Let’s Talk About “Volun*&#%!ism”

This article was originally posted on The Conscious Traveller 

Why you shouldn’t reach for the soap and wash your mouth out every time you say the word “voluntourism.”

In recent years, “voluntourist” has become a dirty word typically used to describe self-righteous university students trying to boost their resumes by travelling abroad and building a school. You’ve probably seen them on Instagram: a dirty bandana on their heads (a testament of their hard work) and a swarm of little black children smiling and hugging them (proof that they have improved the world). This image is what caused the simple marriage of the words “volunteer” and “tourist” to take on a nasty connotation.

But it might surprise you to learn that not all voluntourists are the same.

Today, I’m going to debunk what I believe to be the top 3 misconceptions about voluntourists.

Misconception #1: “Voluntourists think they’re going to save the world in 1 week”

It might surprise you that not all of our brains are clouded by the delusion that we can go into a community for 1-2 weeks and “save the world”. Some of us are even educated enough to realize that the people we are working with don’t actually need to be saved. Some of us believe that partnering with organizations and participating in on-the-ground experience is the best way to learn about different types of development models.

But, you might be onto something because we all believe that we can make a difference. You’ve probably heard variations of the quote about little things adding up to make a big difference. My experience as a voluntourist has taught me to stand by this belief. Two years ago, I showed up in San Rafael Del Sur, Nicaragua looking at a dusty worksite and a big pile of bricks. After a week of hard work, our group left that site with a house on it. Now, I’ll be the first to say that I didn’t “save the world” on that trip, but you can’t tell me that my work on the construction of that house didn’t make a difference to the family that received it.

Misconception #2: “Voluntourists are just trying to boost their resumes”

Yes, volunteer experience looks good on a resume. That’s a fact. According to LinkedIn, 1 out of every 5 hiring managers in the U.S. hires a candidate because of their volunteer experience. We’ve gotten to a point where everyone knows that hiring managers like to see employees spending their free time doing work that benefits others, but what we seem to have forgotten is that not everyone does volunteer work just to put it on their resume. Some people are actually interested in the volunteer work that they do and they actually enjoy it (crazy, I know!!).

If you were trying to get a job as a baker, you would practice baking all kinds of different cupcakes and using various techniques until you found the best way to make the perfect cupcakes, right? Well, some of us voluntourists want to pursue a career in international aid or development. By going on volunteer trips to different communities and working with a variety of organizations, we learn what works and what does not work so that we can keep striving to discover and implement the “best” development models in terms of sustainability and ethicality. We volunteer to improve our knowledge and ultimately our craft, not just to say “I went to Africa once and helped kids!!”

Misconception #3: “Voluntourists are just trying to find themselves”

**Cringes**

Now let me make myself extremely clear when I say that not all voluntourists are trying to find themselves. I know who I am and what I believe in. I don’t need a volunteer trip to a developing country to show me that. Not all voluntourists are self-obsessed. A lot of us really are excited to engage with the community and sign up for these trips with the intention of broadening our knowledge and helping others.

Many people choose to volunteer in developing communities because they want to learn about the communities, not themselves. If I were guilty of trying to find anything as a voluntourist, it would be to find a solution… a solution to end poverty; a solution to guarantee every child has access to adequate education, a solution to improve health… the list goes on.

Just remember…

There are a lot of people out there who volunteer for the wrong reasons, but there are also some of us doing it for the right reasons. Some of us genuinely want to help others and want to learn about models of development to be able to make informed actions. The unfortunate reality is that all of these people get clumped together and called “voluntourists” leading people to believe that we’re all bad.

If you still think “voluntourism” is a bad word, it might be time that you stop stereotyping and start thinking critically. Ask important questions and don’t just assume that all voluntourists are alike.

But then again, this is just one voluntourist’s opinion…

Shannon Ryan is one half of QPID’s Projects Director team and the girl behind http://theconscioustraveller.weebly.com. Shannon hopes to pursue a career in international development, and is currently preparing to go on a volunteer trip to Tanzania.