“Our Man In Granada” On The Downside Of Voluntourism

Thank you for including these realistic views of voluntourism — it’s definitely a more complex issue than most people realize. Here’s an excellent essay related to this entitled “The cost of short-term missions” by JoAnn Van Engen:

https://www.catapultmagazine.com/global-eyes/article/cost-of-short-term-missions

That is a very interesting article - thanks for leaving a link and for your comment!

Just read it too. Fabulous, well thought out stuff.

As I said, it is a good experience for people to go and to help out and they learn and grow in the process. But let us not kid ourselves that it is voluntourism - it is simply tourism.

So, is it okay to go as long as we don’t call it voluntourism? As long as we don’t make it out to be more than it is? It sounds like it’s the volunteer’s attitude that irritates you the most. As long as the volunteer doesn’t feel too good about themselves, or think they are really making a difference, is it okay?

“To make it clear I am not criticising any volunteers.” I think it is clear that the point of your article is to criticize people on these 1-2 week trips who are taking jobs away from locals and really aren’t doing any good.

If someone is traveling to another country, and wants to meet people who live there and spend some time helping them, should they avoid the temptation because they might be taking a job away from a local or a long term volunteer who can really make a difference?

“You are helping, it’s true, but mostly it is about the experience.” I don’t understand what is wrong with that. I am going on a trip with my 13 year old son this summer. For part of our trip, we will be involved with a group that builds houses for people. We are donating money for the building materials, and we will be doing grunt work under the direction of a local crew. They will be telling us how we can help. I think this is going to be a great experience for both of us, and I don’t think it is a bad thing to want that experience. Sometimes people don’t want to just write a check, they also want to get more involved. I realize a few days isn’t going to be enough time to really get to know the people or the place we will be, but I like to think it is better than nothing.

Steve,

Nice article! It is something we have toyed with a great deal in our organization. There seems to be a need to get folks out there and connect with reality (out our our western bubbles) so that they can become more aware and hopefully bring back to their home what they learned. Even touring Granada center is not reality. One needs to see the other side or face of Granada to see reality.

Anyhow, hopefully with the awareness they received by the ‘tour’ they may donate more than they would have if they had not been exposed to other ways of living.

Most of our volunteers have left well aware that they were the receivers not the givers which was awesome on their part since to me you have not truly volunteered until you receive that awareness.

Cheers,

Kathy

Stacy, it is a fair point - and helping is helping and it is a worthwhile cause. Is short term volunteering the best way to help? Probably not? But if it is the only way you can or are prepared to then that is better than nothing.

To a certain extent I was playing devil’s advocate and I was cast in the anti-voluntourism side - however, I end by saying ask yourself how best you can help.

I think the other point is to recognise the (normally) local people who live it and give day in and day out.

I am being critical of aspects of voluntourism and maybe the bandwagon, as a whole, but not trying to be critical of every instance of it.

As you’ve also pointed out, the experience is valuable, and for a young person doubley so. I would imagine it would greatly impact how they continue to live their lives after the trip.

It’s frustrating because as a volunteer, the last thing you want is to be a hindrance or part of the problem. Volunteer organizations should definitely be able to direct people to areas where they won’t be in the way and where they can do some good.

I agree that short term volunteering isn’t the best option, but sometimes it is the only one. I also agree that the experience is more to the benefit of the volunteer, but hopefully they will take that experience and do something good with it.

I admire what you do, and I agree with some of your points, but an article like this is more likely to make people take sides, when there should be a way to work out the issues.

I’m willing to bet most people who have done short term volunteering have never been presented with these issues, so to hit them over the head with it is more likely to make them feel anger or shame and I hope that isn’t your goal.

I think my goal is not so much to “hit them over the head” as to make them realise that the problem exists. I don’t think it crosses many people’s minds and that is most of the problem.

I think the article linked above actually says it better than I do. In short, is it right for someone to spend say $1000 on volunteering for a week in a third world country when that is more money than a local person makes in a year.

Is our help, in that respect worth more than a year of a local person’s? On some level that seems like extreme arrogance.

I am not saying don’t volunteer I am saying think before you volunteer. Also I think what I learnt most from volunteering is being humbled. I walked away after two years in Vietnam. There are others still living it - who will always live it. Who will always receive less than even my volunteer stipend.

I also think you are right - see it for what it is. An experience - then resolve to learn from that experience and use it to really contribute. That might be anything to buying the right Fairtrade coffee to lobbying your mp, to voting for the right person at the next election.

Could you for example, support a war in a country where you had met and bonded with local people? Suddenly a place on the news becomes somewhere you have a connection with.

Travel will always broaden the mind and educate. Don’t forget your tourist dollars are helping too - that should not be under estimated.

I think one of the best things about strong viewpoints like this is that they inspire discussion just like this.

I think I agree with points both Stacy and Steve have made or allude to…I think that what a person does or how their actions affect the big picture are a lot more important than what they are called or call themselves. But I think deciding how a particular action affects the big picture is a lot more complicated than measuring how long they stay or how much money they spend.

The other reality is that regardless of whether someone spends more on a one week trip than a local in that area earns in a year…that inequality exists in the world and it doesn’t go away because all the voluntourism companies stop working.

Ultimately though, even though I don’t feel sure that the specific scenario described in Steve’s post is common worldwide among volunteer vacations , it is NOT the case that anything is always better than “nothing”. I certainly don’t think that every volunteer vacation causes damage, but the idea that action taken in the name of goodwill can have negative consequences is hugely important. And many people really just refuse to see that. (and I certainly don’t mean Stacy here because I think it’s very evident that she has given a lot of thought to this topic and makes a number of good points - I speak in general terms)

Social issues like poverty, hunger and conflict deserve to be taken seriously, and thought about critically. They shouldn’t be relegated to “this sounds nice so let’s do it” and they shouldn’t always involve foreigners coming in and showing locals how to live. I don’t think this attitude is specific to voluntourism at all, and I think voluntourism plays a relatively minor role in the whole picture, but for these reasons I think it’s very important to show a picture of how good intentions can in fact not have good results.

So, if we aren’t suggesting eliminating short term volunteering, would anyone like to write a guide for it? It would be nice to learn about ways to make a real difference, without negative consequences. It could also include the benefits of long term volunteer efforts and sustainability.

I can’t help but think a lot of the problems come from ignorance on the part of the volunteer, and maybe a little education would prevent some of that. If people were to read specific examples of what did not go well, they could avoid repeating those mistakes.

Well, I like to think I’m trying to do something along those lines with this very blog, in part at least. I think in a lot of cases the “answers” are just lengthy or conditional on other things or unclear…and sometimes looking at situations as if they have one clear right answer is the problem as well. But I also agree with you that people can learn a lot by educating themselves about the situation…I also think people become more knowledgeable about things is by personally getting involved.

You may also be interested in the Guide to Ethical Volunteering (by a different Kate - not me!): https://www.volunteerlogue.com/general-tips-and-advice/guide-to-ethical-volunteering.html

Thank you, Kate. I should have read more of your site before asking that question! After reading some of the archives, I’m very glad Steve led me to your site.

Thanks Stacy - I appreciate your comments here - it’s an important topic and there are a lot of viewpoints out there; I’m actually very happy to see so many comments here by people with an interest in this! It would be interesting to hear how your project goes, including for your son - let me know when you return from that, and if you feel comfortable with it maybe we can do an “email interview” for the Volunteer Logue…or if you make a post on your blog about it, and are okay with me linking to it, let me know.

[…] Steve Jackson weighs in on the downside of voluntourism, sparking an interesting debate, answered here and further explored here. […]

The point is, that all these travelling volunteers, or “voluntourists,” or whatever you would like to call them, are probably returning to the same sort of comfortable lifestyle that guilted them into going on a mission, religious, hippie, or otherwise, in the first place. I believe it’s perfectly admirable to do the best things you can for the people who you think need you the most. There is no sweeter pleasure than acting with your moral consience for the benefit of someone other than yourself - and I say that without cynicism. What better pleasure could there be to indulge in than the joy of giving? However, there is always, always, an unintended consequence, an equal and opposite reaction. I don’t beleive there’s very often any direct harm caused to local people as a result of foreigners trying to help them out. I think the real danger, silently lurking between these posts without ever really being said, is that we acutually have no idea how to create change in a profound way. We’re takin baby steps on the Karma ladder: enough to feel there’s movement but not so much as to drop any weight to get higher. Building houses is useful, as is digging wells or teaching english or literacy. But if the world order were to shift in the next five minutes, redistributing the 90% of the world’s resources that my people own and control, I probably couldn’t afford to fly places anymore. And how would I know where to to go without TV or internet? How do I pack without my high-tech backpack? I’m making assumptions about the people reading this page and I’m sorry. Ultimately I speak only for myself. This is for me, one of the most tremendous moral quandries of our time. Now that I know, now that I can SEE how unjust it all is, what in God’s name can I do about it?

Thank you for this comment - I think you touch on a lot of the bigger issues.

I first of all want to avoid sounding flippant with what I post here and should point out that I don’t want to come across as disagreeing with you. I think many of the points you bring up kind of stand alone - so to you and to readers, please do not interpret my comments here as directly addressing Michelle’s points.

I agree that it is worth noting that all of us with access to this page have more than many people in the world…and, while it may not be by our outright choice, we do benefit from that advantage.

The last line of Michelle’s comment makes it easier for me to put into words this idea: I think people DO want to do something in response to inequality, injustice, poverty, you name it, and it can be really disheartening to have the feeling that there isn’t anything you can do. I think people would like voluntourism (even volunteering in general, long term, at home, whatever) to fit that bill and to be what we can do…and that’s why it’s so hard to think about the fact that it may not do that.

But volunteering is one part of the picture - not the whole thing. The fact that [and I realize that this is not what Michelle’s comment implies - this is my own point] volunteer trips may not produce a particularly good direct “result” does not mean that change can’t happen.

I really think that people looking at world issues - poverty, the role the international community should play in relation to local organizations, conflict, health crises - differently is one necessary step in the process of change. I think solutions are about more than what individuals can “produce” on the spot - but by getting involved, through volunteering or in some other way, people are taking a step in that process by questioning how they think about things.

[…] I’ve written on this subject before and you can find it here. […]