The Times published an article this week about the problems of voluntourism and the exploitation of students that sign up to enticing sounding volunteer projects overseas, only to end up disillusioned and disappointed when their placement turns out to be of no real benefit, or is sometimes even deemed detrimental to the community.

Boys playing in India

Although Work the World send out gap year students on specific healthcare placements, and the Times article was focusing on companies that send volunteers to work on charitable projects, the message throughout the article about what students should be careful of when booking overseas trips to work in other communities, applies equally to us.

When Dave and Omar set up Work the World it was partly because they had met so many students in similar situations to those mentioned in the article. They wanted to start a company that actually did what it said on the tin and provided gap year students with an amazing experience, whilst at the same time creating a sustainable project in an overseas base that provided work for locals and was of benefit to the community.

Several gappers in the article talked of experiences where things had gone wrong overseas and they had been given no support at all. One girl even ended up in the small claims court after she was refused a refund after losing faith in her company when they re booked her onto a trip she had specifically requested not to be placed on. It’s so important that if are going to take a gap year you choose a company that provides support both before you go and during your trip. Work the World have a UK team that help you arrange visas, work with you to tailor your placement to match your interests, provide information and answer any queries you may have. Once you arrive our overseas teams take over and between the programme manager, house staff and placement supervisor, you have someone that can support you in every aspect of your trip.

Watching the world go by

There were a lot of complaints about the high price tag of some of these trips, particularly when there was no evidence of those monies raised on the actual project. Unfortunately there are some companies that direct a large chunk of money back into the companies pocket, often because of staff and marketing costs. These will always be a cost to companies, but should not absorb all of your trip payment. At Work the World  we’ve always been very honest about how we use funds – we use a chunk of your money to pay the hospitals and clinics that you will be working with, recommending that those monies should filter through to your placement supervisors. We also pay our overseas support team a good wage because of the great job that we want to ensure they stay with us and continue to do.

The other big point that was mentioned was sustainability. I have heard many reports of Westerners put to work on completely pointless projects – building corrugated iron huts for students to study in climates that are so hot even standing near the walls of one will burn your skin. Just the place to make kids sit down and work?! One of the article comments spoke of re-painting the same hut each time a new student group flew out – a complete waste of volunteer resource. Work the World do not market themselves as a volunteer company, we place students into the hospitals and clinics so that they can learn and gain experience. We provide them with all the information about their placement before they go and once they arrive it is up to them to make themselves useful to their placement supervisors and bring benefit to their community. We’ve had some great feedback from students that have spent time with patients and used skills picked up in med school to identify things that had been missed by the busy doctors and nurses. We’ve also arranged some pioneering dental outreach projects that bring dental treatment out to rural communities and provide a free referral service – something you can’t arrange yourself. They continue to be of enormous benefit.

Overall the report highlighted that if students choose to book through a company rather than go alone, they must look into the companies that they are planning to book through. Find out where the money goes, who they employ overseas, whether the project is of benefit to the community and how much support will there be if things go wrong. You can be sure of the fact that if you do, it will be a better experience for everyone involved.

Read the Times article or find out more information about our placements to find out more.