Voluntourism is a combination of volunteering and tourism, used to describe tourist trips taken with the intention to volunteer in a foreign (usually less developed) country. While volunteering can be a valuable way to contribute to a positive change in society, there is growing recognition of the harms of voluntourism.
No Tourist Attractions
Children living in institutions such as orphanages are not tourist attractions, and visiting them for entertainment or curiosity can cause more harm than good. These children are in vulnerable situations, often due to the loss of family, abandonment, or poverty, and they deserve dignity, respect, and care. When tourists visit orphanages for short periods, they can unknowingly create a sense of instability and emotional distress in the children, who may form attachments and then feel abandoned when visitors leave.
Moreover, orphanage tourism can sometimes fuel unethical practices, where children are exploited to attract more donations or visitors. Some institutions may even keep children in poor conditions to maintain the appearance of need, diverting funds away from the children’s actual welfare. In some cases, children who could be placed with families remain institutionalized solely for the benefit of the orphanage's business model, the so called 'Orphanage Industrial Complex'.
Orphanage Industrial Complex
Residential care facilities for children are sometimes seen as a business model, a way of generating revenue from tourism and international adoption. They also sometimes receive structural financial support (mainly from the West). Part of this income is obtained legally. However, illegal activities also occur, for instance children being sold or recruited for placement in such facilities.
Volunteer travel to these facilities is part of a complex system that maintains ‘orphanages’ unnecessarily. It is sometimes referred to in the literature as the ‘orphan industrial complex’. The income and free labour that come from volunteer travel are only one factor in this system. Structural financial support from the West (for instance in the form of equity funds, private donations and sponsorship) does much more to perpetuate such institutions.
Instead of participating in orphanage tourism, people can contribute meaningfully by supporting organizations that work towards family-based care and community development, which prioritize the well-being of children. These children are not objects of curiosity, and their lives should not be used as experiences for travelers. What they need is long-term, sustainable support that respects their rights and promotes their development in safe, loving environments.
White Savior
The rising popularity of the trend to ‘give back’ has reinforced a negative stereotype that communities and families in ‘developing’ countries need ‘saving’.
Ever heard of the so-called ‘White Savior Syndrome‘? It is something that many white people – often unconsciously – suffer from. This means that you should not think that people in the global south, especially African people, are pitiful and helpless, and that you are the only one who can help them from a superior position. It is important to avoid this and strive for equality in the interaction.
White saviorism is a centuries-old concept that dates back to when many White Westerners believed they inherently had the knowledge, ingenuity, and skills to solve other people's problems worldwide. Then, White saviorism mainly affected people in the developing world, particularly African people.
© Image: Barbie Savior Instagram account. Check out her page for more hard-hitting, satirical images that poke fun at the White Savior Complex.
Risks
There is a growing recognition of the harms of voluntourism especially the kind where volunteers work with (vulnerable) children. It increases the risks of child abuse, child sexual exploitation, child trafficking, and the unnecessary separation of children from their families.
Voluntourism to residential care facilities is part of a complex ecosystem, also referred to as ‘orphan industrial complex’, and that it can have serious consequences for the children living in those institutions, including:
- increased attachment issues;
- exposure to unprofessional care;
- risk of abuse or child trafficking.
Voluntourism to residential care facilities can also
- have a disruptive effect on local labour markets and
- risk reproducing neo-colonial stereotypes on the relationship between the West and low- and middle-income countries.
© Image: Barbie Savior Instagram account. Check out her page for more hard-hitting, satirical images that poke fun at the White Savior Complex.
Volunteer Aware
Can I still volunteer?
Of course. To help you to find the best organisation to work with, we are one of the founding members of the independent platform ‘Volunteer Aware’.
Volunteer Aware’s vision is that ethical and responsible international volunteer work and internships are offered from the Netherlands, with respect for legislation and regulations, policy, culture, norms and values and customs in the project countries.
Volunteer Aware compares volunteer organisations that offer international volunteer work with each other in terms of policy and approach to their volunteer work offer. This comparison is done using a transparency index and can be viewed on the website. Volunteers can see at a glance which organisations score well and which ones score less well. This helps them in their choice to choose the right organisation that takes into account the most important aspects of ethically responsible and international volunteer work.
Visit the Volunteer Aware website for more information.
One GOLDEN RULE: if you are not allowed to do it in your country of origin, you are not allowed to do it in another country.
How to get more likes on social media
Look no further. This is how to get more likes on social media.... Or is it? Click here to check out their guide, "How to communicate the world? A Social Media Guide for Volunteers & Travelers", on www.radiaid.com.
Video produced by Animaskin - www.animaskin.no