It appears to the volunteers that they are building the school but in reality, they are just creating twice as much work for the skilled local builders.

The Solution

• Consider Long-Term volunteer work.
  • Projects extending longer than three weeks leave sufficient time to train you in whatever skills you will be performing. Then you can begin giving back to the community. Start by checking out this article from Forbes about short vs. long-term projects.
• Research.
  • There are amazing organizations you can volunteer with! Can you contribute by teaching a skill? Providing your expertise on a certain subject? The best kinds of volunteer projects should help the communities become self-sufficient, allowing locals to fill the jobs as volunteers leave.
• Donate.
  • I know this isn’t what anyone wants to hear. But donating even half the sum of money you would have spent “volunteering” will amount to so much more in that organization. Find an effective organization and support them.
• Know your motives. And the organizations.
  • There is nothing wrong with traveling to another country short-term just to learn about the culture and gain some insight into how other people live. This can be a big personal growth opportunity and if you travel responsibly you can still contribute to locals and their businesses. You don’t need to pay a ton of money to an overhead organization that isn’t helping anyone but themselves.

Volunteering is an admirable desire. And this post isn’t intended to scare people away from contributing to foreign organizations. So just do your research. Find out where you can actually make a difference. And contribute to organizations that help rather than hurt.