TMGT 2060 - Voluntourism Reading Response Reflection

This reflection paper analyzes the complexities of voluntourism based on Daniela Papi's TED Talk and a panel discussion titled "Voluntourism: Helping or Hurting?". The student initially believed in the benefits of volunteer travel but shifted perspectives after watching Papi's video, which highlighted issues such as the unintended negative impacts on local communities and the promotion of "sympathy tourism." The student agrees with Papi's call for development education and a more empathetic approach. The paper also discusses the panel discussion, contrasting viewpoints on the approach to voluntourism, and concluding that a structured education is crucial. The student disagrees with the idea of connecting with a few locals but emphasizes the importance of direct engagement with the culture for a better understanding of the community's needs and development.

Running head: REFLECTION ON VOLUNTEER TRAVEL
REFLECTION ON VOLUNTEER TRAVEL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTION ON VOLUNTEER TRAVEL
Volunteering or volunteer tourism is said to be when volunteers spend and contribute all their
time to work for companies or organisation and sometimes to work in different foreign countries. I
believed that volunteer travel was beneficial as it would help the local communities who needed help
and were in despair and also would help me have a learning experience in social work, development
of communities and also network with local communities until I came across the Ted Talk video by
Daniela Papi.
In the video, “What’s wrong with volunteer travel?”, Daniela Papi had shared her experience
in Cambodia and reflected on the issues with volunteer travel which contradicts the main purpose of
social work which is help in uplifting the local communities of developing countries who are deprived
of quality of life (YouTube.com., 2012). She stated that we have been causing harm than good giving
an example of how when she bought things from children on the streets kept them on the streets and
how providing amenities like shoes affected local markets. In her 6 years in Cambodia, Papi saw that
orphanage tourism was at a rise where tourists would come to orphanages and see children perform or
they often helped the orphanage however, according to UNICEF most of the children present in these
orphanages had both parents or one parent which showed how things that people are doing are
causing greater harm. She saw that these were contributing to people promoting sympathy tourism
which in her eyes were wrong.
I believe that the thing she says in the video is absolutely true which opens my eyes as I have
not been aware of these underlying issues which are not visible to the people viewing it from outside.
Papi in the video further mentioned that the approach we have been taking is wrong and it is
important for volunteers learn how to serve the people. People these days are promoting sympathy
tourism and view the locals in a sympathetic way which is one of the main issues. The other issue is
that young children are being sent to provide help to the local communities who need help who not
only have proper experience in the field but also do not engage with the local person which misses out
the entire purpose.
I agree with the issue raised by Papi in the video where she states how people feel sympathy
towards the people who are living in poverty and not empathetic towards them which is what they
really need. Inexperienced young people are travelling abroad to serve the people where they
themselves do not understand the complexities of development and have been coming up with short-
term solutions for long term issues.
Papi in the video stated that the first step to mitigate these issues is to provide students with
development education and also encourage education travel which will help them gain knowledge
about variety of aspects and fundamentals of development. This recommendation by Papi has
resemblance to some of the approaches discussed in a panel discussion video, “Voluntourism:
Helping or Hurting?” . Barbara Heron, an associate professor in Social Work in the prestigious York

2REFLECTION ON VOLUNTEER TRAVEL
University stated that voluntourism these days are seen to have a consumerist approach and state that
volunteers who go abroad do not acquire any such experience which helps them in learning the work
properly thus a systematic and a structures approach must be taken to educate the young people first
before sending them abroad to volunteer (YouTube.com., 2011).
One of the other panelists, Ben Peterson who cofounded the organisation, Journalists for
Human Rights stated that their approach is different and it is important for other organisations to learn
about a community before serving them like they do and thus needs to have some connectivity with
few local people who help in showing the real needs of the community and working towards it.
The perspective about voluntourism has changed after watching the two videos. The panel
discussion gave me a different perspective with the arguments presented however the video by
Daniela Papi shed a light on the harsh reality of volunteer travel. I believe that there is a change
needed in this sector and first proper systematic and structured education should be provided to
everyone to know the in and out about development which is a highly complex subject. However, I do
not agree with what Ben Peterson has stated which is to connect with few of the local people as it will
not help in the growth of the volunteer which will give volunteering a consumerist approach as argued
by Heron, I believe that one should stay in those places, communicate and establish a connectivity
directly to get an insight about the culture, have a good experience, learn and grow and then help in
developing the communities for their benefits which will help them in gaining positive experience
along with the proper growth and development of the community.

3REFLECTION ON VOLUNTEER TRAVEL
Reference
YouTube.com. (2011). Voluntourism: Helping or Hurting?. Retrieved 23 March 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzeM3DqEzXw&feature=youtu.be
YouTube.com. (2012). What's wrong with volunteer travel?: Daniela Papi at TEDxOxbridge.
Retrieved 23 March 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=oYWl6Wz2NB8&feature=youtu.be