For people around my age in Western Europe, it’s common that they volunteer abroad. Young people who just graduated often take a gap year in which they travel or volunteer abroad. I’ve thought about volunteering abroad myself too, because it seems great. You get to do some good, while you enjoy yourself at the same time. But these plans have been cancelled for me. Today I want to tell you why I think volunteering abroad is a bad idea. In fact, the volunteering abroad can sometimes do even more bad than good.
Volunteering abroad
The usual story of people volunteering abroad is the following. Someone wants to do something for others and starts looking for something nice to do. They end up on websites offering volunteering abroad. The volunteer pays a lot of money to fly to the foreign country and volunteer there. Once there, they volunteer at a local school, teaching the local kids English or something else. After 10 weeks or so, the volunteer leaves the school to fly back home. The person feels extremely satisfied, because they feel like they’ve helped the local children. Not soon after, the next volunteers arrives and the cycle starts again.
This is the example of teaching at a local school, which is a common form of volunteering abroad, but it can be anything else. Sometimes it’s volunteering at a school, sometimes it’s in an orphanage, sometimes it’s an animal shelter. The story is usually the same, the location determines how harmful the volunteering is.
Inefficient aid
I think volunteering abroad is almost always selfish. Let me tell you why. First of all, volunteering abroad is extremely inefficient. If you want to help people abroad, the most efficient way to do so is to donate money to charity. Going there yourself is not efficient at all. If you really do it for the locals, you can help much more by just donating cash (via GiveDirectly for example). The money volunteers spend on the travel for themselves alone is enough to do more good than they can do themselves physically. It just makes no sense to travel to for example Mexico for a couple of thousands of euros, if you can instead donate that money to the institution you’re visiting. Volunteers are not that special, they can’t do anything more than local people can.
White saviorism
This brings me to my next point of criticism. Volunteering abroad, in most cases, gives off a sense of white saviorism. It seems like the volunteer thinks that the problems in their own country, for example The Netherlands, are non-existing. Like they think that we in The Netherlands have everything arranged perfectly already and now we need to help the ‘developing’ countries to have things arranged the same way. If something thinks this way, there’s something wrong in their understanding of the world and knowledge about global history. I can understand that, because we get this worldview served by charities and other institutions. So I get that, but that doesn’t make it right.
And also, we unfortunately have many problems in our own countries still, things like poverty and animal-abuse. Why do something abroad, when you can permanently volunteer in your own neighborhood? It sounds less exciting maybe, but if your goal is to volunteer and help others, this is much better. And of course, the problems we face in The Netherlands are not as severe as in some other regions in the world. So, I get that point of view. But then again, volunteering abroad is not the most efficient way to help. Send a share of your income to those regions, structurally. Practice effective altruism.
More harm than good
That brings me to the actual volunteering itself. This is often harmful for the recipients. The Dutch government advices Dutch people not to volunteer in orphanages abroad, as it is harmful to the children’s development and is linked to human trafficking and sexual abuse. Think about it. Orphans need a stable home, not a roof over their head and a new volunteer every three months. That’s like being abandoned again multiple times a year. And the same goes in schools. Children need a local teacher, who they can actually learn from and get attached to. Not some 18-year old from The Netherlands who leaves after a while.
As a vegan, I think this is the also the case for animals. To me, it seems amazing to help in an animal shelter for elephants while I travel. But that’s selfish. These animals also benefit more from my money than from me being present there. I believe animals get attached to humans too, so for them too it’s best if they have someone stable to take care of them. A local person who can dedicate a big share of their lifetime to this. Not someone else to get to know every few months.
Climate change
I have argued that volunteering abroad is inefficient, often harmful and that it has an element of white saviorism. But what if you find a volunteering opportunity that does not include any of those things? You think it’s actually a good idea. Let’s say you think of going to a foreign country to go trash-picking. Then I’d still say it’s wrong, unless you go by foot or bike. I’ve literally heard of people who’ve flown to Indonesia to go trash-picking. The intent is so nice, but it totally misses the point of doing good. The flights will be so harmful, you can never pick enough trash to compensate that. The climate change that is accelerated by these emissions is also very harmful to a lot of people. This bring me to my last but very important point: volunteering is never the solution.
Volunteering is never the solution
When we think about it, volunteering in general is almost never the solution. The best it can be is a consolation for the real problem. Think about it. The real solution to prevent orphanages is good politics (good public services, poverty prevention etc). The same goes for schools. We should not need to rely on volunteers to run a school. People need social security and absence of disease. Then their children can go to school (with properly educated teachers). We shouldn’t need animal shelters either. The solution to that is good politics when it comes to animal welfare (no illegal breeding, relocation of stray animals, strict rules for when you buy an animal). Cleaning up trash shouldn’t be necessary, as we shouldn’t have litter in a circular economy.
In my opinion, good politics is usually the solution to problems. But that isn’t a free pass to do nothing as long as those problems are not solved yet. I can imagine people thinking: ‘People in politics should fix this’. That is true and we should urge them to do so by voting right. But in the meantime we can’t just stand by. That’s why we have food banks and animal shelters. We shouldn’t need them, but we do at this moment in time. And so, they’re a temporary solution until we’ve fixed the real solution. But if you want to do something, do so in your own neighborhood. And don’t forget to try to influence local politicians to tackle the core of the problem.
Are there volunteering options abroad that are not harmful?
Maybe there are volunteering options abroad that are not harmful. But honestly, I cannot think of many options. The only thing I can come up with is the case of a humanitarian crisis. After a hurricane or during a war. I can imagine that volunteers, especially with a medical background, are necessary in that case. But in most cases, I think neighbor countries can help best. But I am not even sure whether that is volunteering. Doctors Without Borders, for example, is an organization which I support financially and they send medical professionals to crisis areas. But I do think those people are paid to go there, so this case doesn’t really count.
I can understand that me stating this causes some dreams to shatter. It shattered mine too. I could see myself working in an elephant sanctuary abroad one day, it was a small dream of mine. But sometimes you have to be honest and do what’s best for others and not for yourself. I think volunteering abroad is a bad idea for most people, so I won’t ever do it.
Yours sincerely,
Romee