“We’re Not Stupid, We’re Just Poor”

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | March 16th, 2007 | Trackback

The title of this post is the title of a chapter in Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, which is an excellent, if involved, read. Without going into detail about the story, I recall this sentence – and put it into somewhat of a new context - because I think it illustrates an important point related to volunteering.

From the perspective not of the volunteer, but of the local resident or “recipient” of the volunteer work, there are times that the assistance can send a bit of a negative message.

Often it’s not that local people don’t know “how to help themselves”; there is some very real roadblock that prevents the problem from being solved. People may feel that they don’t need foreigners – who very honestly do sometimes come with the idea that “we know better” – to “show ” them what to do or to do it for them. Some barrier needs to be removed so they can do it themselves. Or they may agree that there is a problem, but disagree about what the solution involves. They may feel that the society from which the volunteers come has its own problems; and yet here the volunteer team is presenting a solution for their issue.

What can you do?

Be aware of this and treat people with respect. They might be in a position where they cannot do things differently, or they may just have different beliefs about things – what’s important or acceptable and what’s not.

Keep this in mind when you are choosing a volunteer project; I would be wary of an organization that presents the volunteers as coming to “teach the natives who know no better.” It’s unlikely it will be said in so many words, but if this idea seems to be underlying…it would concern me.

Certainly there are issues that can be resolved with money or man-power (person-power?) or simply increased attention focused on them; I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But in these cases it makes sense to be straightforward about what is being provided: a nineteen-year-old college sophomore may be partly financing a local initiative with his/her participation fees, or making photocopies or assisting in the writing of a letter in English, but s/he can probably not personally provide an innovative solution to poverty any more than a similarly qualified local can.

Once again, the guide to Ethical Volunteering is a good resource on this topic.

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