One of the central topics we have been discussing in class lately is the criticisms that come with volunteerism. It is a complicated subject to discuss because there is no direct answer to the question of whether volunteering is ultimately positive or negative. In this post, I will try my best to explain my personal take on the convoluted criticisms of volunteerism as clearly as possible.
Volunteerism is most commonly criticized through the use of four arguments; the corruption of volunteer/service organizations or the ones being served, the central focus on money, the likely potential of insulting the community being served, and that people volunteer for selfish not selfless reasons. The most common application of these arguments is when discussing the negatives of a growing industry known as “Voluntourism”. Journalist Natalie Jesionka describes voluntourism as, “the notion of inexperienced volunteers who use their privilege to go abroad for their own egos, and who are doing more harm than good on the ground”. Many use volunteer opportunities as a means for getting to travel and see the world while also “changing” it. This can lead to a handful of problems which are used to facilitate the argument against the good of volunteering. Organizations which provide service opportunities may seem like they are focused on bettering the world when their primary focus is on the profits being brought in. Blinded by money, it is easy to lose sight of the true purpose to serve others and end up going about it in a negative way which leads to negative outcomes. There is also the possibility of corruption on the opposite side, within the group being served. The increasing number of travelers who are partaking in short service experiences has fed the growth of places like orphanages who put on a front to draw in volunteers willing to donate money. In many cases, the orphans have families and are just there for the day to interact with the visitors. If this isn’t the case though, it can still be detrimental to the child’s psychological health to constantly have people showing them affection for short periods of time and then leaving and never coming back. Forms of unwanted service in lower income communities can be demeaning and insulting. Essentially volunteers are encroaching on someone’s space and telling them that the way they are living is wrong and needs to be fixed. What if those people were already content with their way of life? What if they had never viewed themselves as poor, underclass, of impoverished? If they hadn’t thought this way before the volunteers came, they most certainly do once the volunteers leave. The damages can be great and throw off the entire way of life for a specific group of people. In his speech titled “To Hell with Good Intentions”, Ivan Illich uses colorful language to describe a potential outcome of volunteerism. He says, “At worst, in your "community development" spirit you might create just enough problems to get someone shot after your vacation ends and you rush back to your middle-class neighborhoods where your friends make jokes about "spits" and "wetbacks."”Although the volunteers will not be there to see the impact they have made, it still exists. The indicators that a certain community service project will only lead to negative outcomes may be there warning a group of volunteers, but they can choose to ignore them. Focusing on how they will be doing something good and self fulfilling leads them into a community to “help”. Participating in any sort of service project for selfish reasons rather than selfless reasons, will lead to a lower positive impact on the community. In order to feel accomplished, volunteers may completely ignore requests or suggestions from the members of the community and do work that they personally think will benefit the people in a greater way. I both agree and disagree with the criticisms of volunteerism discussed above. If the service is done improperly and for improper reasons then I agree with the criticisms. However, service and volunteerism can be done correctly with the correct outlook and proper form of serving a community. In order to do this, volunteers and organizations must be cognizant of the potential pitfalls from which the criticism stems, and they must be ready and willing to work around such potential. Strategies to avoid such outcomes are focusing on asset-based community development, engaging in an open dialogue with the community being served, and providing solutions that are not just quick fixes. In their discussion of asset-based community development, Kretzmann and McKnight state that, “Historic evidence indicates that significant community development takes place only when local community people are committed to investing themselves and their resources in the effort”. The impact of asset-based services is that the community being served supports one another and comes together to make a difference in the future and not just for the now. They focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses and form greater bonds among one another in order to make a lasting change and a greater impact. Volunteers play the role of utilizing their individual strengths and assets in order to better assist the community. They also focus on the positive attributes that are already at play among a community and build upon those in order to bring people together to make a greater positive impact. In order to work together, volunteers and those who they are serving need to have an open dialogue to discuss the wants of the community. Service done without the input of those who it is being done for is somewhat worthless. You can’t give a community something they don’t want and expect them to use it and for it to be the answer to all of their problems. Projects done without consultation often end up being temporary solutions for larger problems. Although there may be some occasions where quick fixes are necessary until the true solution comes, it is important to keep in mind that you can’t continue to pile temporary solution on temporary solution on temporary solution so many times until it begins to seem as if the temporary solution is actually the true solution. Volunteerism is and will continue to be a controversial topic, especially as the voluntourism industry begins to grow. However, just because there are criticisms attached to service, it does not mean that service and volunteering is bad and that no one should do it. It is written in the Bible that, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). As humans we are called to serve and love one another. We should not let criticisms stand in our way, but we should overcome them by keeping them in mind and striving to avoid the pitfalls. Works Referenced: TheRealityofVoluntourismandtheConversationsWe're Not Having https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-reality-of-voluntourism-and-the-conversations-were-not-having Illich, I. To Hell With Good Intentions. 1968. McKnight, J. and Kretzmann, J. Assets-Based Community Development. 1996.
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