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It's not a great article, but there are really big problems with "voluntourism". I lived in Nepal for 2 months, and met many "voluntourists". There was actual

It's not a great article, but there are really big problems with "voluntourism". I lived in Nepal for 2 months, and met many "voluntourists". There was actually a strange kind of divide between the voluntourists, who had paid thousands of dollars to be able to teach at a school or work in an orphanage, and the people who found themselves in Nepal for a variety of reasons and wanted to do some good spontaneously. Simply put, the voluntourists didn't want to listen to any evidence that what they were doing was having a net negative effect on the local community. But the problem is that voluntourists create profit opportunities for some really bad people. To put it succinctly, I just found this paragraph leading an article that discusses the problem [1]: [...] volunteers in Nepal may be unknowingly contributing to a growing child trafficking industry that enables fake orphanages to secure revenue from foreigners while deliberately keeping children in destitute conditions. I wanted to do some good while I was there, and met some volunteers of a local school (all of whom had paid to be there), and told them I'd had some ideas about how to teach computer literacy or programming to kids in Nepal. They hooked me up with someone that took me to the school so that I could talk with the principal, etc. What I discovered was a group of people from the principal down to their computer teacher that were openly hostile and disrespectful toward me. This is too long of a story to get into here (maybe I should write a blog post about this), but what I realized later was that the school was a very well-oiled machine when it came to volunteers that were paying the school to teach English. But they didn't really know what to do with this guy that showed up offering to teach about computers, but wasn't paying anything. My takeaway was that the for-profit volunteering industry must be crowding out some well-meaning individuals who don't offer (corrupt) incentives to the local organizations. At least this was my experience in Nepal. [1] https://newmatilda.com/2014/03/04/fake-orphanages-profit-western-volunteers https://newmatilda.com/2014/03/04/fake-orphanages-profit-wes...

mercer 11y ago
I've experienced many problems with 'voluntourists' growing up in a developing nation. Well, my parents experienced them, but I observed the difficulties they faced. It happened quite often that a group of volunteers with a sizable budget, but no clue as to what was useful or needed, would swoop in for a month and just work away without consulting any local workers. The result would usually fall apart shortly after they left, with anything of value sucked away by some clever local 'trustee'. However, even more damaging was the fact that 1) the locals involved with the less sexy long-term projects would flock to these new, well-funded project to get some of the 'profit' (for which I don't blame them), and 2) there'd be much grumbling over how our projects weren't as well funded or purely volunteer-based. And then there were also some cases of abuse, or severe culture clashes that would cause other initiatives damage by proxy. My worst experience by far did not involve voluntourists though. The worst involved large aid organizations and peace (corps?) workers swooping in to help with the 'humanitarian crisis'. Warehouses filled with food that destabilized the entire local economy, and a large amount of rather insulting crap (clothing that nobody with any self-respect would wear). Tons of aid workers who didn't even have a basic knowledge of the culture they were in, and no interest whatsoever to consult the people who had been there for years or decades. Sigh. That said, it's not all bad. Quite often some of the 'voluntourists' would fall in love with the country and come back on their own and help out with some of the many wonderful initiatives. I just wish there'd be a little more communication between these short-term (youth) organizations and the 'veterans'. That alone would solve so much. EDIT: One of the worst examples just came to mind. A big organization poured a lot of money into an orphanage for disabled children, but never really bothered to check where the money went since their local 'operations manager' was too busy traveling around the country and pretending to be some kind of saintly figure. Turns out the money went to a single local family that 'helped' said manager by living like royalty and leaving the orphanage a disgusting, heartbreaking mess. It took a lot of extra effort to keep the orphanage in somewhat working state (as understandably many people would refuse to help out, knowing where all the money was going), and it took many, many reports by smaller organizations and independent aid workers before something was finally done.
forgetsusername 11y ago
>But they didn't really know what to do with this guy that showed up offering to teach about computers, but wasn't paying anything. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't know what to do with some guy/girl who flew in off the street (while on vacation I presume) and said they wanted to teach computers, either. Should they rearrange everything to make room for you, or be skeptical? I'd probably do the latter.
- superplussed 11y ago
  Nope, I wasn't on vacation but living there open-endedly at the time. You are also missing the point which is that when organizations become corrupted by these payments, they aren't any longer operating for the greater good, but to line their pockets. The story was more complex than I'd like to go into here, but they definitely acted outside of the best interest of their school and the kids in the way they treated me.
  - Freeboots 11y ago
    Volunteer recruiter in Cambodia here; There are definitely 'organisations' out there that are purely in it to profit directly from volunteer 'programme fees', so your experience doesnt surprise me. On the other hand, without saying its true of your case, it is also unreasonable to expect a school to automatically welcome some random off the street, who has been there only 2 months and does not have a definite plan to stay or leave, who may or may not be qualified in either the area they intend to teach or in teaching itself (which is a thing, teaching is not easy). Your experience sounds more hostile than that, and i dont doubt they were unwilling to work with you for dubious reasons; however, legitimate reasons do exist.

mercer 11y ago

I've experienced many problems with 'voluntourists' growing up in a developing nation. Well, my parents experienced them, but I observed the difficulties they faced. It happened quite often that a group of volunteers with a sizable budget, but no clue as to what was useful or needed, would swoop in for a month and just work away without consulting any local workers. The result would usually fall apart shortly after they left, with anything of value sucked away by some clever local 'trustee'. However, even more damaging was the fact that 1) the locals involved with the less sexy long-term projects would flock to these new, well-funded project to get some of the 'profit' (for which I don't blame them), and 2) there'd be much grumbling over how our projects weren't as well funded or purely volunteer-based. And then there were also some cases of abuse, or severe culture clashes that would cause other initiatives damage by proxy. My worst experience by far did not involve voluntourists though. The worst involved large aid organizations and peace (corps?) workers swooping in to help with the 'humanitarian crisis'. Warehouses filled with food that destabilized the entire local economy, and a large amount of rather insulting crap (clothing that nobody with any self-respect would wear). Tons of aid workers who didn't even have a basic knowledge of the culture they were in, and no interest whatsoever to consult the people who had been there for years or decades. Sigh. That said, it's not all bad. Quite often some of the 'voluntourists' would fall in love with the country and come back on their own and help out with some of the many wonderful initiatives. I just wish there'd be a little more communication between these short-term (youth) organizations and the 'veterans'. That alone would solve so much. EDIT: One of the worst examples just came to mind. A big organization poured a lot of money into an orphanage for disabled children, but never really bothered to check where the money went since their local 'operations manager' was too busy traveling around the country and pretending to be some kind of saintly figure. Turns out the money went to a single local family that 'helped' said manager by living like royalty and leaving the orphanage a disgusting, heartbreaking mess. It took a lot of extra effort to keep the orphanage in somewhat working state (as understandably many people would refuse to help out, knowing where all the money was going), and it took many, many reports by smaller organizations and independent aid workers before something was finally done.

forgetsusername 11y ago

>But they didn't really know what to do with this guy that showed up offering to teach about computers, but wasn't paying anything. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't know what to do with some guy/girl who flew in off the street (while on vacation I presume) and said they wanted to teach computers, either. Should they rearrange everything to make room for you, or be skeptical? I'd probably do the latter.

superplussed 11y ago
Nope, I wasn't on vacation but living there open-endedly at the time. You are also missing the point which is that when organizations become corrupted by these payments, they aren't any longer operating for the greater good, but to line their pockets. The story was more complex than I'd like to go into here, but they definitely acted outside of the best interest of their school and the kids in the way they treated me.
- Freeboots 11y ago
  Volunteer recruiter in Cambodia here; There are definitely 'organisations' out there that are purely in it to profit directly from volunteer 'programme fees', so your experience doesnt surprise me. On the other hand, without saying its true of your case, it is also unreasonable to expect a school to automatically welcome some random off the street, who has been there only 2 months and does not have a definite plan to stay or leave, who may or may not be qualified in either the area they intend to teach or in teaching itself (which is a thing, teaching is not easy). Your experience sounds more hostile than that, and i dont doubt they were unwilling to work with you for dubious reasons; however, legitimate reasons do exist.