The Dark Side of Rich Kids Volunteering Abroad | Informer
Voluntourism is when primarily western, privileged do-gooders pay for the experience of doing charity work abroad. But according to this ex-voluntourist, the orphanage she thought she was building was actually disassembled and remade throughout the night.
Not only that but children were dirtied up to make them look poorer to add to the voluntourists' experience. Children were made to sing and dance for them - and worse.
We give an inside glimpse into this sham world, where people pay for the experience of charity without actually helping locals - and often even making their lives worse.
00:00 Intro
02:05 "I was entirely unqualified"
03:21 What happens to donations?
04:28 Her advice could put her in great physical danger
06:00 Child abuse
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I think you guys should’ve did a better job at covering her identity. Voice modifier perhaps, could’ve put her in a dark room. I honestly just hope that the person is ok and is safe.
This is useless. Who is she? Where was this? No real info is given, just putting some random person in a mask is not hard-hitting or useful. I don't doubt this happens, but the way this is done is overly dramatic and sensationalist with no real evidence presented.
Creo que está mal traducido VOLUNTURISMO
I want to watch in English but this is just in Spanish and it doesn't allow me to change it
@@ILSJALesta bien traducido, es una fusión de las palabras Voluntario y Turismo: Volun-turismo
"What you're being sold is an opportunity to help a community. What you're really buying is an opportunity to help yourself." Well said.
This is exactly it I remember some girl went to Africa and this girl had never slept in a room with bugs, but she went all just for the resume not one crap giving about the cause or kids. Same for the organizations who know kids here want this for a step up and not the cause.
Why should those two be mutually exclusive? Almost any/every social good is supposed to benefit both sides of that equation.
Spoken like someone who’s never done mission work
@@wargriffin5 they weren't helping anyone, didn't you watch it, the builders undone their work and started again because it was so bad and not a cent of their costs went to the orphanage.
@@volty3454 That's not what the OP or my comment were about.
I am from Kibera - Kenya, the largest slum in sub-saharan Africa. I see this sort of experience every other day. I can boldly confirm that whatever she is saying is absolutely true. So many rich 'volunteers' show up here to feel good about themselves yet the 'orphaned children' never get assistance. How can I be of help to stop this?
Since you asked, and this is truly just my opinion. First you need to identify the orphanages operating with genuine interest to help the orphans or kids they're hosting. Populate a list on a blog that says, TOP 5 VERIFIED ORPHANAGES IN KIBERIA AND WHICH TO AVOID, then publish it anonymously to protect yourself as you don't know the extent of corruption and how it can hurt you. If there is no list of verified institutions, and the verification process doesn't exist, then create it. Also add voluntourism and other trendy hashtags to get traction to the article. I know I'm making it sound simple, and the world can seem like a very dark place, but good people still do exist, they need other good people to look out for them so be that good person.
@@fitnessaddict154 That’s a very nice plan you laid out, Bless You.
Would you consider becoming the director of an orphanage with the children's lives and well being in your mind? That would help a lot
@@fitnessaddict154 Fair enough. Thanks for the advice.
@@Gloomgrave Most definitely I would. However, I don't have the financial resources to sustain an orphanage.
At my university, there were flyers promoting this type of voluntourism to Latin America for winter and summer break. Pre-Med students were often interested in them as a way to boost their Med school applications, myself included. The fees they charged for the trip were so exaggerated to me. Still, I actually paid around $800 just to reserve my spot for a trip to Nicaragua to help distribute medical supplies and help the locals with essential primary care. The e-mails with the coordinators started getting kind of suspicious for me because they next wanted $1000 for something else and another $800 for ‘paperwork.’ I ended up pulling out because the trip was becoming unaffordable to me and my family had warned me about volunteering scams in Latin America, where none of that money reached the actual people. I volunteered, instead, at my local hospital for 2 years and had a rewarding experience.
bruh, they scam you so hard, I'm from Nicaragua, with all that money you could have had a premium vacation and you still could have money left to help.
@@user-ux6ie1ek5d True and I learned my lesson. At least it was my own money and not my family’s that was lost.
If any premeds are reading, get a 4 year nursing degree and work!
Good call, You don't pay for volunteer.
good pivot
As a Haitian, all she said is true. The amount of missionaries that have been arrested for sexual abuse and trafficking (ex: taking a kid and moving to the US with them without legal adoption). Every time I see them I feel so disgusted.
Yes. The type of volunteerism she’s talking about is largely down under the guise of “mission work” and church-sponsored travel. All those groups in Haiti coming in with the matching t-shirts… 😢 They perpetuate orphanage scams and sadly a lot of Haitian kids in orphanages have parents who can’t afford to feed them.
Yeah it’s sickening. It really hurts because Haitians are very religious and using that faith to further abuse and take advantage of them is a different level of messed up.
Impressed with her level of honesty about what she saw but also her honest self reflection
She's wearing a mask ya numpty
@@buddyholly5445 Haha, that is true!
@@buddyholly5445 She's wearing a mask, but she's admitted all of this, and her own motivations, to herself. That's not something you can expect from most people.
Is that a Mask? I thought she was an android ? Amazing Android though !
@@buddyholly5445 why wouldn’t she wear a mask are you a clown
I did a voluntourism "internship" experience in undergrad, and my entire 25 page final paper was ripping voluntourism to shreds lmfaooo. I resonate with her message. it's so sad.
I would read your 25 page paper. White savior complex never fails to surprise me, this all makes sense.
would it be possible at all for us to read your essay? im so interested
I would also love to read your essay
@@jaquelintafolla6152 what is it called when they’re not white lol you do realize all humans suffer from trying to look good in front of others (virtue signaling). Look at the non white people that donated to blm inc just to get ripped off like everyone else (just one example). People will always scam people that virtue signal which is why it should be avoided. Just help in the moment or if you want to build a library in Africa at least go to school and learn construction 😂
@@jaquelintafolla6152 Huh, so immediately it's about race? Not surprised someone said this. It could never be an earnest endeavor ( obviously we unfortunately see it's not but at the time they didnt know) for People to try and do some good in the world, right? Pathetic take on your part.
I am a doctor (general practitioner) from Indonesia, and I am so very sad to hear that such thing seems to happen a lot in different parts of the world. I don’t know if anything similar happens here as well, but let me share a story where I volunteered to a very remote area in Indonesia with a medical organization initiated by an Indonesian surgeon. It was short yet very rewarding as we managed to provide care for 900 ish persons by the course of only 4 days in a small island (Indonesia is an archipelagic country). It was obviously tiring, but at the end of the trip we didn’t even think about that. Most volunteers were doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. I didn’t pay a single penny as it wasn’t voluntourism. Bottom line, not every volunteering opportunity is a voluntourism. Please don’t be discouraged to do volunteer work, do your research and I’m sure you’re going to find an honest volunteering project. My heart breaks for the children involved in such practices like the one in the video. I hope those practices get shut down somehow.
I think the biggest thing that has stuck out about these "altruistic" trips is that you have to pay exorbant amounts to go. If someone offered a worthwhile service, like you and the other medical professionals did, they hopefully wouldn't expect forced donations to just be there and hopefully at least your meals would be covered, maybe even travel expenses. It's always been so weird to me how it's "pay to play". Churches are often willing to cover the costs but you literally have to apply for it. It all feels yucky.
Sounds like you were actually qualified, though. That's the difference.
The difference is that you have actual skills that the locals don't have. Sending teens to build a library makes no sense. They have no carpentry skills. If you are an actual carpenter, yeah going over to give your labor can be super helpful. But even then, locals CAN and SHOULD be the ones to do those jobs. They can do it just as well. It's things like medical care that requires expert skill that the locals can't always do or provide. That is where you can really make a difference.
No one asked.
Thanks for this. I'm promoting a new UK Registered Charity named Tardigrade International Organization (Tardio). Their mission is to help underpriviledged children gain basic education in conducive environments. They provide desks, books, school uniforms and other things. The problem is that getting donors has been almost impossible because of fears of fraud and the concerns raised in this video.
there's so much evil happening around us that we don't have any idea, it's sickening :(
Also, "volunteering" at orphanages is especially harmful because it reinforces to the children that adults will only always come and 'love' them for a few days, take photos with them and then leave. No adult will ever stay or care about them beyond those few days. The kids will stay there until they age out and instead of being given proper schooling and helpful education on how to thrive as an adult, they spent their whole childhoods being ornaments for people who are already rich. Truly sad.
Exactly, most of these organizations are self serving. However, the governments of these countries are in part responsible. If proper governance existed people wouldn’t be incline to trade their dignity for a few tokens and photo ops mainly because there would be checks and balances at a State/municipal/ regional level. The issue is most third world countries have little rule of law, and Westerners are often treated as untouchable given the strength of their countries and the geopolitical landscape that we live in. Which is the rise of countries like China and South Korea is in part so compelling and should be studied by all developing countries. China has banned a lot of these organizations for 1 - its humiliating and they have pride and 2 - they have gotten more economically powerful over the years and can tend to their own needs. It’s sad state of affairs but It’s geopolitical issue. Many people don’t want to admit it but in a twisted way, wealthy countries depend on the underdevelopment to maintain the status quo. We have seen the drastic decline of quality of life of the West since a few Asian countries have risen economically and the competitive labour market it’s created. Imagine a continent like Africa consisting of 50+ countries finally getting their ish together and taken the similar path that China, India, have taken, etc… these third world countries are needed to stay where they are for ego boost, cheap travel and an overall feeling of superiority. If things are going to change these third world countries would have to make it happen.
Sounds like these kids are bred for sick adults. I've actually heard about this years ago
Lol
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ no
These kids don't need "proper schooling", they need safety, love, nurturing, and a sense of belonging... you know, family. Education can never replace that
as a Nigerian teen, I get pissed off when I hear people talking about "volunteering in Africa" this is just one of them, coupled with the generalization of the continent and its inhabitants. they're basically just selling privileged kids a sense of heroism and a chance to look good on their college application. I just finished high school and I'm working on a bunch of things if it all goes well I have a charity plan that can actually change people's lives, it's a long-term thing. I don't do impulse charity it is a f up the world and people have been suffering, feeding a bunch of people might feel rewarding instantly but where is the next meal coming from? teaching people to fish and creating a conducive environment for them to do so is the ONLY way to bring change
Yeah, interesting that your not "pissed off" with the people stealing the aid money every year! those kids and families "volunteering in Africa" are delusional but their heart is good, the African elites are greedy, dishonest and corrupt and have no heart.
A lot of them might still go and participate to volunteer in these places anyway because of college applications/resumes and personal gain.
Hell yea bRother! Those people are just super lazy and unmotivated, all they need is for you to teach them how to work!
@@HugeStirz I never said I was pissed off with the people who genuinely wanted to help. I'm pissed off with the whole situation and the elite too
Exactly my angle here in Sudan
This is so true. I did volunturism once, it was one of the most frustrating experiences ever. Most "volunteers" were just there to get drunk and destroy everything around.
So liberals
u should watch the green inferno. decent movie if u keep that in mind, if u dont, it's just typical eli roth torture porn. @mize7684
is there any good documentary's/articles/content u can recommend to bring more awareness to this situiation??
This needs to be shared far and wide - and more documentaries like this should be screened on as many platforms and channels as possible.
That all happens here, too. I had the misfortune of ending up in a homeless shelter. I was allowed to "stay in" for a few days after a surgery. It was Thanksgiving time. A sweet family with small children unloaded and brought in a half of a friggin horse trailer of large turkeys. I watched all of the staff members put several in each of their cars. I saw their friends pull up and have turkeys loaded into their cars. They cooked 2 turkeys for us the next day. There were 150 residents there.
If no one calls them out, they'll continue to take unchecked.
Can you imagine being one of those "people"? What an unfulfilling life they must lead, just existing with themselves as top priority. That is not living it's just surviving with extra steps.
@@sp33dracerx2 It's about more than that. You have to get to someone who cares like a local news station. If you complain to people that are already aware you'll likely be told to keep your mouth shut. If they feel threatened, they might even go so far and put forth some made-up allegations against you. It's especially hard for OP if he was there after an operation. Seriously, what was he gonna do? Risk getting thrown out when he complains to a boss that's likely already aware?
Call them out. Not all are like that. I have worked and volunteered at many very good ones. I would have called them out. Or if not safe at least brought it up to or out to someone who did! ✌
And you said nothing about it?
Two other important things: The rich children who get these experiences are also then further rewarded with prestigious scholarships etc for "saving a village before age 18". Also, the greenwashing of the companies who pay for these. I had a trip like this sponsored by TD Bank (I think) in University. It was like $2k per person they sponsored for 13 people to go to Mexico. We built like 1/2 of a water filtration system lol. They should have just sent them the cash directly.
@A1 that's not really the point of this. the money would be much better spent funding local volunteers and business owners to build water filtration systems, rather than on plane tickets for some random spoiled kids.
@A1 🙏 God bless you
On the flip side, corrupt govt require payments before you can help the locals; pay for play, so to speak, so that money may still not fully go to the needy.
Bruh believe me you don't wanna send moneys like just.. all moneys. you bought something first! like clothes all size from babies to adults, all genders or foods & drinks(?) with long-lasting expire, Then send them all Carefully to the funds/agency/management(?) that are Very official & Trustworthy.
This is very egotistical thing.
As a West African whose parents grew up in the age of mass "mission" trips pre- and post- Nigerian civil war, I'm glad this video came out. My heart hurts every time I see adds because the effects of voluntourism on the people we met while financially navigating immigration and the redlining that happens once you get more comfortable in a country-- those effects meant that I was always "impressive" in my English speaking, or school performance, or general intelligence, or memories of living in a home. The propaganda is hurtful on both sides.
I’m glad this was said, I felt that way about volunteering for a while and felt like these volunteering systems are fucked up and dishonest but didn’t think it went that far. I hope more people see this and realize the difference between what they think they’re buying to what they are actually being sold and who really pays the price for it.
This happens in the states as well. I used to skip Sunday School and hide in the store room because the vibes from the people at the Salvation Army church were weird and creepy. Many times, I would see the pastor, his family, the church clerk and even the lady who played the piano come and raid the donations. My family was poor af. We would get the donation boxes and it would be canned cheese, canned beef, rice bags etc. All the good tasting and nutritious food went to the cupboards of the people in charge of getting it to the poor. We would get poorly fitting, out of style clothes and shoes while their kids would have Christmas every week. They took ALL the toys that were donated. All of them. We never got a single one. They would talk while I hid, saying things like 'they don't deserve that - go ahead and take that' and 'Just take everything you want - they don't need that'. I will never donate to an organization. Not. Once. Ever. Giving directly to the poor may not go on your tax returns but it sure as hell does more good.
Throughout my childhood growing up in South Africa, I was always told not to help poor people directly, because it's potentially dangerous and only an organisation knows what help is best. But then I realised that I was hearing that from the teachers and "volunteers" who collected all of our donations. I don't live in South Africa any more, but there is a homelessness problem in my city. I always help directly by buying food, hygiene products, etc. for people who look like they need it. I always ask first, because some people don't want to take charity. But it feels better to actually help someone than to to pretend you've done a good thing by contributing to a large organisation with a hidden system that funnels money away from the people who need it.
ohh my god, thank you for sharing. Do you mind if I ask which state or city or community this happened to you?
I had friends who went to a pretty ritzy private liberal arts college, but it was located in a midsize Rust Belt city where the locals had a lot of economic disenfranchisement. Sometimes students would volunteer for Habitat for Humanity to pad their resume or for personal aggrandizement, and they would also have their work torn down and replaced with actual construction when they weren't looking.
@@KatherineFrangos I'd rather not give them the opportunity to hide as it's more likely that the poor organization is still there than it is that a change to their greed has occurred or will occur.
Exactly. This is why I vouch only for doing good personally and not within the confines of any organization no matter what they say
A friend of mine was volunteering somewhere in Africa. He discovered the director had embezzled 5 million dollars. My friend carefully collected proof and then presented it to the headquarters in NYC. My friend was threated that he will be accused of it all if he came forward. He was then fired and the director got to keep his millions. To this day I refuse to donate money to any NGO intending to help others.
yeah, wow, you know who was behind all that???!!!
@NUAGES ENCOEUR the tribe...
Why tf aren't you exposing their name to us ?
No offense but your friends is dumb for going to the company that the Director had embezzled from. Chances are more people where in on it and getting paid too off other peoples money and or work if they had Volunteer programs. If he was going to do that he should have done it anonymously
@@supersaiyanjay4504 yeah and bring it to the FBI instead or something, just someone a little more trustworthy.
I appreciate this woman for her vulnerability & honesty! She has helped expose the industry which she wouldn’t have been able to do without her experience.
This is devastating. I appreciate her honesty I had no idea about this stuff.
She was about as honest a person as I have ever met. Bluntly said how at the time she was thinking about how it would look on her resume or college applications. While she struck me as someone who really did care about helping unfortunately many voluntourist probably only do it thinking about something else to put on their resume or to post on social media to make themselves look like they are actively making a difference when they are doing anything but.
she was involved for at least a decade is what she said. Pretty sure she must have kept going AFTER realizing that it was bad. Also the reason why she is anonymous
You are implying that they are doing the opposite. In what world does that make sense?
At least she’s agreeing to talk about this. There’s a lot of people who just sit and accept it but at least she’s attempting to break that system down
@@-baconfactory-1935 ik she's anonymous so not getting any attention, but these people just want to feel important.
@@lootjunior She is someone who now feels virtuous for speaking out the truth even though she's already sitting on the mountain she helped create and benefit from. It's easy for her to "expose" evil because she's already benefitted from everything it can offer her; she's no better than the establishment she's supposedly calling out.
I did this in Morocco a decade ago and the memory that haunts me is an afternoon attempting to teach English to victims of rape and domestic abuse. I was barely out of high school and didn't have the first clue what I was doing. Those ladies deserved better.
what was the name of this place?
Which place of Morocco?
such a horrible human being
@@jobukijoe7270 ?
thank god the situation is improving these days
GREAT POINT right at the end where she points put how many people use exceptionalism to rationalize their volunteer trip. 👏👏👏
I used to work at Habitat for Humanity and it was not uncommon for us to undo the work that volunteers had done and then redo it after they were gone, just like she describes. We also learned that after the cost of insurance, using volunteer labor to build houses (instead of paid contractors) doesn't actually reduce building costs; the cost of a volunteer-built home is about the same as a contractor-built home, but the quality is worse. The real value of having volunteers do the building is that they are a source of funding and free marketing.
I am from Nepal. When I was younger my school also had many western volunteers come to my school and teach for a month to 3 months. Most of my interactions with them were positive, learned different things from each person. It was refreshing to learn from someone else besides my regular teachers. My school’s leadership was very caring of the kids. Therefore, just do your research before you volunteer somewhere as not all schools/orphanages are run by legit good people. Don’t let bad apples dissuade you from doing good for the less fortunate. So many people need help in the world. ❤
I agree with you - don’t let the bad apples keep you from helping where it is truly needed
I'm from Nepal too and my school was funded by japanese people so japanese volunteers would often come to our school. And they were very helpful ❤❤❤️
thank you for this comment! the perspective of someone on the other side of these volunteer trips is so valuable
I went on a “voluntourism” trip to Nepal in 2018 for 3 weeks once I got out of high school. We were volunteering at a very impoverished school outside Kathmandu where we were primarily working on painting all the walls of the classrooms. It wasn’t super challenging work, but I got the feeling from the kids and the teachers that our presence was not only helping the building of the school, but also a welcomed enrichment for the kids. We played with them on our breaks, and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. The children were poor, but us volunteers weren’t really given the opportunity to see all of that, and I think that’s okay. You can’t fix every problem in every person’s life, and one important thing I learned is that being “poor” doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to be saved. That’s a very privileged and misguided perspective. All of the volunteers were around 16-18, and we had a great time. We went on a safari and other excursions on weekends, and went downtown to shop and get food after work. It was a very privileged experience and we definitely treated it as a somewhat unsupervised vacation at times, but what teenager wouldn’t? Perhaps we didn’t do as much help as we thought we did, but we did help others and I really did get the impression that the organization had a legitimately welcomed presence at the school over the years. It cost 3,000 usd, which isn’t a whole lot considering flight tickets, and excursions, chaperone staff, and room and board (kinda run-down hotel, modest meals) for 3 weeks. Perhaps more money was pocketed than there should have been, but I don’t have any evidence for that. I’m sure the issues raised in this video are a thing, but I think the message that the whole industry is exploitative and corrupt and preying on ethnocentric white saviors is not indicative of the whole industry. I get that a bunch of rich white kids coming to a country to volunteer is a bit cringey, but that doesn't mean it's fundamentally wrong. That aside, Nepal is a beautiful country and I'd love to visit it again sometime. Seeing all the lights in the valley around Kathmandu at night is wonderful.
Yes. Teaching though is one thing. If there's one thing we do a lot of in the west, it's going to school. But building construction? Almost none of us know the first thing about that.
Have nothing but respect to this young woman who is able to articulate the problem of voluntourism. She is person who truly cares for people.
Never saw a worse prepared and researched 'documentary'! No background facts, no statistics, no interviewing of different sides, not even pictures or videos, just One girl with a weird mask with One example (so absolutely Not representative) which is not even clear what is true and what invented.. 🤦🤦where are the research results, which organisation are we talking about, what do the orphanage organisers say, how many of them exploit the children? Because it's also 100% true that there are quite a few of them who are also doing honest work and use the money respectively. I can also dress someone up who wants to stay anonymous, put him on a chair and tell a story that is supposed to be true, it's just that I'm NOT a journalist.. this is how it looks when a team wanted to save as much work, time and money as possible for traveling, requesting interviews, background researches etc.. clickbait and dreadful result!
its a waste of time. she is telling us nothing new. giving us names
@@justsaying9006 Disregarding the allegations of abuse (which I really don't doubt are true in many places), the ethics of voluntourism are still questionable. You're paying thousands of dollars to go abroad. A fraction of that money actually goes to the community. Most of it is going to the organizers and the travel logistics instead. You're also likely not qualified skill-wise to carry out the needed tasks. It's much more effective to send either money, critical supplies, or specialists. That way you're investing in local skilled labor and the local economy. It's so common to see people posing on instagram with their living breathing participation trophies. Look, they may mean well, but ultimately it's more about feeling good for doing something than it is actually effectively doing good
@justsaying, I don’t think that’s as a documentary, only a point of view
I fully agree. Very strange set up, felt disconnected from the subject matter. I feel I was clickbaited into thinking this would be a full Vice documentary and I'm pretty disappointed.@@justsaying9006
If you are paying $3000 to help people then you are already being scammed
This is a good lesson for me as a person from a first world country. Thank you for sharing
As a teacher, what also makes me mad about voluntourism is that random rich teens think that them teaching the kids English for a week is a real education. Would you have your child go to school and learn from random unqualified strangers? Would you have those unqualified people build your home? No? Then why is it ok when other people in poorer countries get this. It reinforces the message that local workers who actually have qualifications are too stupid to do it AND that kids in these countries deserve subpar education and care.
That's part of the western culture. We feel entitled and superior, assuming as educated western citizens we know better. We're not used to actually see how's, say, Africa. Our news don't talk about it...
if the alternativ is absolutly no education? ofc i would. The Idea that there are everywere qualifyed workers is just not true and yes ofc it would be way better the educate some locals to be able to teach english.
“It reinforces the message that local workers who actually have qualifications are too stupid to do it” I find this to be largely an assumption. You’re using inactiveness to say that they aren’t intelligibly capable. A better way to make your point would be to say that the government systems and lack of funding limit true progression. That isn’t related to someone being smart enough to perform their job. The issue lies within providing them with their mentioned qualifications. Again, under completely different economies/ governments where basic education isn’t always met, these situations are quite common. But it just feels unnecessary to call them dumb as an assumption and i would have hoped a teacher would tread more likely with such phrasing. And if that is in fact the case, it shouldn’t be considered as laziness to learn but rather inaccessibility to education. There are people with high IQ’s that will simply never be able to put their brain to most uses due to the lives they didn’t chose. I’m just trying to reiterate here that smart isn’t always the same as educated, and being an idiot shouldn’t be judged through said knowledge. This was not meant to be this long.
@@gabriellewashere7353 IQ is an incredibly overrated concept, there are just different kinds of intelligences (Gardner). Moreover IQ tests have historically been incredibly biased. So yeah as per usual, it's more a matter of wealth than IQ->race->genetics. But racism is kinda in our culture isn't it
That quote "reinforces the message that local workers who actually HAVE qualifications are too stupid to do it" said to me “They can do it themselves, with their own learnings, under their own resources and environment”. Sphere project, IFRC, etc. Learned that the answer that is correct to some communities, aren’t right to others. No poor, not ignorant, just different, and the west think is just inferior because it is different. So, it is better just to talk, reach to the people in the same region. And it is all of it or nothing when we talk about teaching a language, do people honestly believe that ONE WEEK of learning english change lives? A language that isn’t even theirs. If they need it, they’ll have to really learned it somewhere else, not with one week.
I feel bad for this girl. She tried so hard to fix the world and came to such a stark realization about the reality of the world.
Focus on the victims
@zahaco what is her name/what other videos can I watch of her on this topic?
Wtf
She quite clearly said she did it to help herself...to have something that "looked good" on her resume. What eaxct hell did she go through??
Capitalism & human greed is root part of this problem 🙄
My school offered a “Junior Year Mission Trip” during the summer between 11th and 12th grade. My experience was nothing like this story but more of a worthwhile exchange between the small rural community in the Yucatán and the group of volunteers I traveled with. In exchange for merely 6 days of hard work plus a few weekends of collecting food donations and fundraising in our home town over the months prior, my classmates and I received a much needed dose of perspective and gratitude for the relative luxuries we probably all took for granted and still do sometimes. It was a bargain as far as I’m concerned and more importantly, 5 families living in that village each had a solid, structurally sound home to cook, sleep, and call their own. And the church at the center of town had their food supplies replenished for the moment which was vital since 4 days during week (M, W, F, and Sunday) they served a meal for anyone in town who were in a bind and needed a little help. For me and most of my friends who came with, it was all just beyond valuable exposure to how 99% of humanity since the dawn of civilization has lived with a fraction of the luxuries we in the states demand as human rights. And still they trudged (and in many parts of the world, still do) onward with more hope and gratitude than most of us can muster currently here at home with all the modern conveniences.
I had a classmate who I noticed was learning Swahili on Duolingo and told us that he had also taken several courses at our university. I asked him if he was learning it because he was planning on going to Africa and he said yes. I asked him what he would do there and he said just visit and see things. Then someone else said she knows someone who volunteered there and it‘s traumatizing to see what kind of poverty those people are in and it changes you. But I realized I have a lot of respect for someone who is willing to just say „I am interested to go and see the things and that‘s it“ without needing to pretend to save the world at the same time, even if it won‘t look as good on his resume.
not everyone is going to “pretend to save the world” though… Some literally just want to extend their service to others. It’s also respectable to give up your time and give up your paycheck to assist. Its not about “looking good” for everyone
Those people actually do more good than harm btw since they come as tourists to spend ....dollars that really go a long way in the economy some even see business opportunities....as they are not blinded by the illusion that they are coming to help
Doing that helps the economy. And some day when you actually are a grown up with an actual skill you could go back and do actual work that is actually needed
To be certain, "Africa" is a continent with more than 50 distinct countries. Many, if not all, of those countries have some aspect of tourism that is good for local economies. It would be silly to be surprised that someone would visit Europe purely for tourism, to "visit and see things." Yet it feels normal somehow that someone would be surprised that one would visit "Africa" purely for tourism. Part of the problem is that we are taught to think of "Africa" as a monolith, and that the only reasonable reason to go is to "save the world" or to "pretend to," apparently. To be certain, "Africa" is a continent with more than 50 distinct countries.
@@lailas.3205 its also the most diverse continent in the worls
It’s interesting…I went to South Africa and Namibia as a gift to myself for finishing grad school. I told someone who does voluntourism a lot. They almost tried to shame me for going to visit countries in Africa just for vacation and not “mission work”. They also asked why I didn’t have more pictures of the locals. I informed them that I didn’t want to take images without permission and also didn’t want to exploit and unintentionally created poverty p@rn.
It's better to do tourism and spend money on local tour guide and entrepreneurs
Take pictures of locals?! It's illegal to take pictures of people in South Africa (especially young children) without their parents consent! That other person's "reproach" reeks of a neo-colonizer mindset 🥴
Bizarre that anyone would shame you for this, especially in South Africa. Here in SA, tourism is one of our biggest industries next to Agriculture. Tourists visiting us is 100 times more beneficial to our economy than a bunch of spoiled rich kids pretending to be missionaries and building a few cheap "houses" or making some soup. Tourism creates jobs and an inflow of money. All these "missionaries" generally achieve is a boost to their own egos and some Instagram posts.
SA is full of American missionaries, ironically they love to settle in the leafy suburbs of cape town or durban living posh lives often better then the ones back home haha
Tourism can help support the local economy, although it still has many flaws. Voluntourism is almost always negative
Thank you Vice for these great interviews. My god the truth needs to be outspoken. When and how can we finally see the real fight against those criminal organisations. We have a chance finally today to speak about those things through some channels. Please let’s bring the truth to the mass media. And change things !
Thank you for your honesty. But I also hope that this video doesn't discourage people from helping people in need around the world. Do enough research before committing to donate or volunteer. ❤ Also, just admit that you are helping others for your own good; it only makes volunteering more attractive because you help yourself and others. And this puts you in the mindset of not expecting anything in return because you are doing it for your own good.
The fact that those children are running towards you, a stranger, to sit on your lap, isn't anything positive. They sit on the next persons lap when you are gone. They have serious bonding issues. They are broken and you are part of breaking them because you're nice, but you leave, just like everyone else.
While it's nice to think these "volunteers" provide affection to those children in need, even momentarily, considering how she mentions that underage sex trafficking is involved in voluntourism, I think these adults speifically train those children to run toward them and sit on their lap. You might as well get your money's worth and take a wholesome selfie.
@@albertchen2020 That's what I thought too, the children are most likely told and maybe even intimidated by the adults to do this kind of thing.
No the kids are told to do that 😂
If anyone disrespects you always remember this: “So the last shall be first, and the first last” _ Matthew 20:16 Jesus meant here that people that look down on you and make you feel less will be less for eternity this life is only temporary, what matters is the eternal result and how you're going to be there based on the actions you take here. This life is just like destiny shopping for your next life. always remember that when someone looks down on you
I didn't take her explanation of that to be positive - she was trying to explain why people continue to do voluntourism. It is manipulative on multiple levels but the "volunteers" are being manipulated into feeling emotionally satisfied when they see how "happy" the kids are to see them, almost like a circus act.
This sh*t has been going on for years..Im just glad things are coming to light at last.
Via censored identities 👀
Yeah 😌 it’s good knowing some kids are fine. Now let’s save the 4000 kids under some billionaires house that we will never know til it’s to late
Without transparency and accountability, many, but not all, nonprofits or organizations involved will continue this practice. And it is not restricted to third world countries, but in the communities where many of these volunteers live. It is better to get away with this practice because there is no one watching.
Paying to work has been going on for years?! Do you know people who pay their boss?
Yeah a lot these "non profit" organizations are all tied to this type of thing. It's disgusting! Child trafficking, abuse, money laundering. All under the umbrella to help people.
This was a very informative video,bless the children living in the orphanage around the world
Love a smart honest person. 👍
Volunteering at orphanage should be a long term commitment. Short trips shouldn't be allowed. This is sickening.
Yes I once stayed at a Christian hostel in Europe and all the staff were there longer term (at least a year) and they didn‘t make a lot of money but they made a little bit so they could do it as their job. I don‘t see why they wouldn‘t do the same thing at orphanages.
Long terms of service don't address the inherent flaws in volunteer organizations. I served in the Peace Corps. That organization requires 2.5 years of service from its volunteers. Although generous, that amount of time cannot prepare ill-equipped foreigners to skillfully address hyper-local problems.
That's not the most alarming part. The most alarming part is the sexual abuse of these children. I wouldn't want long-term abusers at these orphanages. Actually, the worst part is that many of these children are not true orphans and were probably kidnapped from their families.
I've had that sickening feeling of leaving children who were emotionally connected to me quite a few times. #nannylife
You missed the point. There are thousands of local people who would love to be able to work and take care of the children in the orphanages long term, but they can't because there's no funding. There are thousands of highly qualified people around the world too, but no one would pay them to mind these kids
The example that she gave about how the co-volunteer was so immersed with their own moral compass that they became tone-deaf to a real life situation is such an important point. I've spent a lot of time overseas in different areas to research and volunteer. Coming from the medical perspective, there is a lot more "hands-on" opportunities to make a difference, so I did not experience the "fake help" scenarios... especially because these programs weren't funded by large organizations, they were mostly initiatives started by U.S. and foreign academic institutions working together. HOWEVER, the personality of some of the people I volunteered with had that same type of "world savior" entitlement complex. They assumed everyone should live like them and truly didn't understand reality outside of their own bubble. Good intentions, but completely tone deaf.
white people had "good intention with the slaves and indigenous people too...." white people don't even know what good is
This is what WASPs do
Right? If that were me, I'd be immediately thinking of practical things, does the young person have somewhere safe to live, do they have the means to support themselves. Would that organization have the funds to make sure that young person is able to live somewhere safe, if their own community is unsafe to live in. Then again I'm not rich. I remember my ex boyfriend could be like this, he was so used to the pampered bubble his parents had created for him, that any attempts I made to bring him to reality fell on deaf ears.
@@aelinorholloway3669 would it be possible that you might be living in a bubble yourself? I doubt that anyone truly knows what they need since they are so neglected
@@kv4648 well I know food and having a roof over your head are basic universal necessities for people. I'm sorry if that bursts whatever bubble you live in. I think a lot of well off people need to stop focusing on people like myself and look in the mirror, it seems to be well off people who have such a strong opposition to open up to different lives and people. And instead of taking responsibility for that issue they project this on to others. If well off people were like my best friend's family they're wouldn't be a problem, but my best friend's family is a rarity, not the majority.
Thank you, VICE, for shedding light on the complexities of voluntourism. This eye-opening video reveals the stark reality behind the industry, exposing the unintended consequences of well-intentioned efforts. For English Learner, here are my notes & lessons: The video explores the voluntourism industry, where wealthier individuals pay to volunteer in struggling communities for a life-affirming experience. It highlights the mismatch between intentions and impact, narrating instances of ineffective projects, exploitation, and the potential harm caused to vulnerable communities. Vocabulary breakdown: 0. Voluntourism (noun) 07:10 -Context: 'Voluntourism is a multibillion dollar industry.' -Explanation: Voluntourism refers to the practice of combining volunteering and tourism, often involving wealthier individuals contributing to community projects in exchange for a meaningful experience. 1. Informed Consent (noun phrase) 00:22 -Context: 'Kids would see vans of volunteers... rub dirt on their faces... to be more appealing to the volunteers.' -Explanation: Informed consent refers to volunteers being fully aware and understanding the potential consequences and nature of their participation. 2. Library Construction (noun phrase) 02:24 -Context: 'The primary goal... was to build a library.' -Explanation: Library construction signifies one of the goals of voluntourism projects, aiming to create educational infrastructure in underserved communities. 3. Child Sex Trafficking (noun phrase) 05:48 -Context: 'The connection between orphanages and child sex trafficking.' -Explanation: Child sex trafficking involves the exploitation of children for sexual purposes, and the video suggests a link between orphanages and this dark reality. 4. Emotional Compelling (adjective phrase) 06:53 -Context: 'Experiences similar to what I had... are still emotionally compelling.' -Explanation: Emotional compelling refers to the powerful and appealing nature of experiences that evoke strong emotions, even if they may have unintended consequences. 5. Exceptionalism (noun) 07:08 -Context: 'It’s really easy for someone to apply exceptionalism.' -Explanation: Exceptionalism in this context suggests the tendency to believe that one's volunteer experience is unique and exempt from negative impacts, overlooking broader issues in voluntourism. Explore more about language and culture with our app [AI-powered Learning English with VOA]: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aipowered.voalearningenglish . Happy learning!
As a non-profit in Tijuana, I can say that I've seen this happen in other ministries and churches that I know. They make the kids look poor and hardly cared for so that they get more money again and again. The leaders taking the best of the donations for their kids who don't need it and giving the leftovers to the kids and the families in the community. It's sickening.
Missionaries are such a blight. Keep your BS religion out of other cultures. No one needs or wants your preaching.
There is a place in hell for people like that.
@@libertyoverbondage Nah there isn't. There are only dumb idiots who donate to these organizations, making these scammers rich and the poor more miserable.
@@alexcarrara8140 That would be your atheistic worldview, you might be more familiar with what comes around goes around.
Same thing happen in shelters, everything is a business
This is why i've always been a big advocate for local charity first. Charity starts at home, there are people in our own communities who need help but instead people choose to go overseas to exploit innocent kids & get a few photo opps for 2 weeks. Absolutely sick.
We have standards and regulations. Do you think the American government will let a high school graduate build a house? They go to corrupt countries with poor people who have nobody to protect them so they can build substandard houses that nobody cares if the Starbucks cashiers built a house that could collapse on you at any time. As long as they have volunteering on their resume.
That is legit the most practical way to help folks. These volunteer-ship makes for a good PR and resume weightage and does nothing to help the community at large.
Nah, that's not reason to not help overseas. It's reason to control and regulate these organisations. To use it as excuse for not helping is as sick and wrong.
@@laughingbeast4481 My point wasn’t to stop helping ppl. My point is people should spend more time focusing on the suffering ppl who might live down the street from them, instead of jetting off to foreign countries just to make themselves look good. The majority of ppl who do these “charity trips” aren’t doing it out of genuine interests in helping ppl. But God bless the few who actually care.
Preach :) ♡
It's incredibly eye opining video. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for the video!!
My parents run an early childhood charity in Nepal aimed at improving rural village education in schools by not only running early childhood centres, but also training primary school teachers too. Initially, we used to have lots of volunteers, typically young kiwis/aussies/brits/americans on an overseas OE, but my parents quickly learned that you end up just babysitting them. They're young and enthusiastic and can play with the children, but they don't know how to do anything else. Nowadays, we prefer volunteers experienced in education for devising teacher training methods, and experienced builders or tradesmen for putting the roof on earthbag classrooms. We do actually like young volunteers every now and again, they can be a good help with earthbag building, but it's about working out the best way they can volunteer I guess if you're young and want to make a difference, stick to volunteering at home, and don't feel guilty to take a fairly normal backpacking trip around the world.
That’s the help that is needed, people who actually have skills training those in other countries who lack them to do it themselves. Good on your parents for recognizing this and making the necessary changes. The relationship between the western world and the rest of the world will never change if people don’t stop putting them on a pedestal just because they exist.
This usually happens. Nearly all the "volunteer" I met in Nepal are the high school kids or on gap year who were told by their upper or upper middle class parents that this "deeds" will reflect well on college application.
Hi ! What is the name of the charity your mom runs?
I have been working closely with a very good orphanage in Southern Africa for 6 years. Our volunteers are usually excellent(they do need babysitting, if you don't direct them on what to do they aren't helpful). This year about 10 students studying architecture built a community driven low profit station, they had a month and although it was difficult for them to complete the project on time, it was a great success, the mayor of the state congratulated them and there was like an official opening. We didn't expect the impossible from them. It was definitely a culture shock but I believe the experience was more positive than negative. The student volunteers were amazing and mostly went the extra mile.
Lol so many people going to nepals orphanage
I don't get why people are annoyed about this getting "exposed." Yeah, if you don't live under a rock you kind of know this, but it's still good if the knowledge is spread. The more it becomes part of people's general knowledge the less attractive it becomes for people to go there since the whole feel-good aspect of it is destroyed either by you being aware it's a scam or by your followers on insta knowing that you're not doing anything positive to be praised for.
👏🏽
“Or by your followers on insta knowing that you’re not doing anything positive to be praised for” is honesty the biggest for people. Sad, but true. Not many kids that I knew went to these things truly just to make a difference and actually just went to show off to their friends and on social media. If there was no benefit to the college application and it wasn’t like a “trendy” thing to go do, I don’t believe many kids would’ve gone at all. This sounds like a lose lose situation where once again the larger companies that organize these benefit while everyone else involved suffers. They don’t want the kids to be helped, because if they are, the company loses its advertisement and loses customers. Awful people.
but its racist
I still think it’s a good experience for the teens as for self discovery, but it would be better for them to volunteer at local shelters
@@JuliaMarieH Did you not watch the full video? These places are scam operations to take money from upper-middle class young Americans and are simultaneously trafficking operations… You either didn’t catch that part, or are unable to process the idea of that occurring on a large scale.
Thanks for keeping it real
I lived this exact experience. Right down to discovering the trafficking in a neighbouring orphanage
My husband and I worked in a Christian ministry that had a yearly mission trip to Mexico. You had to pay $3k per person, which included a week at a 5-star resort, 2 full-time food trucks, and a clean water truck that followed them all the time. All of this to pour some sidewalks and paint a few houses. Plus a day before and after the trip in the resort to "emotionally recover". We never went. It was just a rich person feel-good trip.
It's sad because if they just sent a well used 3k it could pay a worker for months to build a hundred times the work of a tourist The older I get, the more I realize that charities are often a front for selfish virtue signaling
Frankly in Mexico you dont really need to help like in Africa.
@@trniyyfalldown9927 yet there are places in african countries that are much wealthier than certain places in mexico... it's not a matter of helping or not helping entire continents, because the reality is that there is massive poverty and exploitation in lots of countries around the world. the root cause of this is extractive colonialism by european countries and the US, (and similar,) that is sucking these parts of the world dry for all of their wealth and have been for centuries.
@@sia2761 not really, I work at the Unicef and because of my job I need to go to African countries and Latin american countries. I can tell you that Mexico is a lot wealthier than Africa (including the richest), I really don't see how it will be posible that Africa will be wealthier, sorry but you need to travel more.
@@trniyyfalldown9927 you realize Africa is a continent, right? Full of MANY countries? Mexico is ONE country, and yes, has loads of poverty.
At least she's realized. The majority of these rich kids don't, or refuse to acknowledge the dark side of "volunteering".
If they're paying to work, it's not even volunteering.
@@davidz3879 volunteering is when you don't get paid for work
@@blackcat-mp7kh I know, but volunteer workers don't normally pay to work.
@@davidz3879 Exactly, which is why I added the quotation marks.
@@davidz3879 Exactly. That’s the first red flag, that everyone should be alarmed by.
That end-edit was deeply troubling, both for content, and possibly as a secondary underlying call to those who might be attracted to such activity.
I am glad someone has finally spoken about this. I have noticed it as well, and i am shocked that people pay this much for these "life-changing" trips, without useful skills to change the places they visit. It's a scam on the hungry children and it's disheartening to see volunteers who are willing to be in poverty striken situations, drink fresh orange juice and not wonder why?
Can you imagine sitting in a separate room drinking OJ and eating fruit, whilst the kids next door get their daily spoon of rice? I just couldn't.
Rich, White-do gooder liberals & self righteous Christians.
My friend went and did this while we were at uni, all they did was build a hut for one week, and the other two weeks they were island hopping 🙄
everyone already knew this. everyone that didn't have their head up their own ass, that is
The first indication of fraud is the fact that you are paying to help other people. It already sounds like a vacation in my head.
Back in primary school I had a religious education teacher who would always brag about helping children in Tanzania saying she was sent there on a mission by God. She and her husband brought the children over to the UK during my time in primary school and they would sing and dance for us and tell us about life in Tanzania. At that age I never questioned where these children were staying. A few years later my teachers husband was arrested for having certain videos with the children. A crime of which I'm sure likely involved human trafficking.
wow
You cant really be allowed to do good in the world nowadays. It happens in all professions or areas. Invent something new now in science, but none of the journals would want to publish it because of greed.
that's horrible
What a wonderful woman to shine a light in this deep pit of depravity.
Wow so important!! I went on a volunteer trip to Honduras to help with construction and do a Kids program. We were never laying bricks which is what notoriously messes up construction sights and we were to ones dancing and singing for the kids haha. We also personally knew the organization founder. Nevertheless, the in-country contact started to use the money brought in to buy land for himself. The organization proceeded to request greater accountability and upon denial they chose a new in-country leader. This shows how crucial accountability is in these situations!!
Had a group of church friends who did "Mission" trips like this. The whole point was getting trophy photos for your Facebook. None of them seemed to notice they were taking pictures with the same kids through multiple seasons.
Omg yessss!!! I know someone who does this. I said so you go to take pictures of sick and dying children to make yourself feel better? It's beyond disgusting!!!
@@dianedavis324 The college age congregation exclusively went on missions for hungry and/or impoverished villages. The sick missions were done by the elders. They didn't bring back photos.
Bro mission trips are just bible vacations paid for by your church. Nobody goes for the mission
@@Siferatu So take the money for all those plane tickets and donate it to them instead!!! Send them a US Dr over instead not kids !!!
The FCA crowd and Campus Crusade college kids would raise money to go on mission trips to Daytona Beach and evangelize to sunbathers on the beach but really they got a free vacation. Everything was paid for from donors. It was sickening.
I learned this at 9 years old! My dad bless his heart use get big uhaul trucks everyone from our family, his work, and our Community would donate toys, food, clothes, everything you can think of everything was almost brand new. He would even wrap up the presents for the kids. Anyway he would get these big trucks drive them to Mexico and there is a orphanage that he used to donate to but one day he showed up randomly the owners didn’t know and all the stuff that my dad would donate to them they kept it all locked up in a room and wouldn’t even give it to the kids my dad was so heartbroken and he even stopped doing it because of that.
My god!
Your dad sounds like a wonderful guy.. bless his heart.
Such a kind soul
@Zani Taniri nobody cares though?
Cool story bro but it needs more dragons
When i was in secondary school, we had big projects to complete in order to graduate which could be just about anything (learning to quilt, researching a subject that's interesting to you, etc.). One girl who was notorious for being lazy in academics went on missions trip. A lot of people saw right through it immediately that she got her church to pay for her "project" while doing next to no work. She hung out with kids for about a week and acted like she lived in complete poverty. Her living quarters werent great but they we probably still better than the kids' she'd "helped". Her presentation was mainly about her personal experience rather than what she had learned about those kids and their culture. My peer feedback was negative since her presentation p, but my friend tore her to absolute shreds and I had mad respect for her for calling out that farce.
Thanks, It’s recently been a topic for a friends kid who recently graduated.
When I was in highschool we had to do social service, so my friends and I picked a foster shelter for children. And the first thing the director told us, was that they didn't need some teenagers coming to clean and play with the kids, they had staff for that. What they needed was medicine, specially pain killers for colics (menstruation related), toilet paper, period pads, canned food and clothes. So we planned to make a donation day in our school and ask teachers to give the students 2 points over 100 if they donated. Not gonna lie... we procatinated a lot and we were organizing everything last minute. But many people donated including us. A wealthy girl brought 2 trucks filled with pads, toilet paper, and clothes (many of them looked new). And when we brought everything to the director, she was super grateful. When we first met her she gave us the impression she was a stern woman, but she warmly thanked us. We actually felt guilty because we felt we could have done more if we wouldn't have procastinated. My dad explained me shortly after finishing my social service that it was actually a good choice to organize everything ourselves, because we made sure everything got to the shelter. It also hit me with the reality that these kids need compassion and love, but sometimes we are needed to help in other ways. It also gave another perspective about volunteering and stoped romantizing it.
Excellent interview. This woman is honest, passionate, blunt, well-spoken, intelligent and seems to be very self aware. Thank you for doing this series. In such a short clip she shares a lot of valuable information that most people would likely otherwise not be aware of. It’s incredibly important to research charities and where your money is going, don’t be discouraged to help provide assistance if you’re in the position to, just be informed!!
Hmm
Hopefully she won't become brainwashed by the Marxists posing as liberals in college academia like the volunteer inserting herself into a woman and her choice of gender. Goes both ways. If one cannot admonish transgenderism then no one can encourage either. If transgern
Agree
How do you suggest people do research, if charities are not being transparent with their information, what would be the things to look out for? Just asking because I like to do donations, but after seeing this. I feel very ignorant, the only way I choose where to donate is following my intuition, idk if that’s enough.
Always value your time & skills.
Thoughtful, caring and bright young woman who effectively articulates some of the issues with the business side of volunteering and covering examples of corruption. She also merits much respect for acknowledging the cultural differences that could lead to unintended harm if one disregards the local norms. I am encouraged, however, that there are many young people like her who would like to make a positive difference in the world and are looking for a way to best do that.
Just graduated from high school, the amount of rich kids in my school who did volunteering work abroad and domestically (coming from no experience or genuine wish to help) just for slapping it on their college application is insane
And then these midwits want to demonize high IQ white men that are racist and funny.
Hi Mira! I’m a senior in high school and I generally want to help others out and volunteer abroad aiding those less fortunate than me. I even had a teacher who served in the Peace Corps in Africa. Now I’m starting to get second guesses. It disgusts me how many people use their position of privilege and wealth to take advantage of these opportunities to slap on a resume rather than actually help and make a long lasting positive change.
Lol y’all are funny and y’all just notice this now. I feel like people like y’all don’t understand money? Ever heard of the mandrake mechanism? It baffles me that you think something like volunteering (that involves heavy amount of inflow of money) isn’t done for peoples vanity. Don’t you understand that you are just part of a system? If you guys wanted to help inform yourself on how inflation is a hidden form of taxation. Also Africa and those less fortunate are in those situations because of our money system. Kinda how SaintJude’s hospital spends only half the money they receive, wonder what they do with the rest? Lol it’s about money and power/control. Edify yourself/ you’re a pawn too and so am I (Dead Man)
@@NrG33BU33 ok
Is it always a bad thing?
I always wondered how a bunch of rich kids that never swung a hammer went somewhere to build a school.
🎯🎯🎯
I wanna commend her for caring so much to share this story. For doing research and sharing her findings as well. She is so well-spoken and I wish more would be done about this than just shedding a bit of light on it. I’m sure she feels very compelled to do something but feels very limited in her capacity to change things
That is so sad. If I had money, I would definately save and adopt as many kids I can from the orphanages especially if they are being abused.
Most orphanages are just a cover for trafficking and every time i think about my experience in the orphanage I was in, I just keep thinking how all of it is a sham. I like many other kids, were trafficked. It’s not just in Africa, it happens in Asia and Eastern Europe which is where I’m from. It’s really horrifying and deeply upsetting for me. Edit: I can’t believe how many rude and insensitive comments have been posted under my thread… why are you offended at my comment? I’m not looking for pity, far from it, but I would expect people to be respectful considering the fact that I was commenting something very personal about this horrible experience. Some of you are absolutely rude.
Man that makes me so sad. I’m 15 and In the future I really want to invest my money and time into orphanages. But knowing that most orgs are corrupt and/or used for child trafficking sickens me. I don’t know how I can help lots of ppl
@@ryang6419 Best way to help is with reputable charities such Ummah Welfare Trust or One Ummah. I know people who have been working with these charities for years and can only speak good of them. Mashaa'Allah.
@@TruthFoundno
@@ryang6419 lol 15. focus on school. you arent even an adult yet. the real world is gonna eat you up if you are focused on this "money" you havent even earned yet and what you are gonna do with it in the "future" you havent even seen. you think you understand this video but you dont.
@@aperturealpha6760 please enlighten me on what I don’t understand abt this video bro
My buddy was in fostering homes when he was young, so I believe the state would give the said fosters money to raise my friend. He told me horror stories of what went on, locked in closets for weeks with his sister, beaten all the time. Older foster kids would beat him also and he has the scars to prove it. I believe he has over 30 burns from them putting cigs out on him. He was young. His grams realized what was happening and raised him from 12 till adulthood but he was and is damaged. Poor guy.
Yep, the foster care system in the US is a complete joke. Heard stories similar to your friend's, and we've seen worse in the news-in particular little girl in FL about 15 years ago, one day they realized they had no idea where the girl was. Foster parents insisted a worker came and took her, but yet, nothing in the system showed that. I know a couple, took in a relatives kids about 10 years ago. Kids were never going back to parents. Wouldn't bother to adopt them, still considered foster kids. Too profitable getting the food stamps and whatever else they get.
A friend of mine told me the horrors of foster care. Being mentally, sexually abused then being discarded to another family only for more abuse to take place.
What is he doing now ?
@@CyrusDM he's married, works everyday, very punctual, dependable, and is a good member to the community.
@@bucksnortbumblefuk6872 Glad to know that , usually people who experience that have so many mental scars they cant function normally.
So pleased someone has brought this up. I worked for a 'conservation volunteering' organisation briefly. Hundreds of kids, paying thousands each, were being taken up into the cloud forest under the guise of helping scientists conserve it. In reality, they just created a whole lot of environmental damage and prevented the scientists from being able to collect much meaningful data. I was supposed to be leading these students on wildlife trapping excursions (for species ID purposes) but the equipment supplied was unfit for purpose, causing unnecessary suffering to the animals. The company was making a fortune and I could not see how any of it was going into conservation. Instead, they had built more recruiting offices to get even more paying students on even more pointless trips. I'm sure they all have a nice time, but it's ecotourism at best. Marketing it as 'making a difference' is totally disingenuous. I quit after just 4 weeks.
Her realizing that volunteer work was being taken down to be properly redone by locals is something I discovered too, but I didn’t even have to go abroad for it. My junior year of college I signed up for a school volunteer program where we spent Spring break in another state volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. We went to a very rural and poor area of a state that was a full day of driving away. My group plus another volunteer group from a different college worked on three different houses. At the end, the Habitat for Humanity leader of that area thanked us for our work and mentioned how we did better than other volunteers, stating that they always have to tear down the work done by the college groups and redo it. However, our work was done well enough to keep as is. I know he was giving up a compliment but my heart sank. A lot of my group was clearly new to using tools but adapted quickly, and I grew up with parents that built everything themselves so I already had the skills. I have never looked at volunteering the same way. After college I actually joined AmeriCorps, but spent my year and a half working about a half hour from my hometown. My position at the nonprofit was fairly knew and required a college degree. My role was very flexible and I filled in gaps for others when regular employees were too busy, as well as bringing in local businesses, artists, etc. to work with the neighboring elementary school. That work felt right, I wasn’t taking away a job from anyone because I wasn’t in a normal position. I created partnerships and left all my contacts and notes behind for other staff, so I felt that my work was sustainable and not lost just because I left. Volunteering can be a great thing if you have due diligence to research your local options. I also heard that volunteering abroad during COVID was better for communities than before, because everything had to be virtual.
why, what would the incentive be? That must be that particular worksite and incompetence, because I can't imagine why Habitat for Humanity would want to do that. Unless it drives donations or something.
I went on the exact same trip that you are describing. Last spring break, I went on a volunteer trip for Habitat from college to another state. I, however, had an amazing experience. If they have to undo work being done, the build leaders are not doing their job. There are supposed to be regular volunteers (that's right, many leaders at Habitat are volunteers themselves) as well as people who are paid by Habitat to be at sites. Other than completing the work alongside volunteers, these people need to teach and guide others in order to get the most work done, and that is what they usually do. If they are having to redo it, something is wrong with how they are running things. Habitat also usually pays professionals to do jobs they know volunteers cannot do. I'm not saying your experience is false, but I don't think its the norm for Habitat. Although they get money from volunteers, they have no incentive not to take advantage of their presence.
that actually doesn't surprise me. I've also volunteered for habitat for humanity, and the amount of direction we got was very minimal, though I've always been pretty experience with power tools, so maybe that came off? I wouldn't be surprised if there were parts that needed to be redone, though I'm sure overall that we certainly did more help than we did harm. You only have to re-do what didn't turn out well, which wasn't everything.
how much better could it be if this money was spent to hire the qualified local workers to do the job from the scratch, instead of wasting it on this voluntourist sham, after which the workers must redo the job anyways…
@@mulethedonkey2579 you already answered the question: it indeed drives donations, which at the end are part of the global Charity Industrial Complex, if I’m allowed to call it this way… which, by large, is nothing but a huge money laundering/tax evading mechanism for the rich and powerful.
I'm impressed with her honesty. The way she admits she signed up because it would look good on her CV/resume when she applied for professional jobs, is an honest thing to own up to. Most people will never admit that their actions are self-motivated. It takes an enlightened person to swallow their pride and say this. I was thinking of signing up to one of these "build schools/orphanages" programmes about 8 years ago, but after reading up on it, it didn't seem right that inexperienced young people were building huts for schools. What if it fell down and injured a child? It just seemed too dangerous and alarm bells rang.
It’s the bare minimum however. It shouldn’t excuse her for her actions just because she was honest especially after constantly benefiting and receiving from it until she couldn’t anymore. That’s like a predator going up to a police station and confessing what he did before an investigation was filed against them and expecting forgiveness. He would instantly be put behind bars.
It's easy to be honest when you get to wear a big baby mask and retain some anonymity. I doubt she'd be so open if everyone could see her face
Every action is self-motivated even if you're helping someone else.
That’s the whole point … for her to be honest .
@@foreverdm7000exactly
So true about what she said. During the early phase of Ukraine war, the most popular voluntourism destination was Poland. It was flooded by hedge fund managers’ kids who were looking for this once in a life time opportunity to put that war volunteering experience on their college application.
que pena, siento que de verdad esa gente debe pagar por todo lo que hace. Fue valiente la chica por contarnos su experiencia. Gracias
Harming vulnerable children is on another level of evilness, it's so despicable 🤮
Oh my gosh, the thing she said about the volunteer giving a young girl advice that would kill her.. reflects so much on woke culture.. how the privileged offer advice for their own moral satisfaction while not seeing reality in a grand scale even if advised by professionals. Wow.
I agree, it's truly afwul and sad... Though I think it should be said as "woke culture" because this isn't being conscious, it's being very, very shortsighted. It's time for people to truly expand their minds, there's so much information out there. I'm so grateful for platforms like these.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions as they say. There is also huge amounts of charity that are not only stolen/wasted but that actually have an adverse effect on the economies of these poor nations and end up keeping them dependent on the donations rather than giving them the tools to build an economy themselves.
That person clearly wasn't LGBT either, because no queer person would ever give such innapropriate advice to a _child_ in a country that is hostile to people with different sexual orientations. Urgh! **facepalm**
@@vice.nor.virtue It happens all the time.
@@vice.nor.virtue that was my thought as well. I'm not LGBT, but it's just tone deaf as HELL to give a kid in that situation this "🤗 be yourself!" advice. But everything I've ever heard from LGBT friends and family is that coming out is not something you can rush even in good circumstances, and that the number one no-no is making that decision on someone else's behalf. The audacity of giving that advice.... God.
I attended one of the most expensive high schools in my country. Volunteering is a requirement for that specific high school diploma AND it looks good on the United States college applications. Every time we volunteered to help people living on the rural area, I noticed the irony of teenagers, teenagers who don't know anything about construction and have NO idea of what it's like to work for anything, help build/fix houses for people in need. Boys worked with construction materials and girls sealed the walls with RECYCLED cardboard to "waterproof" the house exterior since the area is known for its intense rainstorms. Of course that wouldn't really work, everyone knew this was a waste of time for them and for us. We were privileged teenagers hoping to study abroad, and that was the only reason we were there. I was one of the few people who continued volunteering past the applications but I switched to help stray cats and dogs. Also, I was on a scholarship, I couldn't afford full tuition on that high school. Rich people know they are useless when volunteering and they don't care as long as it benefits them.
"Rich people know they are useless when volunteering and they don't care as long as it benefits them" What I find annoying is that also no one is giving such teenagers ways to genuinely help people. Organise some community work: clean the streets, feed homeless people, paint benches in your local park, spend a day with a lonely elder, teach children mathematics etc. It seems whoever is responsible for such "forced" volunteers is afraid they will abuse this opportunity and do more harm than good, so they just give them some pretend work. Both sides are happy - those who help and the needy aren't burdened by bad volunteers and volunteers have the credentials they need.
@@webiorg6147 Wholeheartedly agree! The blame is not only on the teenagers or on rich people, it’s also on the academic system, the parents, and the volunteering system. The organisations don’t care to actually prepare the volunteers or don’t have the resources to find volunteers who are qualified.
@@webiorg6147 they're just padding the resume to get into college sadly
@@MountainMoses33 I don't even understand why universities require that. I know it's meant to filter people out, but it's not something unique, difficult to achieve, something that makes a person stand out. And if foreign help in impoverished areas is something attractive to recruiters, then…that's extremely classist, since poor/middle class teens will most likely not be able to fly to Asia to "build a well".
@@webiorg6147 I suppose "helping" out in a foreign country, is seen as "changing the world" and thinking bigger than yourself & having a global impact, good qualities in a future leader. Helping your local community , grandma/grandpa, cleaning your local park, is small potatoes , to a big institution . It's all about optics and what looks impressive on paper.
This needs a documentary, needs more awareness
I know of an orphanage that has been accepting donations from the US and the west, and the orphanages directors and workers just took it to their own families etc. it’s the reality of many - glad someone could share this with backed facts. Kudos
The contradictions of capitalism are growing.
I know of an orphanage in Eastern Europe who deny adoptions because of the lucrative rubles that can be made off of slaving them out to be brutally raped, tortured and killed by incompetent but rich oligarchs. Hmmm, ironic I guess.
@@zyuqx capitalism is not the problem. It's the people working at the orphanage. Even if you remove capitalism, those people will still exist and continue to exploit.
@@zyuqx what are you blabbering about?
This
Glad you guys interview for this topic. Not all organizations are bad and a scammer, but majority. That's including all those big name whenever come to any dissasters. Dont think your donations will actually reach the victims. It is up to them to choose how much to donate to the victim and what to use it for. Of course, not all of us have the time or the money to actual visit and provide help directly that is why we donate online but if you do that is the only way to help. You know the money will go directly to the people with no one intercept in between. Sometime the local gov also wants a cut in that money, too. For the volunteers abroad, it is like another way to use the pain and suffering of the child and the community to seek for your sympathy. Same as those child sponsor monthly that you see on the add and TV ads. It is sad bec the end of the day rarely those children wont get the direct help that you send them and will continue to be use by these organizations.
And now I see why they say we can not trust them
I recall quite vividly, to this very day, how I got this CV from a neighbor of mine, whose friend’s daughter was my age, or probably 2-3 years younger. A 90s child that is. I didn’t promise her anything. But I did take the liberty of going through the girl’s cv. It had this weird segment where she speaks about how her trip to Nepal changed her life, and she literally pasted 3 pictures of her with smiling kids under the segment of “Humanitarian Work”. I lookup the organization, they charge 3200 bucks per person, for a two-week experience, in a country where the GDP per Capita is around 900 dollars. This was in 2015. It was the most disturbing CV I’ve ever had the misfortune of gazing upon, and that neighbor of mine, would often speak about how much of a saint that girl is. I did give her a call after all, and she was everything my gut told me she would be. She spent 2 weeks in Nepal, and yet, she thought they were Muslims, and that Hindi is their native language. Oh, and how she encouraged the little kids, all orphans I might add, to simply have faith (She’s an Evangelical Christian), and that God will deliver them everything. I still recall me hanging up on her too. I literally felt, I was talking to someone, living in an actual bubble, one that was actually tangible, and my God, don’t get me started on the virtue-signaling.
I often call certain types of voluntourism poverty porn. Because I could see rich people only came to these communities to gawk and gain new experiences and grow as a person. It's like dark tourism where rich foreigners have a respected community leader take them to very dangerous places where the community leader acts as a tour guide. This is poverty porn, those people are their to gawk, not caring that many people have no other option than to live in those terrible circumstances and they see this as a cool experience.
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It’s really awful, my mom has suggested to me that I should do some volunteering because it would “look good on a resume and scholarships”, ignoring the fact that it shouldn’t really have anything to do with employment, that is an awful reason to volunteer for something
@@evilemuempire9550 same
In high school I was in a competition for a full-ride scholarship. The scholarship had different categories, and I was pretty well qualified in mine. Eventually, the award came to being decided between me and another girl -- and this girl had had the opportunity to go on one of these trips. This proved to be the deciding factor, as I lost and she won.... though my family could never have dreamed of affording a trip like that for me. It definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth.
At that point they could literally pay the tuition. This system favors those in the upper class, it’s appalling.
Interesting
Yeah that didn't hapoen
This did happen. But even if it hadn't, the point would still be true that these trips are nothing more than a massive benefit to the already-privileged.
I am so sorry to hear that this happened this way. Unfortunately, even scholarships aren’t such a fair ground still.
I had been wondering if church mission trips over seas have similar results. I was always confused why we would spend thousands on flights for kids to do work for one building when one of those flights would pay for all the labor for several buildings.
I have to say that I always felt the same. 10-15 years ago , 2-3k for the trip + 1.5k flight. I was like - that money x 30volunteers could build whatever in Eastern Europe but of course I wouldn’t give that 4.5k up…. I needed to pad my application for medical school. Plus if you pay for something ( as opposed to donate) , you want something in return - at very least to experience other cultures. That being said, I didn’t do the trip instead visited my home country/family and volunteered there for free.
I’ve met 2 volunteers and essentially said the same thing. Incredibly heartbreaking
I did a voluntourism trip after a LOT of research in a small village in Costa Rica. We were doing sea turtle conservation where our job was just to patrol the beach at night so poachers would stay away. I asked one of the guys running the program about these issues because I was curious... He told me that they were grateful for volunteers because then the people in the village could preserve the wildlife without needing to stay up all night. I also asked my "host parent" and she said in their rural area, the income from housing and feeding the volunteers was good for their village. I'm not saying it was perfect, but I am glad I did it in the way I did when I wanted to go somewhere but without just staying in a hostel and partying. I highly recommend doing what you can to set up your own opportunities to go to places to travel and work if it's important to you. Put the work in, don't be lazy. Also... I would NEVER recommend working with children or any vulnerable population for the very reasons spoken about here. Any 'volunteer work' that takes away from the ability for a local person to get a job (like construction, medical, etc opportunities) are also problematic because they'll use volunteers and then they won't have to pay people who need to make their bills. You're robbing local people of the chance to make a living because you have the privilege to do it for free while you Eat Pray Love for yourself. Lastly: try volunteering locally. You'll still be able to experience the important value of giving to someone else without the problematic industry that's been created so you can get that perfect profile picture you always wanted.
Yes yes yes to volunteer locally. Animal shelters are so desperate for help and it’s something that you can directly see an impact towards. If someone is absolutely set on working with kids, consider becoming a big brother or big sister at at the boys n girls club in your area. Something I’ve done in the past is volunteering at equine centers that work with those that are differently abled to use horses for rehabilitation. There’s so many options in local communities.
well, you come to Costa Rica to help turtles, not to Kenia to attend to sick kids. I totally recommend your experience. Costa Rica is awesome.
which organization did you volunteer with? second this
This is why I decided not to join the Peace Corps: a lot of people volunteer to teach in Africa. But a good question to ask, is "why can't African citizens be the teachers? Wouldn't that fill the need for teachers *and* give people jobs?" I read that some years ago in exchange for foreign aid from the US, some African countries were required to make cuts and lay off a scary percentage of teachers. So then we're going there to "help" them by volunteering? *Btw this is what I read some years ago; if any African citizen knows something to the contrary or knows more about it, by all means I welcome more info on the subject.
Tbh 70% of travel is like this- going through big companies you either get ripped off or there is a smallprint that ruins everything. Best to organise yourself.
You can tell she truly wanted to help. Good for her doing this.
Thank you, white savior for doing the bare minimum 😊
Maybe this was her plan all along -- pay for the voluntourism trip, then make this video, profit etc.
@@destructionman1 Most likely, yes.
i doubt she paid to do this for ten years so she could be paid for one video... @@destructionman1
@@destructionman1critical thinking is not being critical but having empathy and considering many factors! if they volunteered to make a video and profit, why would they do an anonymous video for a channel that isn't theirs. what you infer about strangers online shows your bias. not them imo this video shows open eyes and research to contextualize what they witnessed and experienced. maybe even access to privy information because of being an attractive white woman who asked
I had a old friend that used to go help out foreigners, and she’d always talk about how much she’s helping the community and doing a good part in her life, but I always knew it was just going to the government and not the locals
I worked for one of these organisations on their marketing team, and all the money coming in, instead of being used to pay tour guides, or travel fees, or even as donations to the NGO's we worked closely with, it was being funneled into a bitcoin account... It has since gone bankrupt. Obviously.
Please make this shows often, I like to watch them tell the dark side stories that we’ve been unknown
They should make the dark side of Autism then. Because Democrats see it as not a problem to talk about
People within the industry have to come out and do it. Vice can't just make the video like your hit tv show.
Unknown? Unless someone resides beneath a rock, this is pretty much well known...
Yes!! Expose evil!
I had the exact same experience of going to orphanages in India. I was telling this again and again but none seem to notice anything disturbing of this “trend”. It’s sick to realise what we donate never goes for the kids welfare instead they are forced to sing and dance in return to the donations. Glad this has been brought to light to millions by this video. I appreciate this.
The most famous of which was Mother Theresa who made a mint out of orphanages where the people inside were allowed to die rather than heal them.
@@Dare2Doubt I recently heard about that, and the stories about her and her "charity work" are horrifying. She had the funds to take care of so many people with curable conditions (e.g. tuberculosis), and they just needed some more hospital equipment to survive, but she would deny them that by saying, "blessed are the poor" (quoting a Bible verse completely out of context).
I volunteer locally a moderate amount and it disgusts me how many or even most of the other volunteers are only helping to get an ego boost. And then me and the couple others that actually care have to clean or fix what they did. It pisses me off.
I did volunteering abroad when I was younger (not to join college or boost my cv because volunteer means jack in my country) but it didn't cost me thousands of dollars, either I paid a very small fee that covered the food or nothing. I have to pay my flight, which in most cases was the only real expenses, but if I saved for a year and bought in advance, a ~700 USD flight was affordable. In one case, working for UNESCO, I was even brought out to dinner in Seoul as "compensation". I didn't do anything too fancy, mostly working with local farmers picking up veggies, building and painting walls, cleaning beaches etc. I'd call it dirty work. All of them were incredible life experience that allowed me to see the world in exchange to some physical work. I was also in groups of 6-20 people where rarely there were more than 2 people from the same country. In one occasion it was me and another European guy with 18 asian people, which was very interesting from a cultural perspective. Was a very productive experience to learn about other cultures, even about places that I never visited, like Oman. We also take turns in cooking, so it was international food night every night (and of course everyone loved me in that context because I'm Italian). I don't think I exploited people I worked for in any way, nor I have fantasies about the fact that my effort changed the world. But I know for a fact that we make summer easier for those farmers (many were elderly people). Also I couldn't really speak any good English and this somehow improved. In conclusion: forget about photo ops, do something small but with a real impact even for a single individual, see the world and meet new cultures, you're gonna do some good to yourself and others.
A really good book is toxic charity by Robert Lupton - shows the damage thats really done and the best ways we can ACTUALLY help (raising money and giving it to local craftsmen to use their pre existing skills etc)
Warren Buffett stopped giving money to local charity organization after he noticed no change in situation. He want to see the result.
Looking up. Thanks
YES, FROM THE GROUND UP! Grassroots :3
These days, if you wanna help someone, you better take your goods/donations DIRECTLY into the hands of the final guy/girl in need.PERIOD.
Thankyou! Im gonna check it out and try and read it soon
Recently a girl was promoting this kind of thing to me I said no because I had a gut feeling and this confirms it. I was like “they ask me for money, not qualifications, that doesn’t sound right at all” and in fact. It’s clearly just economic motivation. I want to help for real, not pay people to tell me and other lies and not even help the people in hardships.
Little Rich rats that thinks I can go to Africa and dig wells because the people they’re too thick to dig them themselves
I always say the plane fare to take the group there alone, if donated to the right hands, would be a thousand times more valuable than a bunch of kids gawking at the locals and making messes.
Thinking outside the box is crucial!
Even if someone isn’t a good enough person to care about people suffering, I don’t know how all these people are okay with being straight up scammed. I guess maybe they just turn a blind eye for their resume idk.
Look into a career in Monitoring and Evaluation. It entirely specializes in investigating and resolving these type of issues
I already knew this . The best way to help is give directly to those in need
This was an excruciatingly painful 7 minutes. I can't fathom what it was like to live through it. How many voices haven't been heard?