Gap-year students told to forget aid projects

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Title – Gap-year students told to forget aid projects
Source – The Times
Date – 14th August 2007

There are undoubtedly many gap-year students that partake in gap-year volunteering projects that do benefit local communities as well as giving the students themselves an experience that will potentially change their outlook on life and potentially their career options and opportunities. But as this article and VSO suggest there are many stories of students paying large sums of money for very little in return and what exactly are they paying for?

Figures of students paying £1500-3000 to companies to facilitating gap-year volunteering programmes are common, but these often don’t cover flights and provide individuals with accommodation in 'local' lodgings or with families. This experience of living in very basic accommodation can be a great learning curve; it makes students experience for a short while what locals experience for a lifetime and gives them a grounding to work alongside local people. But this type of accommodation is also generally very cheap to provide and often costs as little as £25 – 50 a month when booked by an individual, not to mention the discounts a company would get booking in bulk.

Then you will be promised an in-country support network; but often this is no more then someone on the end of a telephone sometimes many many miles away in a different part of the country. The qualifications they have to be your support often varies significantly; sometimes they are no more then someone who has done a programme the previous year and who returns at a discount if they go back as the local contact. We have even come across situations where companies make gap-year volunteers who have been in-country for just 6 weeks the in-country contact.

There are endless stories and it’s not all bad, thousands of gap-year volunteers go out each year and work hard to do their little bit to make things better and many return home reinvigorated and enthused by what they have achieved and what they have learned from their hosts. Many of the communities they visit benefit not just from a wall they may have built, or a fence they have fixed, but by the experience of sharing their way of life and learning a bit about ours.

People should not feel bad about taking a gap-year for fun or not having a fixed project when they arrive at their destination, often they can have equally great experiences or work at their destination without having to pay a lump sum to someone else to organise it. The thousands of pounds you save can prove very useful to you on your travels or to people you meet along the way. The old adage “don’t give a hungry person a fish, give them a net to allow them to fish” still stands. The key if you do go on an organised gap-year volunteering programme is to research the company and the project they are sending you on and don’t rely on their flashy marketing. Look behind the gloss and get them to commit to exactly what they will provide. If they fail in their commitment ask for a refund or write to trading standards and demand they meet the same standards any other commercial company has to. Remember that although many of them act like charities, very few actually are!

Much of the appeal of these gap-year companies is the support they offer, but there are other ways of getting that confidence to set out. At Beyond The Blue our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop provides candidates with knowledge and skills to travel independently with confidence and to prepare for your travels adequately considering your destination. We offer you the support you need before you leave home so that you can learn some of the essential skills required as well as being mentally prepared for what you are about to encounter when you arrive.


Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com