I am writing in response to Nicole's post (http://livingbarefootnicole.blogspot.com/2011/02/volun-tourism.html#comments) on volun-tourism. I think that there is merit to what Nicole's professor said. I honestly do not think there is a much of difference between long-term and short-term volun-tourism.
One of Nicole's questions was if she would be damaging to India. I have this concern too for myself, because I think almost all volun-tourism perpetuates a cycle of dependence of the developing country on the organization and developed countries. I think the best way to illustrate this is with an example that I have been thinking about.
There are many programs where people go and teach primary education for a period of three to six months. On the one hand, I really admire these programs. If you had asked me, if a volunteer was helping during their time there, I would have said yes. The volunteer is going to teach children, and give them an education.
However, I started to consider the situation in a larger time frame. Consider a child who every three-six months has a new teacher. The teacher has to take time adjusting and learning their new environment. By the time, the teacher learns the personalities and learning styles of the children in their class, then the teacher leaves. In addition, the teacher has little to no idea of the actual experience of their students.
I question, why aren't local teachers being used? People who can consistently be there, and understand their students. This could be due to lack of infrastructure to train teachers followed by inability to pay teachers. Why aren't we helping the country develop these missing links that would allow them to be independent?
To me, it does not matter if it is short-term or long-term volun-tourism. The model itself is wrong. It seems that all that this model of development does is create a fluctuating learning environment for children and perpetuates a system where there aren't local teachers. Now when you ask me, are those volunteers helping? I am not sure. Are those volunteers damaging the country? Is perpetuating a cycle that makes a group of people dependent damaging?
There are characteristics of this situation that can be extrapolated and avoided:
- Volunteers are doing a job that a local person could do if there was infrastructure and money.
- Instead of solving the root of the problem (lack of infrastructure), the organization is dealing with its effects (lack of teachers).
Number 2 to me seems like the biggest problem in development. We are always trying to “help” the aftermath. I think an apt metaphor is in terms of a broken chair. We keep helping up the people who are sitting in the broken chair and falling instead of fixing the broken chair. The Millennium Development Goals are the aftermath of larger problems of corruption and countries who are not providing the services for their citizens. Instead of putting international pressure on governments to behave and take care of the people in terms of aid and loans, we are going in and fixing the effects.
I have digressed somewhat from the original discussion on volun-tourism. I do not know at the present what I think of volun-tourism. I think volun-toursim can help make small differences that matter. I think it is dependent on the situation, organization, and the people involved. One thing we can keep in mind is what Joanne said in our class that we are going their to gain perspective. When we come back, we can adjust our lifestyles from this gained viewpoint.
It is discouraging to have someone criticize something you are doing and believe in. However, if there is merit to what Nicole's professor has said, I do not really think you can change something, until you know how it works. We've been discussing development and reading about international issues, but we don't know the real-world situation. At this moment, this is one of the few mechanisms to discover what international development is like besides moving to a developing country. If we see the problems and recognize them before going over, we can see if there valid. We can see how organizations could develop a different model and understand why the present model exists. What will distinguish our experience as being damaging to a country or not – is what we do with what we have learned.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Brilé. I love how you analyze the information in such a critical and thorough way. You say what needs to be said, even if it is hard to admit to others and to yourself- I love your honesty. I think you are right too, that we ultimately need to understand that we are traveling to gain perspective for ourselves (rather than to provide all this "help" to the disadvantaged people of another country) and that it is what we do with our information when we return that will make a difference. If we come home and show each other our pictures and talk to family and friends about our amazing trip without letting the experience alter our perceptions and our actions then we really will have merely been volun-tourists and it won't have made any difference anyway.
ReplyDeleteGood work on your post!
Wow Brilé, your post is insightful and although I have thought about the issue in the past, you put it into perspective on what we are going to be doing. I also like what Erika wrote about learning about ourselves, I had a similar question while i was reading your post. I struggled with the question whether I was volunteering because I wanted to or whether it was because I had to last week. This week, I kind of wondering who is the volunteering for? Are we doing it for the right reasons, and are we gaining more from it (in the form of a trip to somewhere abroad) or are those we are 'helping' actually gaining something positive from our involvement? I have yet to come up with an answer. I think the volun-tourism aspect is something we will need to keep in our minds and like Erika suggests, we need to act as an advocate for the rights of others. Those who do not have a voice is the name of someone's blog, I think, and I think it is our job to gain perspective during our placement to bring attention to the root problem. Perhaps, we are there to serve the effects of the problem but without exposure of the problem, it is hard for anyone to tackle the problem head on. Great post, I love your writings.
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much for the response! I love how you can see truth in chaos. When you look at something, you are able to completely detach yourself from it, emotionally, and look at through a critical lens (that is definately something that I need to work on!).
ReplyDeleteI really liked your "broken-chair" analogy. It is so true. While fixing the broken chair will take a lot of time, money and effort; in the long-run it will take less of those things. I still don't know if my trip to India will do any good or if I am simply going there out of selfish desires but I think that maybe I will discover more when I am there that will help answer that question. I guess I am just going on faith right now (don't roll your eyes)!
Thanks Brile, your a cool gal and such an intelligent woman!
Brilé writes an interesting post--- in some ways I think jumpstart programs are actually good to leap students into a bigger way of learning but I agree teachers are essential to improve on the model. I hope to meet teachers when I'm in Kenya to help them firm up resources and for them to teach me about learning mechanisms. I also think that finding sustainable resources are important to solving the issues faced in the world both developed and developing countries. I appreciate your honesty surrounding voloun-tourism and not knowing how to feel about it!
ReplyDelete-Sebastien :)
Thanks for your contribution to this really valuable discussion. See my responses to Nicole and Carissa’s blogs on the same topic. You mention it briefly above but I want to emphasize something in this discussion: None of you are going to provide a service not already available by a grass-roots, locally-initiated, sustainable program in the host country. Because you are not providing a service that does not otherwise exist you do not contribute to the cycle of dependence. Instead, you go as collaborators, learners, contributors, partners, and participants. Of course there is detrimental tourism – I call it “trophy travel” – where people go just to say “been there, done that” and chalk it up to yet another entitlement of wealthy, privileged, Western life. There are other types of tourism that are deeply problematic too. Participation in projects that have been initiated by the local community and are being sustained by employees and volunteers within that community is a different thing altogether. Moreover, it’s worth considering the longer term effects of international service learning on students who otherwise do not have opportunities to see how most of the world lives. What will you do with what you learn? Are you likely to become an advocate in favour of development and international collaboration or are you more likely to be subsumed by neo-con notions of entitlement, rights, and power? I promise you that the Ugandans you will meet don’t need your help but they will welcome you and appreciate your contribution to their goals!
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