Learning about the up and downs of volunteering, one can discover that the time frame of intervention is crucial. There are short-term, infrequent volunteer trips with little or no follow-through, which we can consider instances of “episodic” aid. Then, there is “enduring” aid which is working with constant contact and long-term engagement. People looking to “save the world” should have a focus on working towards enduring contact rather than episodic.
EPISODIC
Most people have volunteered before in hopes to “save the world,” however in most cases going somewhere and helping short term does more harm than good. Many readings including Judith Lasker’s Hoping to Help and Greg Beckett’s “A Dog’s Life” talk about the harm that episodic volunteering causes.
Lasker states that short-term volunteers need time to adjust to a community. If a person were to stay for a short period of time they cannot make any change, because by the time they settle into a community it is time to leave. Beckett’s “A Dog’s Life” discusses how after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti attracted foreign volunteers who ended up causing more problems in this impoverished community.
“Yes, I came for two weeks’ and everyone applauds, but after one month, two months there’s nothing left” (Hoping to Help, 174).
“Short-term volunteers, in addition to often being ill prepared and inexperienced, require time to learn how to function well and relate better to the host communities so that the volunteering experience is mutually beneficial” (Hoping to Help, 206)
“All of these foreigners—why are they here? They come and go. They wave food all around. We sniff at it but we don’t get it. They treat us like animals. Haitians are dogs now” (A Dog’s Life).
If you are looking towards “saving the world”, it is essential that you focus on an enduring outlook which will be more long-term. As Judith Lasker said in her book Hoping to Help, volunteering will be more effective if one goes for at least one month. More is possible if a volunteer is in a host community for a longer period of time because they will be able to better understand the culture and use that knowledge to facilitate change.
Volunteers will be able to create partnerships with host communities. One organization that values the idea of partnerships is Partners in Health. This organization, co-founded by Paul Farmer, relies on the enduring time frame which enables it to be very successful in developing nations, such as Haiti.
“If you come every two or three months and you’re following up your current patients and if you are trying to help people with needs of surgeries and things like that, you are definitely making a difference” (Hoping to Help, 173)
“Namibians welcomed international volunteers who were willing to make a commitment to their country in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect” (Hoping to Help, 127).
“They were so thankful that I would come back and see them” (Hoping to Help, 142)