Volunteers like to believe they're making a positive difference with the work they do on vacation. But not everyone agrees with that sentiment. Critics have their doubts about the value of voluntourism. They claim that short-term voluntourists often arrive unskilled and untrained, and as a result, don't have enough time to make an effective contribution. Another concern is that some work projects actually displace local workers and often result in inequalities in employment. In the self reflection sessions held in the SERVE classes, each and every member presented their views on the drawbacks of Social Work and volunteerism. The most prominent reason to criticize community service, as pointed by all the members including me was the lack of monetary reimbursement and incentives. I concur with the fact that volunteerism is something that ought to be taken out of love and respect for the community but if we look at the scenario, it’s a completely different situation. The rough cost of building a 2000 square feet house in Richmond, Virginia is $267,000, which includes the contractor's commission. Now, instead of hiring a contractor, If a leading non-profit construction organization is given the job, a large chunk of money will be taken out of the economy as no money will be charged for various factors like labors and skilled employees. Not the ignore the fact that the house will not be build by skilled, thus not being completely safe and stable.
Leaving aside the monetary aspects of volunteerism, other points were also highlighted in the dialogue. The fact that so many times, community service is used by famous and influential people like actors and celebrities to ameliorate their public image is something that can't be ignored. Though because of this act, millions are inspired to work and contribute to the community, the whole motive is defeated. Another point that I personally believe is critical in this argument is volunteerism taken as an obligation rather than passion. In most of the high school all around the world, students are 'compelled' to go to service trips and complete their designated hours. A simple thing that needs to be comprehended by everyone, especially the educational authorities is that the entire idea of exposing students to such experiences is to bring them closer to the society. Since they are exposed to volunteerism as an obligation, they start criticizing it which consequently decreases their future participation. Instead of imposing it on them, students should be given various options to do what they want.
The argument can be strengthened by mentioning the interests of local laborers and workers. Most of the volunteers, while doing the work do not realize that they are actually doing someone else's job free of cost. I went for the Habitat for Humanity trip to Roanoke and helped in building a house for a flood affected family. Our leader told us that they had built so many houses here with the help of volunteers like me and my fellow SERVE members but then I realized that what about the skilled workers? I am taking their job away from them.
But it would not fair to say that volunteerism is something that should not be practiced or undertaken by individuals anymore. All the problems mentioned above have a flipside to it. When I go to service trips like Habitat for Humanity and ASP, I get to interact with the families who were affects by the floods and other natural calamities and its very devastating to learn the consequences. I met a family who had lost everything in the floods and were living in a cheap hotel, The owner of the house was 65 year old man named Chuck. He blessed me for building his house and made sure what a noble deed I was doing. So it's not necessary that all the people can afford to rebuild a house after losing every dime they made throughout their lives, hence volunteerism plays an important role in shaping lives. Many high school kids curse their social service trips but they don’t realize the amount of experience and skills that they can potentially withdraw from it. In the Feeding America trip, we were taught about so many skills related to packaging and labelling. In the ASP trip to Christiansburg, Virginia, our trip leader taught how to work with basic construction tools which I feel is essential for every adult.
So, in a nutshell, volunteerism has many downsides to it, but at the same time it can't be termed as an unfruitful activity. But, there are many ways in which some of these problems can be solved. The paramount being, our attitude towards community service. It is of great importance for each and every human being to fathom that by helping someone who is incapable of supporting his/her family or him/herself, we are not doing a favor to anyone. This is the reason of our existence, standing for one another.Volunteerism should be taken as a selfless act rather than an obligation. The second element that we need to understand about community service is the main motivation that drives us, rather than doing social service to build a good image, you should try to motivate everyone around you and make them aware about the various problems that our society is facing today, share your experiences with everyone but at the same time don’t boast about it. Saying that, volunteerism still has a long way to go but its my conviction that we can overcome all this and make this world a better place to live,together,period.