The problem with little white girls and boys

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AlterEgo

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Terrible title, but excellent article! Stick with it, 2nd half is about DR. Please keep any posts relevant, and not racially motivated, or it will move to Off Topic.


The Problem With Little White Girls (and Boys)

Why I Stopped Being A Voluntourist

White people aren?t told that the color of their skin is a problem very often. We sail through police check points, don?t garner sideways glances in affluent neighborhoods, and are generally understood to be predispositioned for success based on a physical characteristic (the color of our skin) we have little control over beyond sunscreen and tanning oil.

After six years of working in and traveling through a number of different countries where white people are in the numerical minority, I?ve come to realize that there is one place being white is not only a hindrance, but negative ? most of the developing world.

In high school, I travelled to Tanzania as part of a school trip. There were 14 white girls, 1 black girl who, to her frustration, was called white by almost everyone we met in Tanzania, and a few teachers/chaperones. $3000 bought us a week at an orphanage, a half built library, and a few pickup soccer games, followed by a week long safari.

Our mission while at the orphanage was to build a library. Turns out that we, a group of highly educated private boarding school students were so bad at the most basic construction work that each night the men had to take down the structurally unsound bricks we had laid and rebuild the structure so that, when we woke up in the morning, we would be unaware of our failure. It is likely that this was a daily ritual. Us mixing cement and laying bricks for 6+ hours, them undoing our work after the sun set, re-laying the bricks, and then acting as if nothing had happened so that the cycle could continue.

Basically, we failed at the sole purpose of our being there. It would have been more cost effective, stimulative of the local economy, and efficient for the orphanage to take our money and hire locals to do the work, but there we were trying to build straight walls without a level.

That same summer, I started working in the Dominican Republic at a summer camp I helped organize for HIV+ children. Within days, it was obvious that my rudimentary Spanish set me so far apart from the local Dominican staff that I might as well have been an alien. Try caring for children who have a serious medical condition, and are not inclined to listen, in a language that you barely speak. It isn?t easy. Now, 6 years later, I am much better at Spanish and am still highly involved with the camp programing, fundraising, and leadership. However, I have stopped attending having finally accepted that my presence is not the godsend I was coached by non-profits, documentaries, and service programs to believe it would be.

You see, the work we were doing in both the DR and Tanzania was good. The orphanage needed a library so that they could be accredited to a higher level as a school, and the camp in the DR needed funding and supplies so that it could provide HIV+ children with programs integral to their mental and physical health. It wasn?t the work that was bad. It was me being there.

It turns out that I, a little white girl, am good at a lot of things. I am good at raising money, training volunteers, collecting items, coordinating programs, and telling stories. I am flexible, creative, and able to think on my feet. On paper I am, by most people?s standards, highly qualified to do international aid. But I shouldn?t be.

I am not a teacher, a doctor, a carpenter, a scientist, an engineer, or any other professional that could provide concrete support and long-term solutions to communities in developing countries. I am a 5' 4" white girl who can carry bags of moderately heavy stuff, horse around with kids, attempt to teach a class, tell the story of how I found myself (with accompanying powerpoint) to a few thousand people and not much else.

Some might say that that?s enough. That as long as I go to X country with an open mind and a good heart I?ll leave at least one child so uplifted and emboldened by my short stay that they will, for years, think of me every morning.

I don?t want a little girl in Ghana, or Sri Lanka, or Indonesia to think of me when she wakes up each morning. I don?t want her to thank me for her education or medical care or new clothes. Even if I am providing the funds to get the ball rolling, I want her to think about her teacher, community leader, or mother. I want her to have a hero who she can relate to ? who looks like her, is part of her culture, speaks her language, and who she might bump into on the way to school one morning.

After my first trip to the Dominican Republic, I pledged to myself that we would, one day, have a camp run and executed by Dominicans. Now, about seven years later, the camp director, program leaders and all but a handful of counselors are Dominican. Each year we bring in a few Peace Corps Volunteers and highly-skilled volunteers from the USA who add value to our program, but they are not the ones in charge. I think we?re finally doing aid right, and I?m not there.

Before you sign up for a volunteer trip anywhere in the world this summer, consider whether you possess the skill set necessary for that trip to be successful. If yes, awesome. If not, it might be a good idea to reconsider your trip. Sadly, taking part in international aid where you aren?t particularly helpful is not benign. It?s detrimental. It slows down positive growth and perpetuates the ?white savior? complex that, for hundreds of years, has haunted both the countries we are trying to ?save? and our (more recently) own psyches. Be smart about traveling and strive to be informed and culturally aware. It?s only through an understanding of the problems communities are facing, and the continued development of skills within that community, that long-term solutions will be created.

Originally published on pippabiddle.com

https://medium.com/p/b84d4011d17e
 

windeguy

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It is rare that someone can look from the outside in to themselves and see reality so lucidly.
 

Chirimoya

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This process happened in much of the international development world two or three decades ago when people realised that the paternalistic/"asistencialista" approach did not bring about change but perpetuated poverty and powerlessness. Now most good aid organisations help by empowering local organisations and communities, but unfortunately some still persist with the old model which is more about making the donors/volunteers feel good than actually bringing about meaningful change.

The old give folks a fish vs. teaching them to fish - or even motivating them to ask why there are no longer any fish...
 

frank12

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Sep 6, 2011
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My favorite part of the article is when she says this: "I want her to have a hero who she can relate to — who looks like her, is part of her culture, speaks her language, and who she might bump into on the way to school one morning."

Frank
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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Article and comments by above dr1 posters... All people who "get it".

When I see a group of 25-50 missionaries or volunteers with their cute t-shirts get on a plane with me in the USA I think of the money being spent on airfare, luggage, wardrobe, ground transportation, hotel and food by these people. The tens of thousands of dollars spent so they have a week in the Caribbean singing kumbaya with the locals and building a bathroom or such and then going home feeling they accomplished something with videos of their good deeds. Then I think what all that money could really have accomplished in the right hands. ::sigh::
 

drescape24

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Maybe you should have kept you poor white but at home . There are plenty of poor white people in your home country you could have helped and not shown to yourself and eveyone else your paper smart and not hands on.
Substitute white for black and imagine the responce. This whole article is borderline racist. This topic should be closed.

drescape24
 

sayanora

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Feb 22, 2012
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I've never understood why white people can speak critically of themselves and nobody says a word but if a black person does it they are suddenly black haters, racist to their own people, etc. Larry Elder is a perfect example.
 

bob saunders

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From the article:
Quote: Now, about seven years later, the camp director, program leaders and all but a handful of counselors are Dominican. Each year we bring in a few Peace Corps Volunteers and highly-skilled volunteers from the USA who add value to our program, but they are not the ones in charge. I think we?re finally doing aid right, and I?m not there. end of Quote
My brother has gone on many missions in a number of countries- Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Costa Rica., usually to build something. His volunteers are for the most part farmers and tradesmen, and they seem to have little problem working well with the locals. He is the guy in charge- one because he speaks Spanish, he knows how to talk to government officials, he respects local customs and knowledge, and he's a qualified plumber and electrician with multiple years experience at doing building estimates....etc. He tries his best to have locals involved as the foremen, directors...etc. , but finds the hardest thing is to trust them with money, so he doesn't, because he's been burnt several times.
Gringos will always be gringos but I think if they come with the right attitude and needed knowledge and skills, they are appreciated. If they come with the attitude that they are going to teach the heathens how to do things the civilized way...well.
 

PaGuyinDr

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Incredible insight. Is young lady "gets it". She could have an incredible future in non profit administration. UNICEF, WHO, united way, you name it, could all benefit from a mind like hers.
 

La Rubia

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Incredible insight. Is young lady "gets it". She could have an incredible future in non profit administration. UNICEF, WHO, united way, you name it, could all benefit from a mind like hers.

Her insight was gained from the years she spent abroad. Had she read something similar when she first started out, it may not have made an impact. So perhaps its a sign of her maturing or growing in a field she is passionate about. But had she not had those experiences, she may not have come to those realizations.

I think experiences like hers can be a great part of a young person's growth, as long as it's done in the right way.

I agree with this, and feel that voluntourism charges the participant too much for the opportunity to help.

Gringos will always be gringos but I think if they come with the right attitude and needed knowledge and skills, they are appreciated. If they come with the attitude that they are going to teach the heathens how to do things the civilized way...well.
 

JohnnyBoy

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Jun 17, 2012
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Voluntourism is a deceitful business. People charge guilty middle class kids who can barely wipe thier own asses a few grand so they can feel superior to people who through the experience of living are better suited to do almost anything except ask thier parents for a check.
The bricklaying is a perfect example of what an exercise in foolishness most of those organizations are. They are great money generators for people who somehow manage to have ninety percent administrative costs for all of the money they raise.

When my daughter was an undergrad she asked me for money to go to Guatamala for a Habitat for Humanity. I asked her what she was going to teach people how to ask someone for money?
 

peep2

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Oct 24, 2004
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Article and comments by above dr1 posters... All people who "get it".

When I see a group of 25-50 missionaries or volunteers with their cute t-shirts get on a plane with me in the USA I think of the money being spent on airfare, luggage, wardrobe, ground transportation, hotel and food by these people. The tens of thousands of dollars spent so they have a week in the Caribbean singing kumbaya with the locals and building a bathroom or such and then going home feeling they accomplished something with videos of their good deeds. Then I think what all that money could really have accomplished in the right hands. ::sigh::

There's the rub, getting the money into the right hands in the Dominican Republic. (another sigh) There was one such group on my last trip into Santo Domingo. Bunch of kids on winter break with a few matronly chaperones. I was wondering what they could do that a couple of skilled Haitians couldn't do better. And this just after a similar group from Canada bailed out after one day when their sponsor was beaten and shot nearly to death. After some thought I decided that these kids were being exposed to life in the real world where living in a house with a floor made of something other than dirt and owning a pair of shoes puts one in the better off half of the world. Something I didn't come to realize until much later in life. The people potentially receiving the most benefit were not the Dominicans but the kids from Boston if they were paying attention to what things are like and to how things really get done in the third world. And that could be a good thing. Also I suppose they were spreading a little money around to some people who could really use it.
 

La Profe_1

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Oct 15, 2003
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You know, the longer I am here, the more I become skeptical about a lot of these "mission trips."

Now, I do facilitate some volunteer trips - but those I organize are medical/dental outreaches which bring professionals here to treat those who cannot afford it. That is far different from a group of teenagers (or worse, pre-teens) to fulfill a "service requirement" or make a "service trip."

In the past, I helped make introductions for some youth groups, but was very upset to discover how much they were charging the participants and how little they interacted on an effective level with those who were visited. One of the defunct hotels in Puerto Plata used to take guests to visit orphanages and other such places. Those visits degenerated into using the residents as displays - much like animals in a zoo. There was no respect for their dignity as human beings because they were treated as spectacles instead.

I have great respect for the director of a particular orphanage here in Puerto Plata who insists that the children under her care are entitled to their privacy. She doesn't allow many visitors and forbids photographs in order to preserve it.

There is a lamentable tendency among those involved with voluntourism to assume that they know better than Dominicans what is needed and to provide that instead of what would really be of most help.
 

ccarabella

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Feb 5, 2002
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Have to agree with the OP.
Reality is - this "is" the world we live in.
Ideally teaching the receiving country to help others and take pride in their own community would benefit
them in the long run. That is much needed here in DR.
 
Aug 21, 2007
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I could never have expressed my thoughts as eloquently as this author. Aside from some groups coming to do medical missions, one problem I see has to do with those not here to work for the long term. Communities, orphanages, and hospitals don't need aide that drops in for one week and disappears. They need people willing to help day in and day out for the long term who know and understand the language, the culture and and what they want and need to succeed. You don't learn that in one week.

As many of you know, I have a small foundation that does educational programming and works with people in crisis in Sosua. Our program runs 2 - 3 days a week. We don't give "things," we help people. Often I wake up tired and just don't feel like going. Sometimes the hours drag. Sometimes the kids are a challenge. But once I made a commitment, no matter what I would like to do with my day, I know that I must follow through.

That is what aide work is about. Not the glamour. Not about the one week mission trip where people often return home feeling like saints. It is about giving of yourself to help humanity, day in and day out, through thick and thin. Through successes and the many failures. Through times where there are sufficient funds and resources and those when we must just make do. Through health, sickness and death. It is not easy and it is not pretty. And for real aide workers, there is no glory.

Lindsey
 

windeguy

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Maybe you should have kept you poor white but at home . There are plenty of poor white people in your home country you could have helped and not shown to yourself and eveyone else your paper smart and not hands on.
Substitute white for black and imagine the responce. This whole article is borderline racist. This topic should be closed.

drescape24

Of course there are always people to help back home, I am afraid you don't understand the point. Pointing out the naivete of white people is not racist. In this case the story is about a person who has realized that there is a better way to help and describes that way.

For example, sending a bunch of young missionary kids so they can feel good about helping the poor for a week is naive and a waste of money. Sending people who are skilled and teaching others to help themselves is a better approach.
 

Chirimoya

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UNICEF, WHO, united way, you name it, could all benefit from a mind like hers.
I don't know what united way is but UNICEF and WHO are not guilty of paternalism and do not organise voluntourism. They can be criticised for being unwieldy bureaucracies, not for their working methodology with local organisations, which is effective.
 
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