Two years ago, fresh from my first development internship experience, newly conscious of how unqualified and generally useless I was in the world, a friend mentioned she wanted to volunteer in Africa. An English graduate, I could barely contain my scorn as I asked her what would she volunteer as. A teacher she replied or in an orphanage or something, just for like two weeks or whatever. What you want is a holiday, I pointed out. No, she insisted, I want to help. I, in reply, went on an unmitigated rant about people with no skills insisting on travelling to developing countries to work with orphans, why doesn't she volunteer at home, etc. etc. The term poverty porn was used numerous times and the friendship strained.
I don't think I was angry at my friend, more ashamed of my own naievety which had once matched hers. Only the year previous to that conversation, I had spent the summer combing websites looking for volunteer opportunities at home or abroad with NGOs or charities, genuinely shocked that no one wanted my free labour. Of course, it didn't occur to me that my years of waitressing experience and a whole two years of college education qualified me to do nothing useful. In my mind, I was a body willing to work for free. Surely, the poor charities should be begging me for my help?!
Oh, how we've all learned. People working in development (of which I only barely class myself, having the minimum of experience. However, I continue.) are scornful of voluntourism and with real, concrete reason. Too often, volunteering is aimed at enriching the volunteer's experience and not contributing anything meaningful to the community. I once got talking to a guy in Camden's Barfly who proudly told me he had volunteered in Africa. It transpired he spent one week planting trees and one week teaching maths in Ghana (I wish I was making this up by the way). I laughed too much to get angry at him and he flounced away, presumably to try and woo a more amenable girl with his tales of aid worker hardship.
This post from the always excellent WhyDev clearly sets out the serious issues with voluntourism. Aside from English grads trying to pack some meaning into their holidays however, there is the issue of aspiring development professionals, probably still at university, who volunteer - often paying to do so- because they can't get any internships. Internships as an undergraduate are literally like gold dust. I will forever thank my university for establishing an internship programme within my degree. Nervous about graduating with literally zero experience, many students spend a summer or two on these programmes working with street kids in India or the like and for their efforts, develop a hefty slice of debt and nothing but scorn from development professionals. They're not bad people, these young volunteers! They're just thinking about the career prospects.
The thing is, a two week volunteer placement in Zanzibar for example, won't impress any NGO. Experience is obviously a plus but why not volunteer at home, in a women's shelter or a soup kitchen or a homework club for children of asylum seekers? If you can't afford to volunteer abroad and have spent your time at university working part time, shout that proudly. Everyone describes themselves as hardworking on a CV but you can actually demonstrate it. Trust me, that's more impressive than a few weeks volunteer work.
Again, this is not meant to be a dig at those who do volunteer abroad. I understand why and that the motivation is usually good. A lot of the problem actually stems from the NGO sector and it's stubbornly middle class expectation that parents will fund young people to work for free (look out for an upcoming post on how development needs more working class!). So, young volunteers, ignore the scorn you receive from development workers. It's all their bloody fault in the first place.
I don't think I was angry at my friend, more ashamed of my own naievety which had once matched hers. Only the year previous to that conversation, I had spent the summer combing websites looking for volunteer opportunities at home or abroad with NGOs or charities, genuinely shocked that no one wanted my free labour. Of course, it didn't occur to me that my years of waitressing experience and a whole two years of college education qualified me to do nothing useful. In my mind, I was a body willing to work for free. Surely, the poor charities should be begging me for my help?!
Oh, how we've all learned. People working in development (of which I only barely class myself, having the minimum of experience. However, I continue.) are scornful of voluntourism and with real, concrete reason. Too often, volunteering is aimed at enriching the volunteer's experience and not contributing anything meaningful to the community. I once got talking to a guy in Camden's Barfly who proudly told me he had volunteered in Africa. It transpired he spent one week planting trees and one week teaching maths in Ghana (I wish I was making this up by the way). I laughed too much to get angry at him and he flounced away, presumably to try and woo a more amenable girl with his tales of aid worker hardship.
This post from the always excellent WhyDev clearly sets out the serious issues with voluntourism. Aside from English grads trying to pack some meaning into their holidays however, there is the issue of aspiring development professionals, probably still at university, who volunteer - often paying to do so- because they can't get any internships. Internships as an undergraduate are literally like gold dust. I will forever thank my university for establishing an internship programme within my degree. Nervous about graduating with literally zero experience, many students spend a summer or two on these programmes working with street kids in India or the like and for their efforts, develop a hefty slice of debt and nothing but scorn from development professionals. They're not bad people, these young volunteers! They're just thinking about the career prospects.
The thing is, a two week volunteer placement in Zanzibar for example, won't impress any NGO. Experience is obviously a plus but why not volunteer at home, in a women's shelter or a soup kitchen or a homework club for children of asylum seekers? If you can't afford to volunteer abroad and have spent your time at university working part time, shout that proudly. Everyone describes themselves as hardworking on a CV but you can actually demonstrate it. Trust me, that's more impressive than a few weeks volunteer work.
Again, this is not meant to be a dig at those who do volunteer abroad. I understand why and that the motivation is usually good. A lot of the problem actually stems from the NGO sector and it's stubbornly middle class expectation that parents will fund young people to work for free (look out for an upcoming post on how development needs more working class!). So, young volunteers, ignore the scorn you receive from development workers. It's all their bloody fault in the first place.
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