Side thought; Volunteering

A long time ago, I read this article written by a girl who had done some volunteering in Africa before. She wrote that the only issue with the job the organisation was doing in Africa was sending her there in person. At first, I was shocked; I had always wanted to volunteer and thought so highly of volunteers. After reading her article, I couldn't help but to agree.

Westerners travel to third world countries to boost their ego like they have been chosen to save the locals and to make the a difference in their lives. I have heard many horror stories about how children are being kidnapped from their parents into orphanages just to attract tourists and volunteers. Or how the schools volunteers build are being torn down after their departure so that the next group can build it again.

In the article, the girl wrote about how well she was treated and how her presence merely disrupted the daily life in the village. Most volunteering programs are very expensive, and it has always been unclear to me how that money is being spent. The writer argued that we should rather spend that money by sending it directly to the communities so that they can have it for useful purposes, instead of hosting westerners.

I am not saying that most volunteers don't have the best of intentions, as I am sure that they do. However, I thought that this article raised some good notions on the other side of volunteering. In my opinion, many of us are traveling and working towards 'giving the man a fish' , but only a few are teaching the man how to fish himself. This ensures that volunteering work will continue among the less-developed areas.

There is an illusion that the systems in the poor countries are faulty, and that they can only be fixed by implementing the western culture. When we travel we should keep in mind that some cultures can be thousands of years old, and even when we cannot understand the traditions and practices of these cultures, we shouldn't judge. Just because we are unhappy with certain elements of a culture, it doesn't mean that the locals are.

Vietnamese culture is more than a thousand years old. I certainly don't understand a lot of it, and by no means have I been free of judgement. I must honestly say that I truly despise some of the Vietnamese habits, though now, I do my best to try and accept them. One thing is clear; no matter what I teach or how I act as a role model for my students, it won't change anything. My students will never be westerners but that's okay, they are great the way they are and they are happy. The culture is old, upheld and valued by the people, and it works for them. One size does not fit all, sometimes we have to observe and love all the imperfections. The good, the bad and the ugly.

This has been one of the important lessons my students taught me.


Mira