Kidnapped Kids & Fake Sanctuaries - The Problems With Voluntourism - by Tracy.3 - Jul, 2023 - Medium

9/8/23, 11:25 AM Kidnapped Kids & Fake Sanctuaries: The Problems with Voluntourism | by Tracy.
3 | Jul, 2023 | Medium
Kidnapped Kids & Fake

Sanctuaries: The Problems with
Voluntourism
Tracy.3 · Follow
8 min read · Jul 18
Unmasking the Impact of a Billion-Dollar Industry on Impoverished

Communities and Wildlife
https://tracydot3.medium.com/kidnapped-kids-fake-sanctuaries-the-problems-with-voluntourism-95f2d39b7ab 1/18
9/8/23, 11:25 AM Kidnapped Kids & Fake Sanctuaries: The Problems with Voluntourism | by Tracy.3 | Jul, 2023 | Medium
Two voluntourists posing with children in Kenya through a voluntourism program with goeco. Original Photo
by goeco, Photoshopped by Tracy.3
Have you come across pictures on Instagram of people from Western

countries visiting low-income communities abroad and thought about
hopping on a plane so you can help people in underserved communities too?
On the surface, volunteering to help people in need in a far-off place that has
a high level of poverty might seem like a great way to give back while
exploring a new culture and country, but there’s a dark side to voluntourism
that everyone needs to be made aware of.
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A $3 Billion Industry
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According to an article by NPR, voluntourism rakes in about $3 BILLION a
year! Voluntourism is a massive business and many companies and
organizations that claim to be helping struggling communities are actually
taking advantage of underprivileged people and making their situation much
worse. In essence, voluntourism is hurting much more than it’s helping.
An Ex-voluntourist Speaks Out

In a YouTube video by VICE called “The Dark Side of Rich Kids Volunteering
Abroad,” a former voluntourist talks about the horrific exploitation and
shady practices she witnessed while volunteering in an orphanage in
Tanzania. In the video, the ex-voluntourist is wearing a rubber mask to
remain anonymous.
She talks about how the kids in the orphanage would rub dirt on their faces
when they saw the volunteer vans pull up, in an attempt to look more
desperate and in need of help. Bags of toys that were donated to the kids
never went to the kids and were kept or sold by the director of the
orphanage. The director thought if the kids in the orphanage were seen
playing with new toys or sleeping in nice beds, then the next groups of
volunteers would not donate toys and other goods.
“Each of us paid thousands of dollars to go on this trip. Of that trip fee, almost
none of it went to the orphanage,” the anonymous informant shared.
She goes on to detail how the volunteers were supposed to build a library but
did such terrible work that actual, skilled workers had to undo their work
and redo it correctly without the volunteers finding out. She also had to
teach English to kids without any prior experience.
“I was entirely unqualified and unprepared and shouldn’t have been allowed
to do this. You are going to be working with young children who are extremely
vulnerable. I came from an all-girls school and had a walk-in closet and I was
pulling up to this all-girls orphanage where they shared bunk rooms without
running water,” she said.
At that Tanzanian orphanage, kids were fed meager meals of beans and rice
that they had to cook themselves, while the volunteers ate separately and
dined on eggs, fresh fruit juice, toast, jam, and butter. The orphans even
were made to sing and dance for the volunteers in exchange for a decent
meal.
Not Orphans at All

The orphans that many voluntourists interact with are not even orphans and
still have one or both parents. Sometimes, the children are in the orphanage
because their family is too poor to take care of them, while other times the
children were kidnapped and forced to live in an orphanage in order to
interact with tourists or worse — be trafficked and sold to childless couples
or sexual predators.
An article by The Guardian called “The business of voluntourism: do western do-

gooders actually do harm?” by Tina Rosenberg, details the terrible living
conditions of children in orphanages that voluntourists frequently visit,
saying:
“…one orphanage in Haiti, established by a US religious organisation after the

earthquake in 2010, kept children malnourished and living in filth, with no
stimulation. Yet it collected donations averaging $10,000 (£7,700) a year per
child — much of which ended up in the director’s bank account, a former staff
member alleged. That institution, which Lumos believes was engaged in
trafficking and selling children for adoption to families in wealthy countries,
recruited children using a baby-finder, who convinced poor parents their
children would be better off in the institution.”
Lumos is an organization founded by Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, that

works on ending the institutionalization of kids and instead unites kids with
their families. It’s an important cause that is being undermined by
voluntourism.
Voluntourism is Creating a Demand for More Orphanages

Instead of helping people in impoverished communities, voluntourism is
further oppressing those communities and causing an increase in
orphanages which are separating more kids from their families and making
their situations worse.
In the same article by The Guardian, Rosenberg writes:
“In Cambodia, 40 years after the Khmer Rouge genocide, the number of
orphanages has been growing, according to the UN. The reason is demand —
but not from abandoned children. Instead, it comes from a huge rise in
Australian tourists willing to pay to work in them.”
“Colonial Mentality” by Fela Kuti
Colonial Mentality
Another huge problem with voluntourism is that the people donating
thousands of dollars to “help” impoverished people overseas tend to come
from white, privileged backgrounds, while the people they end up taking
advantage of are people of color who have very complex problems that can
only be solved by people in their community, not people who don’t know the
language, don’t understand the culture, do not understand what the
community is dealing with, and have 0 life and job skills.
The huge class disparity between the volunteers and people in the
communities they’re supposed to be helping makes it impossible for the
volunteers to understand the needs of the people in that community. All they
end up doing is exploiting them further.
The idea that an unskilled, rich white person can magically build a house or
teach kids for a summer, and have the ability to help a community in a
different country that they know nothing about, is such a colonial mindset
that is extremely racist and harmful.
Author Pippa Biddle has written a book and numerous articles about the
problems with voluntourism. In her viral article, “The Problem With Little
White Girls (And Boys): Why I Stopped Being a Voluntourist,” she writes:
“Before you sign up for a volunteer trip anywhere in the world this summer,
consider whether you possess the skill set necessary for that trip to be
successful. If yes, awesome. If not, it might be a good idea to reconsider your
trip. Sadly, taking part in international aid where you aren’t particularly
helpful is not benign. It’s detrimental. It slows down positive growth and
perpetuates the ‘white savior’ complex that, for hundreds of years, has
haunted both the countries we are trying to ‘save’ and our (more recently) own
psyches. Be smart about traveling and strive to be informed and culturally
aware. It’s only through an understanding of the problems communities are
facing, and the continued development of skills within that community, that
long-term solutions will be created.”
It’s also worth noting that based on the story she shared in her article, I
believe Pippa Biddle is the anonymous informer in the Vice video shared at
the beginning of this article.
Brown Elephant With Chain, Photo by Stephan Streuders, Creative Commons
Voluntourism Also Exploits Wildlife

Voluntourism does not only harm people in developing communities, it also
bad for wildlife. Here in Thailand, and really in many parts of Asia, where
cruel elephant riding and wildlife exploitation is rampant, many fake

sanctuaries have popped up over the years to meet the demand for “ethical”
wildlife interactions.
But these businesses end up being just as exploitative and harmful as typical
elephant and safari attractions, except instead of being forced to give rides,
elephants are forced to be washed, touched, and fed by hundreds to
thousands of tourists a day and are chained up and beaten to keep them
submissive.
I see videos and pictures on YouTube and Instagram all the time from
wannabe influencers promoting fake sanctuaries and it’s really upsetting
because wild animals are stolen from their mothers as babies, beaten,
stabbed, intimidated, starved, chained up, kept in cages, and illegally
trafficked to fuel the wildlife entertainment trade. Ignorant tourists think
they’re doing good because the animal exploitation center they’re visiting
slapped the word “sanctuary” on their name.
Peta has a great article on how to tell if a sanctuary is legit. You can also
check out the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries for a list of certified
sanctuaries all over the world.
Volunteers Happily Assisting an Old Man on a Wheelchair For Charity, Photo by RDNE Stock project, Creative
Commons
How to Really Make a Difference

If you want to volunteer, you don’t need to fly to the other side of the world to
do that, you can do that in your own community where you can speak the
language and understand the culture.
You can volunteer at a local homeless shelter, nursing home, hospital, or

animal shelter. You can donate money, school supplies, and toys to
struggling schools in low-income neighborhoods. You can support local
small businesses, and contribute to people’s Go Fund Me campaigns.
Social media is also a great way to make a difference in the world. You can
promote important causes on your social media accounts, make videos, and
create art to raise awareness on important social issues.
If you want to travel and do some good, the best thing you can do is avoid
orphanages, sanctuaries, and non-profits and instead, buy handicrafts from
local vendors, hire local guides, visit nature parks to support natural
habitats, and support local businesses owned by people from the country
you’re visiting. Tourists can help a community thrive as long as people are
supporting ethical businesses that don’t exploit people or animals.
Before donating to a non-profit organization or charity, it’s important to do

your research and see where that money is going. Most of the time, the
money is going to the people running the NGO with very little actually going
directly to the people and causes who need it most.
I personally don’t donate any money to any organization unless I have

volunteered with that organization, done thorough research, and have seen

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9/8/23, 11:25 AM Kidnapped Kids & Fake Sanctuaries: The Problems with Voluntourism | by Tracy.

3 | Jul, 2023 | Medium

Kidnapped Kids & Fake

Unmasking the Impact of a Billion-Dollar Industry on Impoverished

Have you come across pictures on Instagram of people from Western

An Ex-voluntourist Speaks Out

Not Orphans at All

An article by The Guardian called “The business of voluntourism: do western do-

“…one orphanage in Haiti, established by a US religious organisation after the

Lumos is an organization founded by Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, that

Voluntourism is Creating a Demand for More Orphanages

In the same article by The Guardian, Rosenberg writes:

“Colonial Mentality” by Fela Kuti

the beginning of this article.

Brown Elephant With Chain, Photo by Stephan Streuders, Creative Commons

Voluntourism Also Exploits Wildlife

cruel elephant riding and wildlife exploitation is rampant, many fake

How to Really Make a Difference

You can volunteer at a local homeless shelter, nursing home, hospital, or

Before donating to a non-profit organization or charity, it’s important to do

I personally don’t donate any money to any organization unless I have

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