Should short-term overseas volunteers get training before they go aboard?

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 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 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 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 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 quoted. Becoming a volunteer is definitely laudable, Birrel 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?

The Process

     What is the process of doing volunteer thing? 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.

Intercultural Communication for Development, a master thesis written by Keisuke Taketani. He conducted an online survey that measure UNV (United Nation) volunteers’ intercultural sensitivity by the framework of DMIS. DMIS, Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, developed by Milton J. Bennett, is a method to level ones different cultural experiences following by six stages: Denial, Defense, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration. We can see that how these being-surveyed

volunteers are generalized into each stage and see what their attitude and behavior are when interacting with various cultures. For example, a Swiss volunteer mentions that the disabilities of cultural communication and lack of respect for local culture tend to cause mistrust and the feeling of inferiority between volunteers (foreigner) and local community.

     The first three stages of DMIS categorizes into ethnocentric stage. In this stage, volunteers see people as all the same. 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 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 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, 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 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 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.