Ken Budd: Voluntourist
Voluntourism is one of the most popular, but also one of the most contentious, segments of the travel market, says Linda Humphrey.
Photo Credit: trazetravel.com
By the time he arrived at a Kenyan orphanage, Ken Budd was uneasy. ‘Orphanage Tourism’
had been getting bad press, with reports of corruption in Cambodia warning volunteers to
stay away. A South African study advised travelers to steer clear as well, linking a revolving
door of volunteers with attachment disorders in the children.
Budd, author of the award-winning memoir The Voluntourist, had set out to ‘live a life that matters,’ scraping paint in hurricane-battered New Orleans and teaching English to a rowdy bunch of kids in Costa Rica. He then traveled to China, Ecuador, Palestine and Kenya—
pitching in at a special needs school, a climate-change research project, a refugee camp
and the orphanage.
“I find this ‘white savior’ criticism a bit puzzling, because that was never my approach,”
Budd says. “I always viewed myself as an intern.”
Voluntourism is one of the fastest-growing travel segments, according to Mintel, a market research firm. The programs tend to attract a young, privileged, unskilled crowd, Mintel
reports, which has set off a contentious debate about whether they benefit the volunteers
and the operators more than they help those in need.
Instagram’s Barbie Savior, a spoof account created earlier this year as a joke between two
former volunteers, has reached over 150,000 followers. Barbie posts from Africa with captions like ‘Orphans take the BEST pictures! So. Cute.’ and ‘Who needs a formal education to teach
in Africa? Not me! All I need is some chalk and a dose of optimism’.
This scrutiny can sometimes be a good thing, says Budd, who traveled, variously, with Re-building Together, Cross-Cultural Solutions, Global Volunteers, Earthwatch, Volunteers for Peace and British-based Travellers Worldwide. Would-be voluntourists should ask about the organization’s impact on the local people and speak with former volunteers, Budd says.
“You’ve really got to do your homework. This isn’t like going to the beach.”
Lodging tends to be rustic. “Cross-Cultural Solutions believes in this community dorm-like setting,” Budd explains, adding that his Costa Rica ‘dorm’ was packed with college students
in the August heat, all waiting in line for showers. (“We all really bonded because of that,”
Budd says.) Volunteers washed and dried their own dishes after meals (most often rice and
beans) and were forbidden to drink alcohol in town.
In China, Budd’s Global Volunteers team—most over the age of 60—checked into a hotel;
In Kenya, Travellers Worldwide placed Budd and his wife with a local family.
“You read all of the criticism about these homes, but here’s this kid who would have gotten zero individual attention [without volunteers],” Budd says. “He would have been sitting on the floor, getting nothing. I’d been told by our team leader in China that volunteers are like links in a chain. It’s not a perfect system, obviously, but I think there’s some value in that.”
What happens when the voluntourist returns home? Budd is giving the earnings from his book
to the places where he volunteered. In Kenya, The Voluntourist has covered school fees for 11 children, including some of the kids featured in the book.
“Don’t go into this thinking you’re going to change the world,” Budd says. "And expect some bruises. Just about everywhere I went, I got banged up.
In Ecuador, I slid down a mountain and got tree bark lodged behind my thumb nail. I got about 30 mosquito bites and a spider bite the size of a
golf ball. I suffered stomach viruses in China and Kenya. I was kicked by
a horse and scratched by children. But I’m thankful for all of these experiences because they changed how I view the world—and myself.”
Up Next
