Because I remember people fawning over white celebrities. Remember, it's always about you.

[la_vie_noire]

Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do
Ian Birrell
The Observer, Sunday 14 November 2010By 10pm, the aptly named Bar Street is pulsating with tourists drawn to Siem Reap by the famous Cambodian ruins of Angkor Wat. As hip-hop blares from clubs, children playing traditional instruments are led along by men with placards

Comments

[azetburcaptain]

Thank you. This is a very well written article.

[lotus82]

Helen Fielding [the author of Bridget Jones] has written a wonderful satirical novel about exactly this. It's titled "Cause: Celeb".

[acidosaur]

excellent article. thanks for sharing.

[militsa]

This is a really thought-provoking article. I used to work in the international aid field and came across a bit of this type of tourism--that was a while ago and from what I've heard it has only increased.

[mybluesunset]

there is an attitude prevalent in certain circles that giving money is less noble than doing hands-on, physical, on-location work, and that the latter implies more compassion & all that good stuff. The thing is, unless you have certain valuable skills, most of the time, donating money to reputable orgs is more helpful than being there.

So true.

[jiaren_shadow]

I knew a lot of kids in my hometown who went to Malawi and the like, and sure, they were doing great stuff like helping build a school, but whenever they did presentations about it, it was never really about the kids they'd helped, but about how ~fulfilling~ and ~eye-opening~ it was for them. You never learned the names of the kids they were helping, or whether or not the beautiful school would have adequate, well-paid staff, but you certainly learned about how ~hard~ it was to work in the sun all day and how cute African children were and how this helped them gain so much ~perspective~ about their own lives. There were kids who did a lot of meaningful, sincere volunteer work at home and abroad, but there were all too many kids who seemed to be doing it for their college applications.