We’ve all scrolled through our Instagram feed late at night, seeing photos of people you talked maybe twice to in high school and your ex posting about his new girlfriend which you definitely don’t take personally, when suddenly you stumble onto something new.
Someone from your high school has posted about their weeklong mission trip to Africa. The caption is a paragraph about how their life has been changed forever and how they “have made a difference” in the world. The comment section is plagued with responses such as “what an amazing experience” or “thank you for enriching these kids’ lives.”
This is a newfound issue happening across social media and quickly being addressed with criticism on Twitter. The phenomenon, that is spreading across upper middle class religious teenagers in America, is what Twitter refers to as “voluntourism” or the “white savior complex.”
Typically, religious teenagers or young adults have been going to third-world countries under the guise of a “mission trip.” They spend no more than a few weeks there, helping with their youth group before heading home.
That is of course not without taking multiple photos and posting about their trip describing how enlightened they feel.
Overall, despite their good intentions, the trip is little more than a morale booster. It’s benign reassurance they are, in fact, doing something good for the world. These mission trips are thin-veiled attempts at instant gratification.
While there, students convince themselves they are doing a great deed. They’re extremely undertrained and unaware of their own work. In fact, the townspeople often have to train the newcomers.
The amount of money it takes to fly a bunch of people out, transport them, feed them and give them shelter for a few weeks is an extremely large sum. That money should go towards the same people they claim they are “saving.” Giving that money to a non-profit organization would make a greater difference than acting like you’re helping.
Unfortunately, people don’t like to spend money on things that don’t benefit them.
The same people who would gladly drop $3,000 on a trip to Africa to help build homes, would turn up their nose if asked to donate $200 to that same organization. People shouldn’t kid themselves when they go on their weeklong “mission trips.” They want the experience, not to make a change.
But then again, the ever-asking question is asked, “How could these teenagers learn what it is like to live in poverty?”
Go to Portland, or really any city. Do a food kitchen, help communicate with the homeless there or try to help build homeless shelters for them. But they won’t. Why? Because there’s a certain stigma to the homeless, no gratification to be found by helping them from your peers. You can’t post that on Instagram expecting the same comments.
It’s a pity that a formerly good idea was turned into an experience-crave for so many. Most who go want to make a difference but aren’t doing it the right way.
If you want to make a difference, start by researching nonprofits and donating or helping those in need in your own cities, instead of traveling across the world to find others.
There is no shame in going to help these countries if you are qualified in doing so and plan to stay for more than a few weeks. Two weeks is not enough to “change” the lives of anyone there. By all means help, but make sure it is out of selflessness and not for future Instagram updates.
Dani Moore can be reached at [email protected]