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.
Catriona in Cambodia 