For some, the idea of international volunteering is as simple as hopping on a plane and flying off to some exotic destination to teach English to refugee children or serve food to displaced persons. A lecture tomorrow, however, seeks to show that this approach is a gross oversimplification that can often create more problems than it solves.
Idealism or Self-Interest? Critical Views on International Volunteerism brings together three experienced international volunteers — Daniel Siegfried, Sam Lai (賴樹盛) and Ko Pei-ru (柯沛如) — to discuss international volunteering. The talk is part of YouthVision Taiwan (青年視野論壇), a series of lectures hosted by the Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation (龍應台文化基金會).
“Most people who volunteer have a desire to help, but it’s not that easy,” said Ko, who operates Thai Circle, an NGO that she began in 2003. Early this year she started a Facebook page called “Taiwan for Haiti” to raise funds and awareness for victims of the massive earthquake that struck the Caribbean country in January.
Photo courtesy of Ko Pei-ru
“Based on my experience, organizations don’t provide enough training and preparation for the volunteers before they go. It becomes, ‘Where should we eat? Where should we sleep? And, my gosh, those needing help might not even have a place to eat or sleep.’ I think that is the reality for a lot of places where they send volunteers,” she said.
Lai agrees. Having spent most of the past eight years on the Thai-Myanmar border, first as a volunteer and until recently as head of the Thailand task force of the Taiwan Overseas Peace Service (TOPS), he feels that many people are unrealistic in their motivations for volunteering.
“Start from your own country first, from your own neighborhood. Be aware. Be concerned and care. If you don’t pay attention to issues at home and you want to be a volunteer overseas, it just doesn’t make sense. But if you volunteer at home and then you want to go overseas, then that’s fine. But we have to be honest with ourselves,” said Lai, who published his experiences of volunteering in Drifting Along the Border (邊境漂流) in 2008.
Though some might think that Lai and Ko are too critical in their assessments of international volunteering, they say their views are born of necessity and the realization that they are never sure if their efforts are really paying off.
“We are uncertain. We are not sure if what we are doing is good or bad. But we encourage each other, we share our mistakes and failures and this is the most important thing. We keep learning,” Lai said.
Siegfried co-founded Child’s Dream Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Thailand, with Marc Jenni in 2003. The foundation has provided educational materials for more than 55,000 children and introduced health care measures for youths in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.
■ YouthVision Taiwan (青年視野論壇), Idealism or Self-Interest? Critical Views on International Volunteerism. The lecture takes place at Yue-han Hall (月涵堂), 110 Jinhua St, Taipei City (台北市金華街110號) and will be conducted in English only. Admission is free, but those attending must pre-register online at www.civictaipei.org or by calling (02) 3322-4907
■ Tomorrow from 2pm to 4pm
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