Service Learning | Antonia McGrath | TEDxYouth@Zurich

00:12:57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kcPvDuQpE

Ringkasan

TLDRThe speaker highlights the dangers of idealistic volunteerism, particularly among young people who may inadvertently cause harm through short-term service trips. Drawing from their experiences in Ghana and Honduras, they argue that many of these trips disrupt local communities and fail to understand the complexities of development issues. The speaker advocates for a more thoughtful approach to volunteering that prioritizes education, cultural understanding, and humility, while introducing their NGO, Educate, which focuses on local educational projects. The core message is to learn from and respect host communities rather than imposing solutions.

Takeaways

  • πŸ€” Idealistic young people can be dangerous when volunteering without knowledge.
  • πŸ›‘ Short-term service trips may do more harm than good.
  • 🌍 Understanding local culture is crucial for effective volunteering.
  • πŸ“– Education about local issues should precede volunteer trips.
  • πŸ› οΈ Untrained volunteers may not be the solution local communities need.
  • πŸ‘₯ Respecting host cultures should be a priority for volunteers.
  • 🚫 The focus should be on learning rather than 'helping'.
  • πŸ‘Ά Short-term volunteering can confuse and disrupt children’s lives.
  • 🚸 Educate is an NGO focused on sustainable education in Honduras.
  • πŸ‘£ Travel should be approached with humility and an open mind.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker reflects on their experiences with volunteerism and service-learning, highlighting the potential dangers of idealistic youth trying to help without a deep understanding of the situations they are engaging in. They share personal anecdotes from trips to Ghana where their initial enthusiasm turned into skepticism as they began questioning the actual impact of their efforts and the appropriateness of their interventions in local communities. The inconsistency between what they believed they were providing and the real needs on the ground prompted a critical reassessment of how such trips could often do more harm than good.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:12:57

    Transitioning to their time in Honduras, the speaker illustrates the drastic effects of untrained foreign volunteers, shedding light on the complications of development issues. They discuss an instance where a well-meaning charity inadvertently exacerbated gang violence by relocating families without understanding local dynamics. The speaker emphasizes that short-term solutions often oversimplify complex problems and acknowledges the importance of awareness and cultural understanding. They propose that to make service trips more valuable, volunteers should learn about the local context and adopt a humble attitude while focusing on education as a path to sustainable development. The talk concludes with recommendations for meaningful engagement and the founding of an NGO aimed at facilitating important educational initiatives in Honduras.

Peta Pikiran

Video Tanya Jawab

  • What issues do short-term service trips create?

    Short-term service trips can create disruption, abandonment syndrome, and ineffective use of resources due to volunteers' lack of understanding of local culture.

  • Why is understanding local culture important in service trips?

    Understanding local culture is crucial to ensure that efforts do not inadvertently cause harm and to truly benefit the community.

  • What does the speaker suggest to improve service trips?

    The speaker suggests that untrained volunteers should focus on learning rather than 'serving', understand the local context, and recognize their limited impact.

  • What organization did the speaker help found?

    The speaker helped found an NGO called Educate, which supports education-related projects in Honduras.

  • What should volunteers aim for during service trips?

    Volunteers should aim to learn about and from the communities they visit, respecting and appreciating the local culture.

  • What perspective did the speaker gain from long-term volunteering?

    The speaker gained insights into the significant impact of short-term trips and the complexities of local social issues.

  • How can traveling to developing countries be valuable?

    Traveling to developing countries can provide perspective and personal transformation that cannot be achieved from home.

  • What is a common misconception about volunteer trips?

    A common misconception is that volunteers significantly help communities when often they may not contribute effectively.

  • How can volunteering in a foreign country affect children?

    Children may experience confusion and disruption in their routines due to transient volunteers coming and going.

  • What is the overall message of the speaker?

    The speaker emphasizes the importance of approaching service work with humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.

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Teks
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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:10
    [Applause]
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    the world is full of idealistic young
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    people who want to do their part in
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    changing the world and making it a
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    better place I would count myself among
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    them but over the past few years I've
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    started to realize that we idealistic
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    young people are also potentially
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    dangerous because we're trying to help
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    without really knowing what we're doing
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    you've probably heard of volunteerism or
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    service-learning it basically refers to
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    groups of usually young Western
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    do-gooders traveling into an oppressed
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    area or country to volunteer at projects
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    like building a school or teaching
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    English or planting trees but these
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    kinds of projects I would argue often do
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    more harm than good I want to tell you
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    about my journey both literally and
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    figuratively speaking through various
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    service trips and the ideas that I've
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    come up with as a result about how I
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    think we need to transform these kinds
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    of trips in order to make them truly
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    worthwhile when I was fourteen naive and
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    curious I signed up for a group at my
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    school called team Ghana as part of this
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    group I am 20 others in my year traveled
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    to Ghana during the holidays to teach
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    English and dig ditches at our sister
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    school in matching t-shirts and lesson
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    plans all prepared we rocked up at the
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    school for a week that arguably is why
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    understanding here today it was it was
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    the beginning of a period of ongoing
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    nought for me and I have to say my 14
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    year old self thought it was fantastic
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    in fact so much so that I went back to
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    God
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    more Hayden's while I was still in high
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    school but the more time I spent
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    involved in this project the more I
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    began to question it certainly on my
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    third trip to Ghana there was a growing
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    nagging thought in the back of my head
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    saying what are you doing here and I was
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    becoming more and more skeptical of what
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    we were really going there to do because
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    it seems like the old service trip
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    cliche that they gave us so much more
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    than we gave them and yet we were
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    calling this a service trip when I
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    graduated from high school in 2014 I
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    uprooted and moved to the country of
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    Honduras in Central America now at the
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    time Honduras has the highest homicide
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    rate of any country in the world so not
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    to lead my parents were terrified in
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    Honduras I was working for the uk-based
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    charity project trust at an orphanage
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    for extra children I was a teacher a
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    nanny an organizer and a big sister
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    figure to the 39 children of the home
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    who came from a background of immense
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    poverty abuse and neglect working in
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    Honduras as a long-term volunteer menace
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    that I got to see these kinds of short
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    term service trips that I had the so
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    long been a part of from a different
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    perspective as they came in to the
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    orphanage where I was working finally I
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    was able to see just how detrimental
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    these kinds of service trips can be
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    especially in terms of abandonment
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    syndrome disruption of routine and
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    ineffective use
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    time and resources these people didn't
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    understand
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    Honduran culture or the organizational
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    structure of the home and they were
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    coming in that creating disruption that
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    meant that children weren't finishing
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    their homework controls and every time
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    they left with their cameras full of
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    adorable photos they left behind these
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    39 very confused children and as a
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    long-term volunteer I was able to see
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    just how much they were impacted by this
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    this I'd like to share with you a story
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    that I was told by a long-term
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    missionary in Honduras there was an area
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    near the city where I lived could
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    sunport game and it was a noticeably
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    poor area one year a few years ago now a
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    us-based charity came to Honduras and
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    decided to build new houses for some of
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    the families from South Market in
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    another part of the city to provide them
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    with safe secure housing where they
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    raise their families and in principles
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    idea sounds fantastic but what these
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    people didn't know was that some cocaine
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    is a gang center gangs are a huge
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    problem in forests and are largely the
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    reason for the country's incredibly high
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    murder rates and suffocate in the center
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    of this it so can control that even the
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    police can't enter any one juror knows
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    this but they didn't so what they
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    basically did when they built these new
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    houses was they spread the influence the
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    gang influence from San Joaquin to a
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    whole novel part of the city thereby
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    increasing violence and during far more
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    harm than good
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    trying to work in a culture that you
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    don't understand can have drastically
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    negative
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    and good intentions are absolutely not
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    enough short-term service trips provides
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    simplified development issues that
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    untrained Westerners feel able and
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    entitled to help wedge these trips make
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    complicated issues seem simple by
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    putting emphasis on short-term goals
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    that short-term volunteers can easily
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    accomplish to gain a sense of
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    achievement things like build school or
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    teach a child or plant a certain number
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    of trees but what these ideas fail to
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    recognize is just how complicated
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    development issues are poverty
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    inequality violence and crime there are
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    no easy short-term solutions for these
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    problems having said that I know that
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    nobody goes to Ghana or anywhere else
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    for that matter with the aim of causing
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    harm of course you go as I did because
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    you believe that in some way you can
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    help but the truth is you can't I'm not
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    talking here about training them
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    qualified professionals I'm talking
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    about young untrained foreign volunteers
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    think about it this way the resource
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    that developing countries usually have
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    above all others is unskilled labor they
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    don't need you as well that being said I
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    think there is one aspect of these trips
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    that is invaluable
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    and that is the chance to see a totally
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    new part of the world and the impact
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    that this can have on your perspective
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    before living in Honduras I had never
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    been the only white person
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    or the only English speaker or the only
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    one who had finished high school I'd
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    never experienced living without
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    electricity and water but days at a time
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    I've never seen dead bodies on the
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    streets or guarding the fitti lining the
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    walls of a city that I call home
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    I've never spoken to a nine-year-old
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    girl about how she used to work in the
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    sex industry well listen as an
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    eight-year-old boy told me about the
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    time he watched his father shot three
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    times and fall backwards off a bridge
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    into the river dead and also never
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    danced by Chaka or make tortillas on a
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    regular basis or invited my Honduran
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    friends over for a dinner of pasta and
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    tomato sauce which for some reason they
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    couldn't understand the appeal of these
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    experiences change you in a way that I
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    don't think you could be changed from
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    the comfort of your own home and that is
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    valuable even if it is only for you and
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    I think that's reason enough to travel
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    to a developing country but it requires
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    you to go there with the aim of learning
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    I think we can make several fundamental
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    changes to how we do service trips that
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    can lead them to becoming more valuable
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    both for the volunteers and for the
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    people that they're trying to benefit
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    which is arguably more important Western
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    teenagers shouldn't be taught to believe
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    that they can help God better and train
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    gun ants but that doesn't mean that they
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    shouldn't be going to God there are
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    three things that I think need to happen
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    in order to make these service trips
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    worthwhile first of all if a group of
  • 00:10:08
    untrained foreign volunteers is going to
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    go to a developing country for a short
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    period of time it shouldn't be a service
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    trip if you're not trained for the job
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    that you're doing probably shouldn't
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    secondly discussions about developed
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    theory in general and about the
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    political historical economic and
  • 00:10:32
    socio-cultural situation of the country
  • 00:10:34
    that you're going through in particular
  • 00:10:36
    should be learned about and discussed
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    both prior to the trip and throughout
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    earth as these concepts are put into
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    context
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    this makes volunteers think about how
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    the work that they're doing fits in to
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    the development of the community the
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    country and the world as a whole and it
  • 00:10:55
    both educates and humble with the
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    volunteers it's so important that these
  • 00:11:01
    people question their motives an ability
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    to create necessary lasting and
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    impactful change and thirdly volunteers
  • 00:11:12
    need to understand the limited impact
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    that any service trip is going to have
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    they can't go into this thinking that
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    they're going to make fundamental
  • 00:11:22
    changes for the community or change will
  • 00:11:24
    by all of the people that they're going
  • 00:11:26
    to meet volunteers are guests in these
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    communities and need to act as such not
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    only respecting but appreciating a host
  • 00:11:36
    culture the aim should be to serve them
  • 00:11:40
    it should be to learn about and from
  • 00:11:43
    them based on these ideas I and several
  • 00:11:49
    others have been working to found the
  • 00:11:51
    NGO educate which supports education
  • 00:11:54
    related projects in Honduras we believe
  • 00:11:58
    that education is at the root of
  • 00:12:00
    sustainable development and that it must
  • 00:12:02
    be a Hondurans for the acting to create
  • 00:12:04
    this change so we as directors act
  • 00:12:07
    really as facilitators all been we in
  • 00:12:11
    the West are not superior and we need to
  • 00:12:14
    stop with this mentality of the service
  • 00:12:16
    that's perpetuating this toxic idea if
  • 00:12:20
    development and human rights is
  • 00:12:23
    something that you're interested in then
  • 00:12:25
    travel can be a great way to gain
  • 00:12:27
    first-hand knowledge be curious but be
  • 00:12:31
    humble go out into the
  • 00:12:34
    your eyes and your mind wide open and
  • 00:12:37
    learn as much as you can
  • 00:12:42
    [Applause]
  • 00:12:54
    you
Tags
  • volunteerism
  • service trips
  • development
  • cultural understanding
  • Honduras
  • Ghana
  • education
  • sustainability
  • local impact
  • humanitarian efforts