Dear Possible Voluntourist,
Hi, I’m Kellin and I want to speak to you about that service trip you might be thinking of going on! I know that today, many people go on service trips or want to travel with an added aspect of helping others. That kind of travel is called: Volunteer tourism. It is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as, the act or practice of doing volunteer work as needed in the community where one is vacationing. Volunteer tourism also known as, “voluntourism” is seen as the “do good vacation”. There are many organizations that create vacations and trips to go on that are centered around volunteer work. But often there are many flaws that come with these trips.
Two organizations that are big, specifically, with high school students are Global Leadership Adventures (GLA) and Rustic Pathways. Both of these organization have trips all over the world that high school students can pay to go on. To go on these trips you must apply, with an application fee and a mini essay about why you want to go on the trip. After you apply, you will hear back and most likely get accepted because they won’t really turn you away unless the program has filled up. Once you are accepted you prepare for your trip and then you go on it. On these trips you fly to the destination and are met by your groups chaperones in the airport. After that your trip really beings. On the trips there is a form of service work that the trip is built around whether that be teaching English, paining a school, building a school, beach cleanup, working with kids in an orphanage. Along with that service work you would go on excursions where you might go scuba diving, zip-lining, other sorts of adventure activities. You would also go and learn about the culture and history of the country, while learning about some of the things that are important to that country’s economy or values.
Over the Summer of 2017 I went on one of these trips with Global Leadership Adventures, called “Children of the Maya” which took place in Guatemala. For my trip we centered our main “service work” around painting a mural in a school and teaching English. Along with that we went zip-lining and to visit and learn about Mayan ruins, weavers in the countryside, traditional Mayan weddings and more. After the trip I completed 30 hours of community service, but in all honesty, after the trip I had to talk myself into believing I did good and did enough service on that trip to have 30 service hours. Before this trip I did not know the effects of these trips and how they do more harm that good. While I was there and on the trip we would have debriefs or we would talk about why we went on this trip and during those moments I got a glimpse of the issues that may come from these trips. Many of the other students on the trip said that their parents sent them because they wanted them to “experience poverty and get a wake up call” or that they came so that they could check their own privilege, and some other came because they truly believed they were doing good, or because it would look good on a college application and instagram. When hearing these reasons I felt extremely uncomfortable. Personally, I went on the trip because I wanted to try and find a way to make a connection/memories with my home country of Guatemala that did not relate or have to do with my adoption. So after hearing those reasons, I wanted to leave and go home right then and there. Hearing people see that trip as something for themselves in such a gross and close minded way really left me with an off feeling.
Since I think you are contemplating the idea of going on one of these trips, I want to paint a picture for you and explain why these trips are not all that they seem.
When you think about, you are paying upwards of $2,000 to “experience” poor people in a third world country. And the reasoning is, “I want to do good and help those who have less than me, but I also want this to be a learning experience for myself.” With that being your reasoning, my question to you is this: Why can’t you drive/walk down to the local food pantry or homeless shelter in your neighborhood or city and volunteer for two weeks straight there? Why do you need to travel to a third world country and see those poor people and children to understand your privilege and help others? I don’t mean this in a mean way, I am genuinely asking because if service work is the main objective, why must you take pictures with the children or people and post it and why do you need to pay over $2,000, when you could spend maybe $10 on gas instead?
When looking at these organizations websites like GLA and Rustic Pathways, you can see how they are marketing these trips and how it would draw you in. With slogans like the one below saying “Volunteer Abroad: How far will you go to change lives this summer” or the other one below it speaking about the “Program Type” asking if this is what you are passionate about. With statements like, “Inspire local children to dream big and achieve their ambitions” or “Leave a lasting impact on the community through infrastructure improvements at local schools”. Those statements are problematic within themselves. Asking how far you will go to change lives? You do not have to go very far, there are lives you can change within your own community. And saying “Inspire local children to dream big”, why must white people inspire them, many are inspired themselves they do not need us to come in and do it for them. Yes you will probably make an amazing “connection” with one of these kids but keep in mind there are multiple sets of dates for these trips. Meaning they are sending down 2-4 groups of different people in ONE summer to the SAME place.
Some of the main problems that have read about are about the work that is being done. When you go down to these countries to build or paint, you are taking jobs away from locals who actually need money. In the Guardian it said, “But the last thing a Guatemalan highland village needs is imported unskilled labour. People are desperate for jobs. Public works serve the community better and last longer when locals do them. ” These jobs that you may be doing thinking you are helping are hurting those who you say you want to help. When you go down to countries through an American organization that does not effectively communicating with the local community, you are not doing good you are causing harm. Another problem is that, “we, a group of highly educated private boarding school students were so bad at the most basic construction work that each night the men had to take down the structurally unsound bricks we had laid and rebuild the structure so that, when we woke up in the morning, we would be unaware of our failure.” When thinking about these trips, you don’t ask yourself, can I actually build a structure that is safe? Can I actually take care of animals? Can I actually help doctors and their patients if I can’t speak their language? These questions may seem like small things that can be fixed with help and support, but in reality, you will not be taught and will create harder work for local people to do without pay. In that quote she said, “….each night the men had to…rebuilt the structure so that, when we woke up in the morning, we would be unaware of our failure”. When locals have to do that in the night so that you don’t know, it is not longer about the service and doing good, it is showing how this is truly so that YOU, the American, here to “help” can leave feeling good.
When I was on my trip I found myself thinking a lot about The Danger of a Single Story TEDTalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One quote that stuck with me from the TEDTalk that explained that, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”. I found that quote and definition really interesting because I had always thought about how stereotypes create these narratives but never in the sense of a “single story” leading to one being “single storied.”
Continuing from the TEDTalk she said, “The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition four equal humanity difficult, it emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar”. That quote is one thing that really drove me to this topic. She said that the single story robs people of dignity, similar to the ways that thinking all children in third world countries need someone from America to save them. Often there is a single story told of those from third world countries and it usually revolves around people from the US or Europe needing to go help and save them. Thus creating, the White Savior Complex: The phrase refers to a white person who acts to help non-white people, but in a context which can be perceived as self-serving. One Twitter account that does an amazing job brining these issues to light is @nowhitesaviors ! They continuously educate their following through real hard work.
Now, I understand you still want to travel beyond your community and volunteer in a smart and ethical manner. Well, one of my suggestions would be, find local organizations that are run by those living in that community for that community that are doing work to legitimately help them. Along with that, give your money to an organization that isn’t from the US and one that is grassroots and needs more help.
While it is hard to find organizations that are local, there are many organization that are part of larger organizations that may be all over but have a small sector for their organization in that specific community. Personally, after my trip to Guatemala with GLA, I still wanted to do more work there for personal reasons, but I did not want to go through GLA. So I found another organization that I could work with in Guatemala.
For the past two summers and part of last April, I went back to Guatemala and volunteered at Esperanza Juvenil (Boys Hope Girls Hope). They are an organization that exists in America, but they have their special school called Esperanza Juvenil in Guatemala City. We send my biological half brother to that school and that is how we gained the connection. They are a great school that is also a boarding school taking kids out of unhealthy and unstable homes giving them a safe loving environment to put them on a path of education for upward mobility. When I volunteer there, I help teach English, but I do it alongside the actual teachers rather than me actually teaching the students because, I am not able to do that. I worked with the English teachers learning how they create their lessons and teach their students. Along with not taking teaching into my own hands, I lived in one of the boarding houses with some of the students. While this still plays into the “I am here to help and be there for these kids” I feel like I am doing better work that the nonexistent work I did while on my GLA trip. I still plan to continue going down at least once a year and see my brother and the students. I still speak to the girls from Hogar Uno I lived with the first time I went down. They feel like my little sisters and the house Tía feels like a Tía to me as well. I know that my connection may be different because my brother attends the school, but if you continuously talk to these students and come back it becomes more meaningful than any work you will ever do with an organization where you stay for two weeks and never see the children again.
So, I hope that this helped you out a little with choosing if that trip is worth it. Wanting to volunteer and help is never bad, but you just have to keep in mind your privilege and go about using it and your resources in an appropriate and meaningful manner. Remember, if your true intentions are to help, you don’t need to post it all over instagram, and you don’t need to pay over $2,000 for the experience. Donate to local organizations, work with local communities to find out what they actually need help with, understand this isn’t to make you feel good, the meaning should never be about you. I don’t want you to feel like a horrible person if you have gone on one of these trips or were thinking about it, trust me I learned my lesson after my trip. But if people call you out, don’t get mad, they want you to learn and help you. It is all from a place of wanting you to grow.
To end this, I know I spoke about some issues that I have found with these trips and what you need to think before your trip, but here is another list that is extremely helpful and knowledgeable from @nowhitesaviors. Do what you want with this information, but hold yourself accountable and do real good. – Kellin
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