This is a presentation on Learning Service, voluntourism, and international volunteer travel by Daniela Papi & Claire Bennett presented to a group of teachers at the Rocky Mountain Seminar in Boulder, CO, through Where There Be Dragons.
6. We needed to invest in people
to put those things to use
8. How did the NGO change?
Started
out
“giving
things”
Now,
“inves5ng
5me
in
people”
9. We moved from giving things away to
How did the NGO change?
investing time in people
Started
out
“giving
things”
Now,
“inves5ng
5me
in
people”
11. How
has
PEPY
Tours
changed?
How did the tours change?
Started
out
doing
“voluntourism”
Now,
offering
a
“chance
to
learn”
Could
also
just
be
two
images
–
perhaps
people
building
or
pain6ng
something
(can
just
be
s6ck
figures
like
the
story
of
stuff)
and
the
second
people
si?ng
and
talking
or
learning?
12. How
has
PEPY
Tours
changed?
We moved from building, painting, and
‘helping’, to learning,the tours change?
How did debating, and
‘learning service’
Started
out
doing
“voluntourism”
Now,
offering
a
“chance
to
learn”
Could
also
just
be
two
images
–
perhaps
people
building
or
pain6ng
something
(can
just
be
s6ck
figures
like
the
story
of
stuff)
and
the
second
people
si?ng
and
talking
or
learning?
15. We shifted our vocabulary
I’m from the “Village of Briarcliff
Manor”…”
Volunteering
Beneficiaries
“villagers”
16. We shifted our vocabulary
I’m from the “Village of Briarcliff
Manor”…”
Volunteering
Beneficiaries
“villagers”
… yet no one has ever called me a
“villager”…
17. We shifted our vocabulary
Being a “volunteer” means there is
a “beneficiary”…
18. We shifted our vocabulary
Being a “volunteer” means there is
a “beneficiary”…
… but then it’s hard to remember
that those people we’re meant to
“serve” are actually the ones from
whom we need to learn!
22. sympathy
/ˈsimpəTHē/
Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone
else's misfortune.
empathy
/ˈempəTHē/
Noun: The ability to understand and share the
feelings of another.
23. sympathy
/ˈsimpəTHē/
Noun: Feelings of pity and sorrow for someone
else's misfortune.
empathy
/ˈempəTHē/
Noun: The ability to understand and share the
feelings of another.
27. In this trip..
EVERYTHING
that could
have gone
wrong!
List of things that
possibly go wrong
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementat
Lies and corruptio
An evil guy
28. In this trip..
EVERYTHING
that could
have gone
wrong!
List of things that
possibly go wrong
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementat
Lies and corruptio
An evil guy
42. “Earlier this year, the British owner of the
Cambodian Orphan Fund…was sent to
prison in Cambodia for sexually abusing
several minor boys in his care.”
- “Should You or Shouldn’t You Volunteer in a Cambodian
Orphanage?”, Expat Living, Monica Pitrelli, Oct 2011
43. (If you plant papayas,
you can’t get mangoes.)
បសិន%ប&អ(ក*ំ%ដ&មល/ុង 2ះអ(ក
មិន4ចទទួយ9នែផ<=
យេ ។
44. Three ways we lose students
1) Poverty Overload
2) Savior Overload
3) Failure Overload
45. Three causes of pitfalls
Setting travelers
up for failure
Fueling waste
& harm
Supporting
ineffective aid
models
46. Setting travelers
up for failure
1) False Marketing
2) Fostering Moral
Imperialism
3) Offsetting culture
51. “The statement that this sort of media makes
is “We have a group of people who are utterly
helpless, and only you can save them.”… this
person is helpless – this person needs your
money – this person is incapable of making a
better life for him/herself. In going down the
path of the ‘savior’, we’ll inevitably be biased
not towards policy that works, but towards
policy that makes us feel good about
ourselves.”
- What is poverty porn and why does it matter for
development? Matt Collin
53. “We don’t send people over to the US to
help with the emotional poverty we see
there: with unhappy people, high divorce
rates, broken family units, and dependence
on material wealth - so why do you send
people over to ‘help’ us with our financial
poverty? We would fail at helping you as
you are failing at helping us.”
- Ghanaian NGO Director
71. “There were about 25 kids inside the
‘orphanage’. Every time a tourist boat pulled
up and people went in to deliver their bounty,
the children would stop what they were doing
and shout a greeting or a thank you. Doing
that every five minutes throughout the day is
surely going to impact on your education. It
was obvious that the children were being
used for profit. Yet boat after boat of people
were pulling up to get their holiday feel good
points by gawking at children trapped in a
floating cage, chorusing multilingual
greetings like polished professionals.”
- “Orphanage Tourism: Cute Kids, Cashed Up Tourists, Poor
Outcomes”, Devpolicy Blog, Development Policy Center
75. “Many volunteers see it as their role to
provide love, thus building strong
emotional bonds with the children.
However, when volunteers leave, these
bonds are broken and the children are
once again left alone.”
- With the best of intentions, a study of attitudes
towards residential care in Cambodia, 2011, UNICEFfunded
77. Perceived Model
The
community
or
the
project
has
a
need
The
community
or
project
puts
out
a
request
for
volunteers
Volunteers
supply
that
skill
and
9ill
the
need
Frequent Model
A
sending
organization
has
increased
demand
for
a
speci9ic
location
or
type
of
volunteer
project
The
organization
seeks
out
more
placements
to
9ill
the
volunteers’
demands
The
hosting
organization
agrees
to
take
the
volunteer,
in
exchange
for
payment
or
in
hope
of
continued
donations
78. “You know, Americans always want to
paint things. They want to paint buildings,
so we have a building we let them paint.
Usually we have to repaint the walls after
the Americans leave because they don’t do
a very good job.”
- Excerpt from Rethinking Short-Term Missions for Long-Term
Impact by Mary Faulds
83. • Throughout the Journey:
Adopting a Learning Mindset
• Before departure: Thorough
Research
• While Abroad: Humble,
Mindful, and Self-Reflective
Action
• Back at home: A life-long
approach
The trajectory of the book…
84. Adop5ng
a
learning
mindset
- Pre-departure tonesetting
- Debriefs
- Acknowledging cultural
lens
- Open issues up for
debate
87. Thorough
research
- Transparency
- Impact goals
- Power dynamics
- Skill fit (and the importance of
“attitude building” not just “skill
building”)
- Cultural context
- Learning opportunities
88. Humble,
Mindful,
&
Self-‐Reflec5ve
Ac5on
- Build relationships
- Avoid confirmation bias
- Remember you vote with
your money
- Don’t forget the rest of
the trip!