You might have heard about voluntourism before. It is quit popular under Western people to go to ‘development countries’ (there is a reasons why we use quotation marks) and help the people living there and travelling around at the same time. We already wrote about why travelling is the new volunteering. In case you are still questioning if you should volunteer or just travel, we will help you with some Tedx Talks.
Voluntourism: When You Take More Than You Leave Behind | Madara Žgutė
Does international volunteering make a good impact on local societies? Or maybe a volunteer, even with good intentions, enriches him/herself and stops the development of local communities?
International Volunteering – Valuable or Vandalism? | Jingting “Lily” Kang
Jingting “Lily” Kang, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, talks about lessons she learned on a high school service trip to a rural part of China. Though she found meaning in the experience, she was disheartened to learn her work did not make a significant difference in the lives of the people she wanted to help. She urges the millions of Americans who volunteer internationally to remember three principles: Service is not a transaction, service does not mean saving the world, and service requires respect.
Getting more than we give – realities of volunteerism: Ian Breckenridge-Jackson
Ian Breckenridge-Jackson is completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Riverside. He specializes in race, gender, and class inequality with an emphasis in social movements. Ian was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a grant from the University of California Center for New Racial Studies for his work studying volunteerism and activism in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Check our webshop to get De Derde wereld op je CV (DUTCH) for more research and examples about voluntourism. You decided to travel to Ghana? Check how we can help you here.