Should
short-term overseas volunteers get training before they go aboard?
Recently, I have an interview with a
friend of mine who have been to Turkey and become a volunteer in teaching. From
his word of this special experience, he told me that the reason why he want to
join this project is because he think it's funny and attractive, which he can
go aboard, tasting different cultures. He only need to pay for the organization
less than ten thousand and then he would stay in Turkey for almost two months.
In there, he and other volunteers would prepare some lessons including health,
technology, introduction of Taiwan, etc, to share with students there. For
truth, it's appealing to Taiwanese people who desire to go aboard yet they
don't have enough money. Also, the access of becoming one of the volunteers is
easy, comparing to long-term volunteers' training lessons. Due to accessible
enter of becoming an overseas volunteers, lots of people, especially college
students, flowing to those developing areas, in name of a
"volunteer."
In an article appearing in the November 14,
2010, website of The Obeserver, Ian Birrell(2010) states that
"Voluntourism", an industry booming fast in developing countries in
recent year, which westerners spare part of their travel time to help local
children, might bring damages to locals. He states, this face-growing industry
affects developing areas a lot in not only their environment but also their
local industrial structure and culture. To give us this point, Birrel(2010)
shows an incendiary report conducted by South African and British academics,
which focuses on “Aids orphan tourism” in southern Africa. It reveals that as
more and more volunteers or voluntourists spend money and lots of effort
helping locals, local workers may end up giving away much-needed job and
waiting for foreigners’ help, which will, gradually become a dependency
culture. Moreover, due to the departure of short-term volunteers, children who
have been helped and already have attachment with them might go through trauma
of being abandoned.
In this case, Birrell(2010) mentions a similar situation:
slum tourism. It’s an industry that tourists pay money to get a glimpse of how
life is in slum. They take pictures, giving them food and cloths, treating
those impoverished families like animals in zoo. In Africa, same problem
conceals in every time a group of volunteers come to giving out their
sympathies.
Birrell(2010) continues to point out abnormal growing orphanages in developing
areas. The investigation reveals that most of children lived in orphanages are
not “real orphans” and only a few orphanages are licensed. These unqualified
orphanages may lead to unsaying problem that volunteers who shows their kind to
children may become helpers fostering the whole deteriorating situation.
“Unfortunately, they are led by their hearts and not their heads and
unknowingly support environment that may be abusive to children,” said Mark
Turgesen, international co-ordinator of ChildSafe Network, Birrell(2010)
quoted. Becoming a volunteer is definitely laudable, Birrel(2010) concludes,
however we need to think and treat carefully before we head off. We should exam
the consequences first and what skills and sources locals really need.
Here the weird situation: a group of strangers just walk in your house and
start to take care of your children. You may can believe the organization of
these volunteers is authentic, yet when you try to talk to them, telling them
your real situation, you find that a language barrier destroys all the
communications. Then, the question comes out: how can these people (most are
college students) showing out for merely two months and leave nothing but a
short period of enjoyment really help to resolve the locals’ problem? (hunger,
disease, severe environment, education, poverty, etc.) What are the practical
aids they have given so as to make progressing improvement? What the real
purpose of being a volunteer? I would like to focus on the following question:
Should international volunteers being trained before they contact to local
people? What should they required? What the affect short-term volunteers have
brought to the local? How do volunteer organizations work to help volunteers to
adjust intercultural environment?
What is the essence of being a
volunteer?
After the interview, some questions came to my
mind. What is put in the priority of serving aids to other? Do those
volunteers' help really meet locals' need? Is it appropriate for organization
putting such lower threshold on deciding volunteers?
what should
volunteer think before they start action?
What is the process of serving volunteer
help? From this picture, we can see that serving other is not a straight line
but a cycle. Every part is important as speaking to helping other, regardless
in Taiwan or overseas and regardless the short or long-term of the help.
However, most of short-term overseas volunteer organizations overlook the part
of "evaluation of the need" and "evaluation of the
effects", following the rethinking and self-examination of volunteer and
organization. This expanding hole of the missing parts gradually lead to
organizations which break away from the essence of volunteers to one more
like travel industries. As the friend I interviewed with told me something
importance he learned from this experience is the growth of himself.
Going somewhere, experiencing life around the world, learning and
growing are definitely accounts for a large part of becoming a volunteer.
However, the essence of volunteer is still serving locals in need. From the
begining, volunteers should focus on what locals really fall short and how to
improve their life essentially. After having deep realization of local's
condition, they should prepare complete plans and while practicing, keep
thinking if the assistance does work. When term is due, volunteers still need
to record the result and keep following the effect of plan and pass their
outcomes to next volunteer groups. This cycle of helping will thus never end,
which will change and improve locals' environment greatly.
People always think that do something is better than doing nothing. Yet
if we don't exam if the help really help locals, we better not do anything. To
be volunteers, we should change our mind to "learning how to help
other" instead just "helping other".
What is intercultural communication
and how does DMIS work on volunteers
According to US legal definitions, the term
“Intercultural communication” refers that individuals from different cultures,
languages and social value share information by communication, especially
within an organization composed of various backgrounds. Overseas volunteers,
accordingly, will encounters this situation and need to contact people while
offering aids. Learning languages of their duty station (place where volunteer
assigned) is a main solution to breaking the barrier of this kind of
communication. When being familiar with local language, volunteers have ability
to exchange opinions with the people and understand how language, culture and
perception build the present condition, which is an important part for
volunteers to learn. (Bennett, M. J. 1998) Also, Intercultural Sensitivity
plays an important role when communicating with different culture; that is, it
is crucial for volunteers to have empathy with local people in multi-cultural
environment and understand their development goals and agendas based on their
culture and custom.
The six stages
In Denial stage, people may use
stereotype to view other’s culture. In Defense stage, people know that the
cultures are different, yet they may defense their own value and see other’s as
“undeveloped” one. In Minimization stage,
people see other people as all the same. For instance, they may think that
British are all gentleman and kind, while India’s people aren’t safe to
you. The first
three stages of DMIS categorizes into ethnocentric stage. The change of
identity in facing different country can’t perceive on volunteers. These people
tend to bring social value they have learned from their hometown and view the
need as same level, which easily form a sense of superiority. On the other
hand, acceptance, adaptation and integration are concluded in ethnorelative
stages. In this stage, volunteers begin to learn how to get rid of stereotype
and prejudice. They will be more tolerate when confronting different culture.
As a whole, we
can reach to a conclusion that Intercultural communication is a crucial part
for people engaging in activities that need to contact with various cultures,
especially for overseas volunteers. However, according to Taketani’s(2008)
online survey, by asking the question: What kind of Intercultural training or
support have you received from UNV? A few volunteers would take courses for
only gaining country-specific information, yet, ten of 48 volunteers said they
would not have any pre-training: they go to their duty station directly. Only
rare instance have chance to have training include intercultural communication.
It seems that the awareness for intercultural sensitivity isn’t much valued by
relevant organizations and volunteers themselves. In the introductory
book Basic Concept of Intercultural Communication, Interculturalist
Milton J. Bennett(1998) penetrates to the core question of “How do people
understand one another when they do not share a common cultural experience?”
(1998:1).
Four type of communication disabilities
According to the
on-line survey conducted by Keisuke Taketani(2008), which analyzes about that
overseas volunteers will meet the problem of cross-cultural communication
disabilities and how can organization do to have training on intercultural
communication. Taketani(2008) then categorizes these communication disabilities
into four types: language/non-verbal behavior/ communication style/ value and
assumption. In language part, the challenge volunteers will meet are unable to
speak English and if they can speak fluently, it’s hard for them to use right
words. In non-verbal behavior part, understanding of the different contextual
culture and the misuse of body language will also form a barrier between
volunteer and local people. In communication style, volunteers will encounter
different language pattern based on their duty station. Value and assumption,
the last part, shows that situated in totally different culture, volunteers
will face different standard like gender equality, work style, and concept of
time. Volunteers may not discover themselves of these types of problem until
they have been to their duty
station.
The problem is most
of volunteer organizations do not view above types as a great problem to deal
with. These organizations tend to emphasize more on develop volunteers
themselves during serving for other, which more focus on individual growth than
the true reality of local people.
Take Wake, a Taiwan
volunteer association for example. The starting point of Wake of changing the
world by every individual aid is valuable. Their main propose lies in that
education is a powerful way to let people step away from poverty. However,
before their volunteers go to duty station, they only will hold at most two
meetings together to discuss how to prepare courses and what should they avoid
and notice during mission. They ignore real problem of facing intercultural
communication disabilities, which truly examines one’s mind and perspective
when confronting different culture, but simply seems serving for other in need
as “if we have kind heart to do this, everybody can become a volunteer, and
bring love to local people.”
The course volunteer organization should
held to solve communication disabilities.
If there’s lesson about intercultural
communication for volunteers to learn, two key points should be taken in
advance. First is the time. Since short-term volunteers only stay in their duty
station for merely two month or less, they won’t choose to spend a week or more
getting training. It will be appropriate that the training can be held all in
three days before plane takes off. Second is the money. If a non-profit
volunteer organization digs in improving one areas for a long time, they should
support and give their recruited volunteers a complete and free lesson.
We can see above that this kind of
training brings volunteer proper perspective when confronting different
culture. If they take this course before they go to their duty station, the
barrier between local people and volunteer, the compromise resulting from
misunderstanding have high possibility diminishing, which not only volunteers
can bear themselves more thoroughly, organization also can spend less time
reaching its original goal. Free course for volunteer may reach a win-win
situation. Then, the most important part is content of course, which should be
included four types: language/non-verbal
behavior/ communication style/ value and assumption. Following are several tips
I suggest when arranging relevant course. Here refers to short-term volunteers
specially.
1. Know
the stage they are in. (maybe by technology of virtual reality to experience
the situation of problem they will meet when dealing with different culture
people.)
2. By
the answer how they solve particular problem, give them appropriate and
relevant training based on the four types of intercultural communication
challenge:
A. Language:
volunteer can recognize basic greeting words and some particular words when
doing their duty jobs. (It is based on what volunteer will do, for instance,
who teach English should know some local language.)
B. Non-verbal
behavior: volunteers should know basic gesture of their culture. Also, when it
is hard to communicate in English, body language is important to express
oneself. Yet, when using it, volunteers should keep in mind and avoid insulting
gesture.
C. Communication
style: Every countries, every area has its unique language pattern, and
different words order and arranges will bring varies meanings. Thus, knowing
basic grammar of local speaking style can avoid misunderstandings.
D. Value
and assumption: This is for cultural and historical concerning. It’s basic for
volunteers to know their duty station’s religion, custom, festival, life style.
Thus, the class emphasizes on introduce duty area thoroughly. Some visual
images such as documentary films are also proper when introducing a new place.
3. Rest
of time volunteers should work hard on designing the program. It is best for
them to only choose one field to do, like people who teaches only do teaching
thing or people help improving local environment only work hard on studying
local geography. Try best to make you more professional in your field.
Above are my
suggestions for designing class based on dealing with DMIS, which is developed by
Milton J. Bennett and to solve the problems most volunteers will meet when they
give aids. As Birrel (2010)has said, being volunteer is really laudable, yet
before we give people our hand, we should think more, learn more and ask more
as we are new learner. If the organizations don’t have such training for
volunteers, we should still train ourselves and never forget the initial goal
is the serving always.
References
1.
Bennett, M. J. (1998) Intercultural Communication: A Current Perspective
in Bennett, Milton J. (ed) Basic Concepts of Intercultural communication.
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press
2.
Himalayansecerts Do you have ability to become a volunteer?
Retrieved
from http://blog.xuite.net/himalayansecrets/blog/70812691
3.
Ian Birrell
(2010). Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might
do. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/14/orphans-cambodia-aids-holidays-madonna
4.
Legal Definition legal term dictionary, available from
5.
Lihpao
Daily 2013.05.08 Overseas volunteers may do worse instead helping other due to
lack of perception.
Retrieved from
http://blog.xuite.net/himalayansecrets/blog/45976377
6.
KeisukTaketani(2008) Intercultural
Communication for Development, retrieved
from http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/7099/ComDev%20KT%20Final.pdf?sequence=1
7.
Wake international volunteer association office website
Retrieved from http://www.waker.org.tw/faq.php