Why Little White Girls Should Continue Voluntouring 

Last week I bumped into Pippa Biddle’s daring blog post, ‘The Problem With Little White Girls’. Arguing that most white, young volunteers that do short-term assignments are naive, helpless and not skilled enough for the jobs they get. She argues that:

“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.”

Her post is well written, sarcastic, and also quite funny. Some people responding to her post sound furious. But don’t shoot the messenger! I think she makes a fair point.

Condoms and Bananas

Being 5 ft 10, I could hardly call myself little, but I was definitely a naive white girl too when I went on my very first volunteer mission in Cameroon. Living on top of a volcano in lush Buea, I taught several high school classes on HIV/AIDS prevention. I can still see myself standing there with my condom and my banana.

Needless to say, this was more of a great learning opportunity for me than me adding value for anybody else there. For the first time, I was confronted with poverty, my own powerlessness to structurally change the situation, and weaknesses in dealing with a very foreign culture, malaria-infected mosquitos, and pidgin English. But I also met some amazing people. People like my co-worker, Martin Znefeh, who showed me that people living in poverty are just as, if not more intelligent, ambitious, and talented than anyone else.

I definitely went through the same thought process as Pippa did. I realized that in the majority of cases, super young, unskilled, wealthy Western kids don’t save the world. Instead, they are often a nuisance for local coordinators. I was one of them!

Why Voluntourists Can Be Useful

But let’s not overdo it: voluntourists can add value and make a difference:

Firstly, young, naive, wealthy kids learn a ton by doing volunteer work. The experience will probably disillusion them and make them realize they cannot be ‘white saviors’, which is a good thing. But it will give them new skills and will broaden their mind-set for life. In many cases, young naive kids grow up to become amazing professionals that will use their volunteer experience to work for a good cause.

Secondly, it’s all about how you manage voluntourists. For 2 years I worked as a Coordinator for Manzini Youth Care in Swaziland, managing 25+ volunteers at a time. Often, university school classes from Scandinavia would come visit for a week or 2, forcing me to think up a program that would be mutually beneficial for both parties.

Forget About Walls
Asking them to build walls would just be plain stupid. Infrastructure should be built by local, trained engineers, not by unskilled volunteers. The trick is to manage expectations. More importantly, you need to build on their strengths! Voluntourists are often great at facilitating a music or art class, or organizing a soccer competition. Activities for voluntourists should be simple, concrete, feasible and fun for all.

It should always be an exchange. When done right, a volunteer program can be an opportunity to exchange values, skills, ideas and culture. The Swazi kids taught the ‘small white girls’ just as much as the other way round. Any good coordinator will create opportunities for local managers, people, and kids to teach foreign volunteers, thereby empowering them, instead of treating them as mere subjects of development aid.

Finally, let’s not forget that voluntourists can generate awareness in their home countries on development issues, thereby attracting media attention and funding opportunities for local organizations.

Samahope’s New Volunteers

As any small nonprofit start-up, Samahope owes much of its success to volunteers and we greatly appreciate all the amazing individuals who free up their time to dedicate their skills. This is why we are always very excited to welcome new volunteers to our team: welcome Kassia, Jane, and Amy!