Disclaimer: I recognize that we are in a pandemic and that it’s super hard to volunteer right now! I’m not writing this to encourage people to volunteer in unsafe ways. Instead, I want to explore a concept that I’ve been informed about recently.
One time I had the opportunity to listen to a man speak about volunteering and advocacy. For the most part, the conversation was what you would expect. We talked about creating an inclusive environment, ways to support unrepresented communities, and ways to volunteer on campus. At the end of his presentation, the man wanted to talk about pet peeves that he had when it came to volunteering. One of them was voluntourism.
The man talked about how he gave a speech to people who survived Hurricane Sandy within this speech praised the young people who showed up and volunteered to help relief efforts. In the middle of the room, the speaker noticed that an older man looked angry at the comment. Perplexed the speaker continued his speech and decided to talk to the man after he was done. When he approached the man and asked him why he looked so angry he described what it was like to be helped by these young people.
They showed up in buses. Throughout the day they would work (and he was grateful for it) but they would ignore the locals around them. They wouldn’t engage in conversation or attempt to learn about how the hurricane-affected these groups of people. Instead at the end of the day, they would gather together in their buses and go back to their swanky hotels. The man was annoyed because it felt like these kids did this to feel good about themselves, to check off a list for some sort of volunteerism requirement, or to have a new experience. Not to help people.
While listening to this story I couldn’t help but feel it resonate with me. It had felt like a lot of volunteer work that I used to do. In order to get credit for an organization, I was involved with I would volunteer. It wasn’t something that I necessarily wanted to do it was something that I was expected to do. And yes, I created change in the world but it was for an inherently selfish reason.
I researched voluntourism a little bit later and learned that it’s a bigger problem then I originally thought. On a micro-level people who intend to do good by traveling to countries to volunteer sometimes do more harm than good. Instead of equipping a community with the tools to create social change voluntourism makes a community reliant on outside help. In some cases when the volunteer posts their experience on social media it shows the community as a one-dimensional image. Poor. Helpless. A complete stereotype of a culture that has nuance and deserves a better definition.
I’m sure these people have good reasons to volunteer abroad. I’m sure these students have good reasons to help with Hurricane Sandy relief. Just like I had good intentions to volunteer for service hours. But, it’s important to not just volunteer but to recognize the actions behind it.