Why I stopped being a voluntourist
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Why I stopped being a voluntourist
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Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#2[deleted]
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#3>It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the “white savior” complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own psyches.
Why does this have anything to do with race? Is it any different for a black person with no useful skills to go on one of these voluntourism trips?
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#4>It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the “white savior” complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own psyches. Why does this have anything to do with race? Is it any different for a black person with no useful skills to go on one of these voluntourism trips?
No, as the article explicitly points out.
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#5>It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the “white savior” complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own psyches. Why does this have anything to do with race? Is it any different for a black person with no useful skills to go on one of these voluntourism trips?
yes, because teaching the children living there that white people are rich and you can never be white is worse than being accosted by rich people from another land who at least look something like them
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#6>It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the “white savior” complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own psyches. Why does this have anything to do with race? Is it any different for a black person with no useful skills to go on one of these voluntourism trips?
It really it isn't so much about race as it is privilege (race only in that statistically a lot of white kids in the burbs are well off). If you don't have to work for anything it is hard to become good at anything while at the same time since you aren't failing at something you end up thinking you're such a super duper special person. Basically even the nice people get screwed up by being a special snowflake all their developing life.
The only part that is probably really about race is that the well off white kids are probably less likely to get told they are unhelpful idiots on these trips.
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#7White people are finally starting to "get it". http://youtu.be/dyf2Cf5GkTY See Dambisa Moyo's interview about her book "Dead Aid" The statistics showing how aid is actually hurting African countries and not allowing them to develop on their own the way the rest of the world has.
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#8>It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the “white savior” complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own psyches. Why does this have anything to do with race? Is it any different for a black person with no useful skills to go on one of these voluntourism trips?
No, as the article explicitly points out.
Then why does the author end the article by talking about the "white savior" complex, and why is the article titled "The problem with little white girls"?
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#9This has some good points, but it seems (from my experience) that this applies to some degree to a lot of nonprofits. The volunteers actual contribution is minimal, but the nonprofits allow and even encourage it, because it encourages engagement and donations by the volunteers.
Re: Why I stopped being a voluntourist
#10I took a trip to Africa to go on a Safari and climb Kilimanjaro. I was amazed at how many do gooder tourists there are.
The conversations go like:
Me: What are you here to do?
Them: Build a school.
Me: Oh, you are a carpenter.
Them: No, part of a school program.
Me: Oh, you are providing unskilled construction labor. Didn't realize Tanzania had a shortage.
Near the end of the trip, I met a friend's cousin, asked what she was doing, and she was going from village to village verifying that chlorination systems in NGO built wells were working. I was impressed. I asked how she got that gig, and she told me a story about her going to Tanzania to build a school. She decided to make a real difference.
Her story changed my attitude. I am certainly less snarky about kids going to do unskilled construction labor.