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COLUMN: Squamish voluntourism: more harm than good?

B y sending our Squamish teens abroad to volunteer or by donating money to a group travelling to build a school or lend a hand at an orphanage, we may be contributing to the negative impact of “voluntourism.
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Construction Site Voluntourism Project

By sending our Squamish teens abroad to volunteer or by donating money to a group travelling to build a school or lend a hand at an orphanage, we may be contributing to the negative impact of “voluntourism.”

While we are a generous lot in Squamish, perhaps our own desire to help needs to be checked by the reality of what truly would make things better for others outside our borders.

Research shows that voluntourism – an industry worth more than US$173 billion per year – can harm economies and exploit vulnerable populations.

I’m not talking about medical professionals, teachers or highly skilled trades people going afar to share their skills when asked by those in need. 

But are Canadian teens qualified to do construction work, as many do abroad? And even if they are, wouldn’t employing natives to the area create more lasting changes? 

If the trip costs the Squamish volunteer $1,500, imagine what that money could do within that foreign country. 

In Cambodia, for example, high school teachers earn $250 per month, according to an article in the Khmer Times

And let’s turn the story around. 

Let’s say some volunteers in a rich country, like Saudi Arabia, felt sorry for us in Squamish because we don’t have in-home air conditioning so they charge thousands to a group of young people who come here to install air conditioners in our homes and facilities. 

These kids mean well, but they don’t understand our needs and most aren’t actually skilled at installing air conditioners. 

Now imagine that we have few jobs available to us, little money or access to basic necessities and the same thing happens?

The voluntourists do get something out of the trip: they get to interact with us and post photos of themselves helping us poor Squamites to their Facebook wall. 

And of course we are expected to be grateful for their help so they feel good about themselves as they head back to their privileged lives. 

I am being sarcastic, but there are real-life stories of shoddily built schools sitting empty in these impoverished destinations because the children are needed by their families on the farm as well as other stories of orphans traumatized by a revolving door of volunteer caregivers.  

There are good organizations that help abroad ethically – they just require a little research to find.

Our hearts are in the right place, so let’s make sure our actions are too. 

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