I alluded to this topic briefly on my last entry, and I feel it deserves a separate post.

Volunteering seems to have become a bit corrupted in recent years, particularly in Africa, where it has become “trendy” for a lot of people in developed countries to do volunteer work. Hence, the term Voluntourism was coined by the cynics out there. By its definition, there’s nothing bad about it. Combining tourism and volunteering–- that’s exactly what i did. It would be better to help out on the side instead of just simply visiting the attractions in a certain country. It also allowed me to learn more about a country’s culture and way of life. However, when the tourism part is clearly your priority and  volunteering is just an afterthought, that’s when the cynics have a field day. And during my stay in Africa, I couldn’t help but be cynical at times as well.

First off, you should question your motives for volunteering. Do you really want to help out? And are you willing to sacrifice a lot of your time and miss several opportunities to see famous attractions in a certain country just so you can help out? If you can truthfully answer YES to both questions, then your heart is in the right place. You will be volunteering. During my stay in Tanzania, I didn’t have many free days.  i was there for a long time and i didn’t even have time to visit famous spots like the Serengeti and the Ngoro Ngoro Crater. I did schedule a tour but had to cancel it because at the last minute we had to visit a tribe on the weekend that I was supposed to go. A lot of people couldn’t believe that I didn’t make time to visit those sites even though i was in Tanzania for a long time. I didn’t even try to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro even though it was practically in my backyard! Then i see volunteers showing up for a few days, some just for one day. And what do they do? Instead of maximizing the very limited time they had to help out, they just spend most of the time taking pictures with the kids and not really helping out. Nothing gets more likes than a picture you upload on social media wherein you are surrounded by a number of African kids. So as not to sound like a hypocrite, I do have pictures of myself surrounded by kids, but most of them were taken on that one day when i couldn’t get them to behave and I discovered that taking selfies with them was one way to make them sit still with me instead of running around. I also took pictures with them on my last day together with the other teachers so that I would have some photos to keep as mementos. But i did not take pictures the entire time. And even if i did upload some of those pics on my social media account they were part of an album i made to share my entire experience in Africa with my friends. Hopefully I would inspire some of them to do volunteer work as well. I do not upload those pics immediately just to get likes like some volunteers that i encountered. I wouldn’t really care if anyone “liked” any of my pictures.

In another African country, I encountered several volunteers complaining that they were not being given much time to see famous tourists spots, and they were complaining they had to wake up really early so they couldn’t have much fun at night with the other tourists and backpackers. Some of them were even angry at the head of one NGO because she wouldn’t give them permission to go camping with us one night since that would mean they had to take the next day off and be absent from work. One even exclaimed that they were not just there to volunteer, they were also there to have fun and the head of the NGO should understand that. i couldn’t help but shake my head. If that’s how you want to do things, why even volunteer in the first place if you’re not ready to sacrifice some fun so you can help out? And informing the person in charge of your placement that you’re not gonna show up at the very last minute? That is so unprofessional. Did these people even think that there may not be another volunteer available that could cover for them and do their duties for them while they are gone? Try doing that when you are employed and you will surely get fired. The thing is, these are NGOs relying on volunteers and they couldn’t fire you because they take any help they can get, no matter how shitty and unprofessional the volunteers are. You can’t just volunteer at your own convenience. If that’s the way you want things to go, then better not volunteer at all. You’d be saving the people in charge a lot of trouble.

I would really like to emphasize the importance of time. Some would like to volunteer but they only have a day to spare. Let’s be realistic. What exactly can you accomplish in a single day? Even if you already possess the necessary skills and therefore those who have been volunteering ahead of you can focus on their jobs without needing to tell you what to do, the people in charge would still need to orient you. They still need to teach you certain things not related to skills, and they need to discuss certain rules. It would probably take at least half a day. After that, even the most skilled individual would still need to get used to how things run. You may be able to help out during the remaining hours of the day, but wouldn’t it be so much better if you can help out for more days? In my experience it took me about a week to get used to everything and be comfortable with what I was doing. It took me about a week for me to honestly say that i was already efficient. Volunteering for a single day would be appreciated, but consider the fact that you are slowing things down on that one day. It would be best if you can stay for a few more days for the people in charge to have some sort of “return of investment” for that one day that they’ve sacrificed their time just to properly orient you. For me, at least a week would be ideal… but of course this depends on how quick you can adapt. The longer you can stay to help out, the better.

In other poor countries, visits to orphanages and schools are even parts of tours. Visits to these orphanages are part of an itinerary wherein you visit famous attractions as well. Since you will be following a strict schedule, you only spend an hour or two at the orphanage or at the school. Doing what exactly? Take pictures with kids to show friends back home that you have an altruistic side? Let’s say you do want to help.. let’s get real here. What exactly can you do in such a limited amount of time? If you really want to help, then volunteer full time. Do not shoehorn volunteering into an already tight schedule. Personally, i find this practice sickening. Sure, the orphanages probably get some monetary compensation— and they can surely use the money so they take whatever they can get. But to make these children as some sort of tourist attraction is a practice that i cannot stomach. In some Southeast Asian countries some people have turned these orphanages into businesses, wherein the kids aren’t really orphans, they are just placed in a so called orphanage for tourists to visit. If you check out tours and such visits are part of the itinerary, i suggest you look for other tours, and just volunteer full time when you have time to spare. As long as there are tourists going on such tours, such practices won’t stop because tour operators see a huge demand for them.

Now let’s say your heart is in the right place and you are willing to sacrifice time. The next question is, do you have the necessary skills to volunteer? I see some people volunteer in housing projects when they do not have any experience in carpentry. As a result, instead of speeding up the projects, they only slow things down. The people in charge need to keep watching them so they won’t hurt themselves. Often those with no experience are assigned to easy tasks such as painting rooms, but I’ve seen some who’ve done a terrible job that the locals had to paint over what they did. I’ve heard one instance wherein they had to demolish the entire framework of one house because the ones the volunteers did was not sturdy enough. In the clinic where i volunteered, i saw volunteers who were pretty much just watching the whole time because the local doctors and nurses couldn’t give them anything to do since they don’t possess the necessary skills. On a normal day it doesn’t matter, but on busy days they tend to slow things down by just standing there taking up space. By default most of them were just asked to do simple tasks like asking basic health questions or fill out a checklist for a patient’s record. On a normal day, a local nurse or doctor’s assistant can do the same task, only faster since there is no language barrier. A common task assigned to such volunteers would be weighing babies. Upon initial consults yes that would be of help, but I wondered what good that did when we were on an off site vaccination program and this guy just kept weighing babies even though knowing their weights weren’t really needed. He was probably just given something to do for the sake of having something to do. So what I’m trying to say here is, if you plan to volunteer, pick an area where you can really help. Don’t just do something because it seems interesting or just because you want to experience it. Volunteering is primarily about helping out, it’s not just an opportunity for you to experience something new. If you have no skills in a certain area, for crying out loud do not volunteer there. Even if an NGO states that no skills or prior experience is required and that they will train you, remember that they still prefer those who have the necessary skills. Training people takes time, and that only slows down the projects. These organizations just take anyone because they are in desperate need of manpower. If you still insist, then go ahead. But if once you feel that you are not really helping and instead you are becoming a burden, it would be best to just volunteer elsewhere.

Now to be fair, there are some organizations who set up these volunteer programs for inexperienced people just to earn money. Aside from getting legitimate volunteers, they also accept these inexperienced ones to get funds for their projects. They are aware that some people just want to experience building houses or taking care of kids, and these people are willing to pay money. But that’s not really volunteering is it? If you really want to help out, going through this route is not the way to go. Sure, in a way you are helping out by giving them money, but wouldn’t it make much more sense to just donate money to them and find volunteer work elsewhere, in a place where you can really help out?

Let’s say you are not good in anything. If that’s the case, then volunteer in something that is easy to learn or doesn’t take much skills. Volunteering in an orphanage is an option if you’re only required to play and keep the kids company. it’s an easy job as long as you like kids. Clean up duties could work as well. I mean how hard could it be to sweep streets and pick up trash? In my case,  I am in the medical profession so naturally I helped out in the clinic. And when we visited the tribes and i was the only doctor on the team, i really felt that i was making a difference and i felt that I was able to help a lot of people. Now that time when i helped out in the school, i did feel a bit out of place initially. I just played with the kids during their break. Was I really helping? During feeding time having an  extra person did speed things up a bit, but they could have done the job without me— only a little longer. I had no prior teaching experience so I doubted if i could help out in that regard. Teaching simple English to kids wasn’t that complicated though, as i soon realized. They didn’t need an extra person at first, but by the time the other teachers left i was already confident enough to stay in front of the class and teach those kids. On my first day i have to admit that i didn’t think i was helping out. But on my last few days i already had enough experience teaching and I was sure that i was able to help out.

So your heart is in the right place, and you have the necessary skills to volunteer in a certain field. You can also give enough time. What question should you ask yourself next?  The next one isn’t really about yourself, but about the organization who will be arranging your placement for you. As I’ve said, in recent years it has become really trendy in Western society to volunteer in Africa, so a lot of placement organizations have sprouted to fill that need. These organizations make it easy for people to find placements, as long as they are willing to pay a fee. Basically they arrange your accommodations, provide you with meals, and find a place where you can volunteer. Try doing a google search, let’s say the word volunteer + the name of any country. The first couple of pages would be filled with these placement organizations, so evidently is has become such a huge and lucrative business. In fact, most of the volunteers I’ve met have found placements through such organizations. It just never made sense to me. Why would I pay a hefty sum, let’s say $1,000-2,000 USD for one to two weeks just to help out? And when you see your accommodations and the meals they provide, you would soon realize that these do not cost much. So where does the rest of the money go? In their defense, they say they donate the rest. In one of the places where I volunteered I got to talk with a fellow volunteer who couldn’t believe i wasn’t paying a single cent to the person who arranged my placement. She told me she was paying more than $1,ooo USD a week. But she told me that it was okay since the rest of the money was donated to the place where we were volunteering. Before we left that day, I asked the person in charge of the school  if the placement organization was donating money to them regularly. This other volunteer was shocked when she heard the person in charge say that she never got any donations from them. She accepts volunteers for free. That’s why when I donated money, I gave the money directly to the person in charge of the place where I volunteered. That way, I am assured that the people in need really received my donation. I am wary of placement organizations saying that a huge part of my placement fee would be donated to the NGO where i would be working.

Now I’m not saying none of these placement organizations donate money as they claim they do. I am sure there are some that do. But i am also sure that a lot of them don’t as well. How else could they keep their operations going if they don’t pocket most of the money they get from volunteers? The fact that they are prominently displayed on internet search engine results is another thing to consider. To be displayed on the first page of search results cost a lot of money. That’s also the reason why those organizations who do placements for free are buried deep in those search results, you have to do a lot of work to find one. They don’t show up in the first couple of pages because they don’t have enough money to pay the companies running these search engines. They would rather use their money for more pressing concerns, advertising and promotions are the least of their priorities. No wonder these placement organizations attract a lot of spoiled brats and kids with false senses of entitlement. i mean, who else could afford to spend more or less a thousand bucks a week? and most of them “volunteer” for 1-2 months— that’s at least 4,000 US dollars. i’m not dissing volunteering. I did meet a lot of amazing volunteers who were able to help out a lot. And I’m not dissing all those who volunteer through these placement organizations. No way am I generalizing, so please don’t take offense if you’ve volunteered through a placement organization. I’ve met so many volunteers who got placement through them and they were amazing. Their hearts are in the right place and they genuinely wanted to help.  It’s just that they didn’t know any better, they didn’t know that these so called “charitable” placement companies weren’t being entirely truthful to them. They didn’t know that there is a way to bypass these placement organizations that exist primarily for business and not for service. On the flip side, I’ve met many volunteers who are simply voluntourists. They think that their hearts are in the right place, but clearly that’s not the case. They made me cynical at times, but they weren’t able to ruin volunteering for me. Nothing beats the sense of fulfillment you get once you are able to help out a fellow human being. Their smiles and sense of gratitude beat any monetary compensation. And meeting other individuals who share the same passion only further inspires you to work harder and move forward. Though volunteering may have been corrupted by the onslaught of big businesses, at its core the spirit of volunteering remains unblemished as long as a person’s intentions are pure. It’s something that i would like to keep doing for as long as i am able to.