"charity trips"?!?

qwerty1991

*just before people say it, I am all for donating to charity and people volunteering, just not some of what is mentioned below*

I have just seen a facebook status by a fashion blogger that I follow and it has made my blood boil. To quote her before she edited her post:

"I don't mean this to sound in any way bitchy but my mum and a few friends made a realistic point that if everyone of my followers on this page have a euro, we would 100% come up with the money for the fund. But Im kind of taking a back that nobody wants to help or donate when it's going to be benefiting so many little children in a boarding school! I'm going to be teaching English and maths aswel as helping within the community. I can't do it if I don't raise the money. Please help "

Setting aside all the grammatical and spelling mistakes for someone going over to teach English, I find this sort of emotional blackmailing for some of these trips infuriating. She has subsequently stated that going over has always been a dream of hers and she doesn't work so she is just relying solely on people donating for her to go over in June. She has no mention of fundraising events, just that she underlying on others donating.

I am all for people volunteering, donating money to charity and also backing people going abroad to volunteer but I have donated so many times to peers going on these trips, many of which I think it is very cheeky to ask other people to fund under the guise of charity.

For example last year a friend aggresively went around my small town looking for funding for a trip to South Africa which involved 2 weeks going to a school to help teach and 1 week all expenses paid Safari and holiday around the coast. She paid for none and got others to donate all.

Maybe I am just super harsh but I think these sort of charity trips are once in a lifetime experiences that people should save for and pay for themselves. I find it unbelievable that it is expected that others donate money so that someone can go abroad for 3 weeks or so, stay in a nice hotel or hostel and "teach" in a school for a few hours a day With the last week or so a holiday.

The fact that some people like the girl mentioned above just expect others solely to pay for her to go on one of these trips to me is just so selfish. I am all for legitimate volunteering but most of these sort of trips are over priced scams and take away from legitimate volunteering efforts.

sponsored holidays? yeah i'm not really into that either

Tokyo

Couple of people in my area are pretty much career 'volunteers' at this stage - off to walk a section of the Great Wall of China for charity, or visiting schools in Africa (plus safari tour) for charity, or off to hike in Nepal for charity, going door to door every year demanding a donation from everyone in the area.

Funnily enough, there's never a 'volunteer in the slums of Calcutta for a month' variation of this theme....

Ranchu

I'm alright with it if they're going somewhere crap like Haiti. When it's basically a holiday it's nonsense.

mojesius

It depends on the set up. My friend climbed Kilimanjaro for a charity close to her heart. She paid for all the expenses so 100% of the donations actually went to the charity. Grand.

But I know someone else who went to central america to do house building for a month and got sponsored a lot of money to do so, about 2 weeks into it, there's loads of pictures of her on Facebook in the Caribbean, chillaxing on the beach. That's fraud!!

Littlekittylou

Why don't you say it to her face instead of making us listen to you whine.

Littlekittylou

Littlekittylou wrote: »

Why don't you say it to her face instead of making us listen to you whine.

do you need a holiday

-=al=-

I feel like she owes me a euro for reading that.

But that's just my realistic point :pac:

kneemos

Don't trust anyone.Least of all people.

HeidiHeidi

I've done a couple of these trips (nothing so exotic though!) but I've paid every penny of the trip expenses myself. Everything people donated or that was fundraised went to the charity. I'd be mortified otherwise.

In fact, there's another one one on the cards later this year which I'm considering, and if I do it I'll be paying the whole lot myself, trip expenses and the not inconsiderable charity contribution. Don't feel able to go back to "my (fairly small) public" again and beg for even more money for a cause they don't give a hoot about.

MRnotlob606

mojesius wrote: »

It depends on the set up. My friend climbed Kilimanjaro for a charity close to her heart. She paid for all the expenses so 100% of the donations actually went to the charity. Grand.

But I know someone else who went to central america to do house building for a month and got sponsored a lot of money to do so, about 2 weeks into it, there's loads of pictures of her on Facebook in the Caribbean, chillaxing on the beach. That's fraud!!

Sound's very similar these two girls who gave a speech in my local parish church about why we should give them money to go on their trip to central america to build houses for the poor .

Never seen them in the church before that encounter or after, but as soon as mass was over, they were standing outside bucket collecting. It's sad how charity can be hijacked by people to satiate their hedonistic desires at times.

Pumpkinseeds

A neighbour of ours did this a couple of years ago, she even held an event in the local GAA club bar to raise funds to go off on the holiday of a life time somewhere exotic. It makes me sick, if they gave a flying fig about people living in poverty they'd just fund raise and donate all of the money, not take themselves on holiday with it. How much is left after flights, accommodation, vaccines etc, bugger all I'd say.

shruikan2553

I wouldnt mind so much if it was professional builders or teachers but someone who never lifted a hammer before off to build houses in African heat? HA, probably get in the way more than actually help,

Sheepy99

Group of people should get together and wreck her house so that she's the one who needs the charity, then put that status on a big banner outside her house reminding people why she's a clown.

Tonyandthewhale

Absolutely hate this nonsense. People with no skills or experience going over to build schools or houses or hospitals or teach English. Save the money spent on your exotic holiday and hire a qualified local to do the work. Contribute a little to the local economy and spare my facebook newsfeed the nonsense.

Plenty of local charities that need volunteers and none of these folk are interested in lifting a finger there. And why do people always expect to be sponsored for fun stuff like sky-diving or climbing fecking kilimanjaro? Why can't they be sponsored for every hour they spend picking up litter or volunteering to help the homeless, mentally disabled or elderly?

If someone came knocking on my door and asked for a euro for every hour they spent volunteering with the daughters of charity with all proceeds going to building a hospital in the developing world I'd happily dig down the back of the sofa for a few quid. When they rock up asking for a few quid so they can go bungie jumping to raise money for an exotic holiday I tell them to **** off.

Aongus Von Bismarck

My brother and a couple of his friends went on a charity 'trek' a couple of years ago to Thailand. Someone like Marty Morrissey or Micheál O Muircheartaigh was the celebrity doing the trek as well. Most of the excitement leading up to it seemed to not be about helping the charity, but rather more about how much weed and opium they were going to smoke, and how many 'buckets' they were going to drink in Chiang Mai once the trek was over.

A complete waste of time, and I was always sceptical as to the amount of money the charity actually got as a result. Suffice to say I didn't contribute to this most cynical of charitable endeavours. I'd rather give money to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

byhookorbycrook

As a person with MS, I always find the sponsored walks to *insert pleasant destination* somewhat ironic.

Grays Sports Almanac

Sheepy99 wrote: »

Group of people should get together and wreck her house so that she's the one who needs the charity

"I wouldn't take that down if I were you. It's a load-bearing poster."

c_man

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I wouldnt mind so much if it was professional builders or teachers but someone who never lifted a hammer before off to build houses in African heat? HA, probably get in the way more than actually help,

This. Woman at work was looking for funds for something similar lately. I wouldn't let her near IKEA shelves, let alone a dwelling for a family.

MRnotlob606

I don't understand why the get students to help building houses , like come on !

Laphroaig52

shruikan2553 wrote: »

I wouldnt mind so much if it was professional builders or teachers but someone who never lifted a hammer before off to build houses in African heat? HA, probably get in the way more than actually help,

Could someone explain the logic of these house building charity trips?

I'd be happy to donate money for materials,tools, land and stuff if its a good cause. I could even be convinced to donate to send some experienced chippies and sparks and the like to share their experience.

But don't these countries have any local labourers that could do or be trained to do the job?

As you say, it's not like the people fund raising to go over have any house building experience so why in the name of God would you import unskilled labourers into poor countries with high unemployment?

I see them in the local supermarket in their tee-shirts at the back of the checkouts with a big tin beside them. Well thanks for packing my bag and all that Missy.......but I'd like someone to pay for my holiday too.

bb1234567

I think its more about the rich westerner having cool photos to upload to Facebook and something good to put on their CV than helping these poor people.

Littlekittylou

bluewolf wrote: »

do you need a holiday

You have no ****ing idea. But doesn't everyone need a holiday right now?

I would do a charity trip but apparently it's been done.

As a side note. I do know three people who did go to Africa to do charity work. The three of them saved up whilst working. One guy was working here as a special needs assistant in the Irish school system. And he went over to a particularly bad area of Burundi. He was in Bujumbura for a while. He is a runner and he almost got arrested one morning for disobeying the 'jogging ban'. That is how crazy their regime is.

He came back the end of last year and had to get used to seeing people carrying around bags of food.

He did a lot of good work over there I have a lot of respect for people who do it.

Do you really think people go over with the idea of NOT helping?

Just because you can't do everything or solve everything or you don't know all the answers doesn't mean you do nothing.

There are no PERFECT good deeds ...but there are good deeds from imperfect people.

Laphroaig52

bb1234567 wrote: »

I think its more about the rich westerner having cool photos to upload to Facebook and something good to put on their CV than helping these poor people.

Ah here.....how did you become so cynical?

Littlekittylou

Flyer28 wrote: »

Ah here.....how did you become so cynical?

It's just an excuse to feel good about not doing it i think and to try and make good doers feel bad. Never underestimate how much people will blame you for being nice.:rolleyes:

I would probably be praised if I turned into the biggest bitch tomorrow!

lynski

Many of these trips to volunteer in schools or children's homes are at best counterproductive. Orphaned children need to form relationships and they can't do that with a stream of 'volunteer' students changing every few months. They need trained, experienced professionals, preferably local. Locals will help the local economy by spending their wages locally, no extra stress on the environment, the community and the children. And no obnoxious 'changed my life' posts after two wks.

Sheepy99

Hollis Hurlbut wrote: »

"I wouldn't take that down if I were you. It's a load-bearing poster."

"So then I said to her, look lady, your car was upside-down when i got here. And as for your grandma, she shouldn't have been mouthin' off like that!"

Littlekittylou

Littlekittylou wrote: »

There are no PERFECT good deeds ...but there are good deeds from imperfect people.

I don't know. It's hard to find the self-interest in the likes of people who go to Mali to care for ebola patients and live in really basic and sometimes dangerous conditions when they do, and other unfashionable and unsung causes.

It's a world away from looking for donations to fund a stroll on the Great Wall to 'raise awareness' or somesuch. There definitely are altruistic acts, but they're in the minority.

Littlekittylou

Candie wrote: »

I don't know. It's hard to find the self-interest in the likes of people who go to Mali to care for ebola patients and live in really basic and sometimes dangerous conditions when they do, and other unfashionable and unsung causes.

Here here.

JAMES VI

"I don't mean this to sound in any way bitchy but my mum and a few friends made a realistic point that if everyone of my followers on this page have a euro, we would 100% come up with the money for the fund. But Im kind of taking a back that nobody wants to help or donate when it's going to be benefiting so many little children in a boarding school! I'm going to be teaching English and maths aswel as helping within the community. I can't do it if I don't raise the money. Please help "

I'm about to sound really bitchy in every way but my...

Ah f*** it. I was gonna translate the whole thing but I wouldn't be f***ing bothered.

What a bullsh*ttin' b*%@&^d!

BetterThanThou

I've met very few people doing good honest work for charity. I know someone who ran a show for charity(not going to get into the type, as I believe he posts on boards), the charity covered all the costs for him, and after the show, he came to me and said "If you ever want to run a show, get on to a charity, they'll cover the costs so you've no risk", at that point, I knew he didn't give a crap about the charity in question and was just using it to live out his fantasies. Another time I worked for a well known Irish charity selling scratchcards(Wasn't doing it for charity, needed cash and I viewed it as any normal job), and lets just say, with this specific charity in question, various people get a cut of the scratchcards, about 10 cent of the 3 euro someone spends on a scratchcard goes to actually helping someone. In my entire life, I've only ever seen one group of people who genuinely seem to care about charity, for the last 2 and a half years, I've ran into a group of foreign students practically every time I've been in Dublin City Centre from around 9 to 10, it seems nearly every single night they spend their free time giving tea and sandwiches to the homeless, that's genuine charity.