The "T" In Voluntourism

It's hard to find a letter so manipulated as the "t" in Voluntourism.  Or the "t" in Volunteerism.  Poor thing.  Maybe we should spell it this way: volunT__, as in, "Hey…I'm off to Cambodia to volunT__."

Back in the day, (1974), John G. Cull and Richard E. Hardy wrote a book entitled Volunteerism: An Emerging Profession.  In their book, Cull and Hardy assert that volunteering is done on one's own volition, with personal commitment or concern.  Since volunteers are not motivated, presumably, in the same way as they are in relation to life-support systems, such as employment, their reasons d'être are grossly inconsistent, and elements of cohesion are frequently nebulous.

In 1974 Cull and Hardy's book cost $5.95.  You can buy it on Amazon but it now costs $15.00.

In all honesty, I don't think the general public really cares about that poor little "t" as long as they experience a new culture and experience what it is like to help other people or the environment.

The 2008 Voluntourism Survey Report issued in October 2009 indicated that people who volunteer abroad want to (in rank order):

1. Experience something different
2. Learn new things
3. Gain a new perspective on life
4. Explore the unknown
5. Experience a different culture 

You can hardly make a case that these people are focused on volunteerism or voluntourism over the other.

The same survey indicated, when asked about length of stay,

• 34% looked for a 7-14 day obligation
• 22% looked for a 7-day obligation
• Interestingly, these 22% were interested in volunteering their time an average of 7-8 hours each day

This is a statistic that is counter-intuitive to sending organizations (those companies who send volunteers abroad on programs).  I can't count the times I've seen providers rail on about the quality of the experience = the number of days abroad.  Yet, from this survey, of those seeking only a 7-day experience, they are motivated to spend 8 hours each day working and not traveling.  Makes you wonder where those multi-month-long providers came up with those stories, doesn't it?  I even wrote a Blog post in support of short-term volunteering sometime ago.

So after reading the entire survey, I wanted to write a piece about that poor little "T" in the middle of a controversy it never started and cares nothing about.

How about you?  Have I over-simplified things?  Do you really choose a program based on the "T"?