Reflecting on Pippa Biddle and Voluntourism
Reflecting on the Article “The Problem with Little White Girls (And Boys): Why I Stopped Being a Voluntourist” by Pippa Biddle
This past week, we read a particularly touching opinion piece by the esteemed author Pippa Biddle, which spoke to the often unconsidered consequences of voluntourism–the practice of going abroad to volunteer as a tourist.
At the beginning of the article, Pippa recounts her travels as a white “highly educated private boarding school” student to the developing nations of Tanzania and the Dominican Republic. In Tanzania, Pippa and her classmates paid $3000, enough to earn them a week at an orphanage (where they were to start construction on a library), followed by a week-long safari adventure. Pippa describes, however, that their volunteer work was less than successful–as she and her classmates were not familiar with manual labor techniques, each night a member of the community would return to the project in secrecy to dismantle and redo the work they had attempted each day. Similarly, when Pippa went to the Dominican Republic to help at a camp for HIV+ children, she realized that her rudimentary Spanish was ill-suited for any productive contribution to the camp. Within the article, Pippa recounts that she eventually stopped seeking out voluntourist opportunities:
“However, I have stopped attending [these programs] having finally accepted that my presence is not the godsend I was coached by non-profits, documentaries, and service programs to believe it would be.”
Indeed, she reflected on her experiences, coming to the conclusion that, while she may be a highly educated, creative, flexible individual, she is not a doctor, teacher, carpenter nor a scientist. As a result, all of the volunteer work Pippa had been doing (which centered upon skills she did not possess) was more for her benefit, than for the benefit of those she was meant to assist.
However, different from other articles we read in class, I appreciated the positive twist Pippa put on her “hands on” inefficacy. Unlike Ivan Illich who, with his article “To Hell With Good Intentions” condemns service work/aid as futile, Pippa is of the opinion that individuals should do what they can to help. For the well-off, educated population, this means taking roles as coordinators and researchers, as financial overseers and fundraisers. While we may miss out on experiencing first-hand the smiles and laughter of the people we help, we must be satisfied with the idea that we are maximizing our impact–our positive impact–on their lives.
Featured Image: My First Pair of Glasses (Nicaragua) by MaryBeth Lafferty