Sometimes Good Intentions Are Not Enough. (SGIANE)
Recently, there has been a flurry of OCIP activity fund raising in school.
Activities range from selling overpriced bubble teas, coerce sales of T-shirts, clean children safe car washes that did not involve any babes to plain donations.
Aims of such OCIP are generally vague, with the use of flowery but intangible words like "empowerment" or "as to develop them into productive, responsible, self reliant, competent and compassionate individuals of tomorrow." Note that this is not geared towards a certain group, but rather at the idea of the OCIP spirit.
As of such, someone please enlighten me, what the whole chunk of words above really and truly mean. It completely sounds like a PR reply when asked what the team's objective was.
What's the Problem?
1) The team will only be there for a total of 3 weeks or so. Including time catering for own R&R activities. Doesn't that make it only 2 weeks worth of work that the team can do?
2) The first week will be spent doing general work for the school/village. Such as construction of a library, or the re-furnishing of a classroom and so on and so forth. The rest of the time will then be spent running education programme for the under privileged kids there. For me, this is the 2nd biggest problem.
Firstly, yes, it is good that we're going there to help build/re-furnish some hardware for the school. But is that what the schools really need? Does the school really need a new classroom? Of course they do. But you cannot really build a new classroom in 1 week can you?
New facilities are good, but without teachers, without the local government support, more importantly, without money, have a brand new classroom without the accompanying, for the lack of a better word, "equipment", is as good as nothing.
Perhaps the kids there would be excited that they have a new environment to study in. But without accompanying materials, its as good as nothing. Life goes on after the team leaves their village.
Secondly, if the locals are able to do the above mentioned, why bother sending a team from overseas to do the same job? I think a better option would be to directly give financial aid towards these schools money to employ locals to do this job. In this way, the locals have a temporary job that they can do, a source of temporary income. The schools know what they need exactly, and how to spend the money best for their own use. And not just accept help just because it was offered.
Lastly, this so called "education camp" or 'education programme". Is it really effective for the poor kids there? You go there and what can you teach? First of all, there is a language barrier. Concepts that you know in English may be difficult to translate to its full meaning into another language you are not familiar with. Even if the local children spoke and understood English, what can an individual teach within a week that echos and fulfils their aim of the OCIP's mission of big words like "empowerment", "competent", "productive", just to name a few.
The most you can teach are simple mathematics, elementary english and perhaps fundamental science. None of which are hardly life changing. Or can help them break out of the poverty cycle or increase their quality of life significantly. Or increase their future income levels. Or increase their opportunities for tomorrow.
To them, you are foreigners, like many foreigners from before that came from somewhere, and care about them. You are just but a passing chapter in their lives. A novelty break from their otherwise marginalised lives that you, as an individual cannot solve it with 3 weeks of OCIP.
3) The amount of money spent. This is my biggest problem. I was informed that the OCIP team should target to raise $8000 to partially cover their own fees of travelling, and stay during the work there, it also includes the cost of the materials otbeing used to build/re-furnish anything there, the education programe and what not. Of course this does not cover their own R&R costs. Other than that there is the cost of air tickets, not to mention the various opportunity costs incurred. On top of that, MCYS bear part of the costs, given that the team does a CIP locally before and after the trip.
Why waste tens of thousand of dollars just to fly over to give help, that, really isnt too helpful for the local people there? I personally feel that what the marginalised locals need is money, and commitment commitment and more commitment.
Money because like what I said before, the schools there know exactly what they needed. With money they can employ their locals to work, and previously unemployed locals now have a form of temporary income. Locals are employed and new buildings/facilities are built.
Or perhaps they lack educational materials. Or lack instructors that were willing to work for free or an insignificant pay. But now are able to employ them for educating the children.
Commitment in a sense that they need volunteers to be stationed long term, in terms of months or years. Not weeks. How is anybody going to impart life changing values within 2 weeks?
How is anybody going to bring about a significant enough change to affect an individual's life in under 2 weeks? How is anyone going to bring about a change in the system of the school or even village to help locals break out of the poverty cycle?
_________________________________________________________________________________
The idea of volunteer work is one of GREAT commitment. Like really great effort. Unless you are extremely certain that you can commit considerable time in, dont waste your time, dont waste the organization's time by being a flash in the pan.
Saying that, having commitments are not enough in today's context where problems are created by many folds of other social issues and problems folded into one big mess.
Knowledge of what the root problem is and what it needs exactly to nip the problem. Good ideas that can help solve the problem is truly something that distinguishes a good volunteer. After all, volunteering to do good means you want to help improve lives of others, dont you?
And children? Come on, lots of other groups of people need help as well. The elderly? The social outcasts? Mentally retarded? Genetically pre-disposed individuals? Women? Mis-guided teens? There are just so many groups of people not highlighted in our everyday life.
Its not so easy to volunteer you realise. That's why having good intentions are not enough.
Please visit http://goodintents.org/ to educate yourself, change how you view volunteer work. Its never as simple as feeling the need to 'do some good'.
Recently, there has been a flurry of OCIP activity fund raising in school.
Activities range from selling overpriced bubble teas, coerce sales of T-shirts, clean children safe car washes that did not involve any babes to plain donations.
Aims of such OCIP are generally vague, with the use of flowery but intangible words like "empowerment" or "as to develop them into productive, responsible, self reliant, competent and compassionate individuals of tomorrow." Note that this is not geared towards a certain group, but rather at the idea of the OCIP spirit.
As of such, someone please enlighten me, what the whole chunk of words above really and truly mean. It completely sounds like a PR reply when asked what the team's objective was.
What's the Problem?
1) The team will only be there for a total of 3 weeks or so. Including time catering for own R&R activities. Doesn't that make it only 2 weeks worth of work that the team can do?
2) The first week will be spent doing general work for the school/village. Such as construction of a library, or the re-furnishing of a classroom and so on and so forth. The rest of the time will then be spent running education programme for the under privileged kids there. For me, this is the 2nd biggest problem.
Firstly, yes, it is good that we're going there to help build/re-furnish some hardware for the school. But is that what the schools really need? Does the school really need a new classroom? Of course they do. But you cannot really build a new classroom in 1 week can you?
New facilities are good, but without teachers, without the local government support, more importantly, without money, have a brand new classroom without the accompanying, for the lack of a better word, "equipment", is as good as nothing.
Perhaps the kids there would be excited that they have a new environment to study in. But without accompanying materials, its as good as nothing. Life goes on after the team leaves their village.
Secondly, if the locals are able to do the above mentioned, why bother sending a team from overseas to do the same job? I think a better option would be to directly give financial aid towards these schools money to employ locals to do this job. In this way, the locals have a temporary job that they can do, a source of temporary income. The schools know what they need exactly, and how to spend the money best for their own use. And not just accept help just because it was offered.
Lastly, this so called "education camp" or 'education programme". Is it really effective for the poor kids there? You go there and what can you teach? First of all, there is a language barrier. Concepts that you know in English may be difficult to translate to its full meaning into another language you are not familiar with. Even if the local children spoke and understood English, what can an individual teach within a week that echos and fulfils their aim of the OCIP's mission of big words like "empowerment", "competent", "productive", just to name a few.
The most you can teach are simple mathematics, elementary english and perhaps fundamental science. None of which are hardly life changing. Or can help them break out of the poverty cycle or increase their quality of life significantly. Or increase their future income levels. Or increase their opportunities for tomorrow.
To them, you are foreigners, like many foreigners from before that came from somewhere, and care about them. You are just but a passing chapter in their lives. A novelty break from their otherwise marginalised lives that you, as an individual cannot solve it with 3 weeks of OCIP.
3) The amount of money spent. This is my biggest problem. I was informed that the OCIP team should target to raise $8000 to partially cover their own fees of travelling, and stay during the work there, it also includes the cost of the materials otbeing used to build/re-furnish anything there, the education programe and what not. Of course this does not cover their own R&R costs. Other than that there is the cost of air tickets, not to mention the various opportunity costs incurred. On top of that, MCYS bear part of the costs, given that the team does a CIP locally before and after the trip.
Why waste tens of thousand of dollars just to fly over to give help, that, really isnt too helpful for the local people there? I personally feel that what the marginalised locals need is money, and commitment commitment and more commitment.
Money because like what I said before, the schools there know exactly what they needed. With money they can employ their locals to work, and previously unemployed locals now have a form of temporary income. Locals are employed and new buildings/facilities are built.
Or perhaps they lack educational materials. Or lack instructors that were willing to work for free or an insignificant pay. But now are able to employ them for educating the children.
Commitment in a sense that they need volunteers to be stationed long term, in terms of months or years. Not weeks. How is anybody going to impart life changing values within 2 weeks?
How is anybody going to bring about a significant enough change to affect an individual's life in under 2 weeks? How is anyone going to bring about a change in the system of the school or even village to help locals break out of the poverty cycle?
_________________________________________________________________________________
The idea of volunteer work is one of GREAT commitment. Like really great effort. Unless you are extremely certain that you can commit considerable time in, dont waste your time, dont waste the organization's time by being a flash in the pan.
Saying that, having commitments are not enough in today's context where problems are created by many folds of other social issues and problems folded into one big mess.
Knowledge of what the root problem is and what it needs exactly to nip the problem. Good ideas that can help solve the problem is truly something that distinguishes a good volunteer. After all, volunteering to do good means you want to help improve lives of others, dont you?
And children? Come on, lots of other groups of people need help as well. The elderly? The social outcasts? Mentally retarded? Genetically pre-disposed individuals? Women? Mis-guided teens? There are just so many groups of people not highlighted in our everyday life.
Its not so easy to volunteer you realise. That's why having good intentions are not enough.
Please visit http://goodintents.org/ to educate yourself, change how you view volunteer work. Its never as simple as feeling the need to 'do some good'.