Voluntourism: Lindy and Sarah's experience

Voluntourism

Melbourne-based sisters Sarah and Lindy Richardson travelled to Ghana in Africa in mid-2009 to undertake a voluntourism adventure.

The three -week stint building toilets in Ofoase Kuma was part of a longer holiday in Africa for Sarah, and a stand-alone trip for Lindy.

They worked side by side ( along with a number of other volunteers from Western countries and local coordinators ) in blistering heat to complete the toilets.

Both agree that the experience was neither all-good or all-bad, though Sarah’s impressions were far more negative than Lindy’s. Here’s their first-hand view on the rewards and the pitfalls:

Lindy ’s view:

Voluntourism was an option I pursued as I could not secure a longer volunteer placement ( three to six months) in my field (law). I wanted to experience a different culture, make a difference to a community in need and travel to a country I had never been to, nor had little knowledge of.

I researched the various companies providing ' voluntourism ' opportunities before deciding on a company which I had travelled with extensively before and therefore knew they had a commitment to responsible travel and had high standards of integrity and se curity. The placement involved one  week teaching and one week building. 

Although I had prepared myself for a physically and culturally challenging experience, the placement was beyond what I was expecting.  It was hot, it was hard and physically demanding work, there was little food and no creature comforts (other than patchy electricity and mobile phone coverage), and it was completely inappropriate for us (as non-teachers and non-tradespeople) to even attempt to assist in the teaching or building proper. However, I was not looking for an easy, beach-side holiday or I wouldn't have chosen this project!

The negatives and positives, as I see them, are:

Negatives:

•  The  voluntourism company I travelled with 'outsourced' its project to a UK company, who then 'outsourced' the work to a supervisor in Accra (the capital of Ghana), who 'outsourced' the supervision of us volunteers to a person from that region, who then 'outsourced' the actual physical work to a local in the community.

•  There was no accountability for the money we spent – it was an expensive 'trip' and therefore assumptions were made that our contribution would go towards helping the communities we were assisting. 

•  Corruption.  As above, everyone needs to be paid, and everyone also seems to 'take their cut'.

•  The work that can be done on these projects can never be long-term, and you will not see any long-term results from a small placement in an area in which you are not a professional. 

Positives:

•  Voluntourism gives you a place to start – you can't simply turn up in the middle of Africa with your backpack, your mozzie repellent, your workboots and your good intentions. You need to be part of a system to be of use. 

•  You can build relationships and contacts with the communities you work in. They will always be in need, and future projects can be undertaken with their cooperation and input.

•  This can be a positive experience for the voluntourist !  You meet the local community, you see a part of the world you wouldn't otherwise experience, you share in their lives of a small community, and you may make a small difference (even if it is to share your experiences of the world with locals, and provide a small contribution to the local economy).  You realise that we have lost a sense of community, that technology is not the be-all and end-all and how lucky we are in some respects.

•  You can come home and share your experiences and bring back ideas of what is working, and what is not.

Sarah ’s view:

Fancy investing $1,500 to build squat loos in a remote village in Ghana? This was my contribution to our six -week project.

There were 1 7 other people working alongside me in the village, each presumably spending $1500 on the experience – a total budget of $27,000. That’s an amazing pool of money given that the average villager in the palm oil factory in this village earns $5 a month.

So i magine how I felt when I discovered that our accommodation was not paid for, the utilities were not paid for, the builder’s time was unpaid, and the only thing our budget seemed to be used for was to purchas e a couple of effluent pipes.

We lived on spaghetti with tomato paste for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So, what happened to the $27,000? You tell me…

Welcome to voluntourism !

If you contacted a Chief or Assembly Man in a local community in a country like Ghana and said you’d like to come and stay in their community and help out, they would welcome you with open arms and not ask you to pay $1500 for the privilege. You could use your $1500 to help those who really needed it.

Negatives:

•  Progress in under-developed countries needs to start with the community, not with do-gooders coming in and telling them what needs to be done .

•  Communities that experience voluntourists often think that the ‘ whities ’ will come and fix everything for them – it acts as a disincentive to them doing things themselves to improve their lot .

•  The money you pay for the voluntourist trip can easily disappear into the black hole of corruption that is a part of everyday life many under-developed countries – not to the communities you work with and you ultimately want to help .

•  Most voluntourism projects involve teaching the locals English ... Good luck trying to teach kids that are used to corporal punishment and are totally scared/distracted by the sight of a strange white person in front of them , especially if you’re only there for a few days or weeks.

•  Some voluntourist projects are a waste of time and energy, i.e. we built squat loos that we later learned would need to be dug out in a few years and replaced with proper drained ones .