International Aid and Volunteering

Before, during, and after my VSO-ICS placement, I have been aware of certain tropes about international development, and aid that the UK government gives to Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs). For a long time I felt uncomfortable about volunteering internationally, just because of the image it could project: of an affluent, white, westerner on some kind of self-righteous mission to ‘fix’ problems in the third world.

Our social constructions around development (with the UK as an admired ‘end’ goal) and aid (wasted by giving money to corrupt dictators) are a product of classical media images, with well-intentioned but flawed imaginings (see BandAidclassicalcolonialism, BandAid20nothinghaschanged, BandAid30thisisawkwardnow). In advance of going to Cambodia, I always felt like I needed to properly justify why I was going: emphasising the UK government support of VSO; altering my descriptive language to claim I was ‘working’ rather than ‘volunteering’; and detailing the specifics (as much as I knew) to distinguish myself from any perceived typical ‘gap yah’ activities.

It wasn’t just me: during our selection process and training sessions, VSO asked us to discuss the reception and support we had received upon deciding to apply for VSO-ICS. Every person had had some kind of inaccurate assumption or negative comment.

Here are a couple of things we came up against:

“Saving the Children in Africa”

Before leaving for Cambodia, I told my friends that if I put a picture on Facebook of me surrounded by tens of smiling orphans and an accompanying saccharine caption, that they could slap me (this was, of course, before I knew that Cambodians aren’t keen on smiling in photos anyway). Not all development work is about children, nor is it in Africa (nor is the continent of ‘Africa’ suitable for sweeping statements regarding development!).

This stereotype of aid isn’t constructive and it perpetuates the colonial ‘white saviour’ concept. I wasn’t working with children: the closest I came was answering the financial management queries of 17 year-olds!

“UK Taxpayer Money All Goes Overseas”

Post recession/recession-recovery/austerity…I can understanding the financial vulnerability that people feel the UK is in. And international financial aid is an easy budget to criticise, often intangible and tinged with doubt as to the ‘worthiness’ of an unspecified end product. But it’s interesting to correlate perceptions and realities:

“Charity Starts at Home”

To suggest that helping others is more valid within a close locality doesn’t make a lot of sense me. Especially when I’ve been educated to empathise outwith national borders (aside from historic inter-UK rivalries), and when I’m living in an increasingly globalised world in which it is difficult to be so insular. International and national aid are also not mutually exclusive. I’ve volunteered in all of the local communities I’ve been a part of, using my education and skills, but to use the same skills internationally is much more controversial, despite LEDCs typically having less governmental support.

For example, were I to run the financial management sessions in the UK, they would likely be of little use: I definitely got taught about saving by my parents, by my school and by the internet. But those I was working with in Cambodia are the first generation to potentially have a regular monetary income, they find it difficult to access banking institutions, and there is no Citizens Advice Bureau on the local high street.

Furthermore, witnessing and attempting to affect issues internationally has made me more aware of the political and social opportunities available to a More Economically Developed Country (MEDC) like the UK, enabling me to be more successful as future active citizen in my community.

“Voluntourism, aka Self-Righteous Holidays for the Rich”

Frequently, those who volunteer abroad are characterised as rich enough to pay thousands of pounds to agencies for an ‘experience’. I am not. As an ICS volunteer, VSO supports your travel, insurance. medical bills, training, food and accommodation for three months – things I would have been unable to afford as a recent graduate (and things I would have been unable to afford as a recent graduate volunteering in the UK!). With the help of family and friends, I raised over £1000 for the work that VSO does: not for my own flights, or for spending money!

But I was also not ‘on holiday’. It’s an 8am-5pm job, with weekend events and community work!

If you’re interested to find out more about these myths, this is a good place to start.