Voluntourism is the holy grail of all vacationing experiences. It is a multi-billion industry that gives socially conscious holidaymakers the opportunity of combining the perks of tourism and volunteering. Masquerading itself as study abroad programs, foreign aid, medical brigades, and eradication of poverty programs, it offers a medium for travelers, usually from rich western countries, to “make a difference,” “change the world” and get the perfect Facebook profile picture, while leaving their voluntourists destinations, usually poor countries in South Asia, Africa or Latin America, in worse-off conditions.

In 2012, Teju Cole, a Nigerian-American bestselling author, made the following statements on Twitter: “The fastest growth industry in the US is the White Saviour Industrial Complex… The white saviour supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening… The White Saviour Industrial Complex is not about justice. It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.” He was vilified and adulated for his comments. But research shows that Teju Cole wasn’t far from the truth.

Nancy Gard McGehee, an expert on sustainable tourism, according to Reuters, estimated over 10 million spend $2 billion every year on cause related trips. It is this billion dollar behemoth that Cole refers to, in part, as the White Savior Industrial Complex. This industry preys on the gullibility of young people, usually white Westerners from rich countries, presenting an opportunity for them to “make things better” in poorer parts of the world. The intention looks noble on paper, but like anything else, when a financial incentive is introduced, abuse is almost inevitable.

For example, Siem Reap in Cambodia has become a popular destination for voluntourist who want to volunteer at orphanages, by interacting with orphans. Multiple studies and reports by Vice News, Cambodia Children’s Trust, and many more have shown that this has given rise to an organized criminal network in this part of the world. “Orphanage-pimps,” as they have been called, pay the families of many of these “orphans” to put their children in fake orphanages attracting voluntourists who pay thousands of dollars to these fraudsters, just to hug the children, take pictures and go home. In fact, a 2011 report by UNICEF claimed that at least three out of four children in Cambodian orphanages still have one living parent. This has created a criminal culture where these orphanage-pimps purchase these kids from their parents, sometimes using force or kidnap and intentionally keep them in dehumanizing conditions, in order to market their “orphanages” as voluntourist destinations.

In 2013, CNN reported that “A leading ethical travel company has removed all volunteering trips to orphanages from its site, citing concerns that ‘volunteers are fuelling the demand for orphans.’”

It is important to understand that volunteering to distribute medical supplies for 10 days in a poor African, Latin American or South-Asian country would not solve their health care issues. Instead, it creates a culture of dependence that prevents the development of health care in those countries.

Ex-voluntourist Lauren Kascak, who is now a medical education scholar at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, observed that people in rural Ghana where she had visited as part of one of these brigades do not buy health insurance, but instead wait, sometimes for as long as 4 months, for the next 10-day medical brigade to arrive with supplies, leaving them unprotected for those long periods of time.

The most ridiculous yet is the “helping to build houses” in Haiti by people from the West, mostly high school and college students on summer break, whom most likely have never seen a shovel in their entire lives. Jacob Kushner who had worked in Haiti as reporter said “… I came upon a group of older Christian missionaries in the mountains above Port-au-Prince, struggling with heavy shovels to stir a pile of cement and sand. They were there to build a school alongside a Methodist church. Muscular Haitian masons stood by watching, perplexed and a bit amused at the sight of men and women who had come all the way from the United States to do a mundane construction job.” Those Haitian masons should have been the ones working on the construction site as they could benefit from the economics that endeavour would provide.

It doesn’t seem like the industry is slowing down. In fact, it has become so fiercely competitive that more “non-profits” are getting creative with their ad-campaigns. The latest being a one to four-month semester study abroad course marketed to college campuses across the wealthy western hemisphere.

One, especially through study abroad programs, cannot deny that these experiences in some way increases and informs one’s cultural awareness and perspectives about the world. Hence, due diligence is required by anyone who wants to be a voluntourist.

First, remember the “do no harm” rule. If you can’t leave something better, leave it the way you met it.

Second, if you have no specific skill that is not readily available in your proposed voluntourist destination, don’t go. The last thing people in the poorer parts of the world need are foreigners from richer parts of the world coming in to do manual labour for them all in the name of volunteering.

Third, instead of spending thousands of dollars to go to a place where you would be of no help or add no value, you could donate that money to a reputable institution like Doctors Without Borders. At least you can have a good level of assurance that your money would be used for something good.

Fourth, do not take pictures with half naked black and brown kids to post on your Instagram or Facebook page. This is not only demeaning, but as research shows, presents a perception that black and brown people around the world need a savior, especially a white one, and you
have come to the rescue, further feeding the White Savior complex.

Finally, why don’t you stick to tourism? No one would have a problem with you having a good time at an all-inclusive resort in a poor country. At least that way you are contributing to its GDP by buying its tourism services.

Tam Kemabonta can be reached kema4033@stthomas.edu.