Tanzania – still heartbreaking, still beautiful
In 2023, I spent 5 weeks in Africa. I visited a friend in Nairobi, Kenya. Then I spent 18 days in Arusha, Tanzania. Tanzania was overwhelming in so many ways… even getting there was unsettling. I had decided to take a bus from Kenya to Tanzania. There are many bus tours for solo travelers but they are quite expensive. Then I found a website for a local bus company that was 1/4 of the cost of anything else. I am always looking for budget friendly options so of course I booked it.
Stepping onto the bus, I was quite surprised and, if I am being honest, very uneasy. I was not only the only tourist on the bus, but I was the only white person and the only woman. It was a long 8 hours, including the 2 hour border crossing inspection. It was one of the most stressful border crossings I have had. As a solo woman traveler – hell, just as a woman – I have felt everything from uneasy to unsafe to extremely frightened before. But I have never felt so ‘other.’ It was a unique experience and definitely shifted my empathy levels.
My time in Tanzania was amazing, challenging and heartbreaking. That sounds really dramatic but is still very true. I went on a safari which was one of those ‘pinch me, is this real’ situations. (The link to my safari blog post can be found below.) I also volunteered at a local school for 2 weeks. That experience was unforgettable – both because it was heartbreaking but also beautiful. Volunteering in Tanzania made me evaluate volunteering in general and more specifically ‘voluntourism.’
Voluntourism
I applied to do a volunteer experience through a global company called IVHQ which works with local companies to place volunteers and arrange homestays. Truthfully, I do not recommend IVHQ as once you pay the fee and they connect you to the local company, you receive no support from them. (In fact, when you leave an honest review on their website of your experience, it gets deleted immediately and you can not get anyone to answer your emails.) For me, it exposed the most negative side of ‘voluntourism.’
To be fair, I have heard of 2 people that had a good experience through IVHQ but I think it totally depends on the local company they partner with. However, based on my experience I do not recommend this company. Many of the global volunteer companies, while being helpful and providing a feeling of security, are essentially for profit businesses selling a volunteer experience. That was my uncomfortable conclusion after my time in Tanzania – one is buying a ‘feel good about yourself, look how much I care’ experience.
My experience wasn’t completely negative. (In fact, I loved it and I feel I did a couple of good things- more on that later.) But overall, I was disappointed in both IVHQ and the local placement company. I was especially appalled at the behaviour of some of the other volunteers in terms of not showing up or being late. Additionally, people were allowed to both choose and change their placements often. People with no teaching experience were allowed to teach at actual schools. Worse, people with no medical experience were allowed to work at vaccination clinics. One of the other volunteers at the school switched after 2 days to a different position because the school was ‘dirty.’ And this was allowed as the volunteer coordinators want their ‘customers’ to be happy.
I think some people might say that any help is better than no help but to me it felt incredibly performative. It seemed like the company (and some volunteers) were just using the schools and clinics to add ‘volunteer in Africa’ to their resume. Overall, it was incredibly disheartening. The local company also seemed much more interested in selling weekend excursions than in facilitating useful volunteer placements. And sadly, many of the volunteers seemed to be more interested in that as well.
Schools in Tanzania
On the positive side, I absolutely loved my volunteer experience in terms of working with the children and the teachers. And 2 of my housemates volunteered at a local women’s empowerment center which did exceptional work in the community. I was lucky and got to teach English, math and science to a class of 30 of the sweetest, most grateful and hard working children. They were beautiful in spirit and honestly had the most joyful smiles considering their circumstances. I also felt good about the help I provided the teachers. Schools in Tanzania can be private or public. Private schools require teachers with teaching degrees and also tuition. Public schools do not require teachers to have a teaching degree, do not have a tuition and sadly, pay very little. Schools are often linked to orphanages and run largely on donations.
The school I volunteered at was both public and about half of the students lived at the orphanage down the street. The teachers were young with very little English. Sadly, most of the classes were ‘taught’ in English, as opposed to Swahili. The director of the school recognized the importance of English. This is because outside of the military, the best way to support a family is in the tourism industry so most schools offer English.
However, the teachers actually spoke very little English and mostly ‘taught’ by simply having the children copy notes from 30 year old textbooks. Neither the teachers nor the students understood much of the content truthfully. It was ‘rote’ learning at its worst. I was able, with the help of someone at my homestay and the internet, to translate several lessons for the teachers. And honestly, that might have had one of the longest lasting impacts of my time there. Plus it felt great to help the teachers as I think that they get, at best, overlooked by the volunteers and at worst, treated with some condescension.
Teaching in Tanzania
I also loved helping the kids better understand their science and marveled at their math skills. Another highlight was buying the class a world map and then teaching them about different places in the world. We also did some group work which was a new way of learning for them. And the kids loved getting their pictures taken! (Note: The kids and school gave me permission to both take their pictures and share them).
It was a wonderful experience on the one hand. And at the same time, every day, the director repeatedly asked me to give money to the school. I think some volunteers do and once I realized how the system worked I did make a very small donation. However, I travel on a budget and had already paid a large amount for this experience. But I found out that IVHQ takes a portion, the local placement company takes their share and then the rest goes to the homestay. None of the money goes to the schools.
After spending 2 weeks at the school, I started thinking that it would have been much more helpful, to the school and the students, if I had just given them the amount I had spent on my volunteer experience. There was no running water at the school, the ‘kitchen’ was too small to feed all of the children and they needed money for food. And the limited and outdated textbooks the teachers had – well I wish I could go back with new materials for every classroom.
On my last day, as I said good bye to the kids, one of them asked me why I was leaving. He then asked me to stay so they could get better at English. His name was Frankie and his words were ‘Please teacher, don’t go. Please stay and teach us. Please, please.” And at that moment, I wondered who the volunteering was for – me or the kids. I know I taught the kids some things and helped the teachers, but leaving after only 2 weeks – well it felt very, very selfish.
After this experience, I think that many organizations, especially schools, would be better served with more donations and less volunteers. Definitely for myself moving forward, I will only volunteer if I can commit to a couple of months if children are involved. I will also put in the extra time to cut out the ‘middle men.’ I want to be able to give the money I would spend on having a company organize everything, directly to the school.
Opposite things can be true
I haven’t named the local company, talked a lot about my homestay or other experiences. All are examples of 2 opposite things being true. The local company did not support the schools or volunteers. Rather they were very focused on selling excursions and organizing pub nights for the volunteers. I really felt that they treated the schools as a way to make money.
At the same time, 2 local women founded the company and employed almost a dozen single moms as volunteer coordinators. My favorite volunteer coordinator shared with me that this was the best job she could have and she was able to send her daughter to a good school because of her job. So heartbreaking in the way they used the schools & clinics but they provided beautiful opportunities for some young moms to have a better life. Tanzania was filled with 2 opposite but true things.
This blog seems a little negative and I do not want to discourage anyone to volunteer. I have had several wonderful volunteer experiences but this was the most conflicting. My hope is that this might help people understand the complexities of voluntourism.
Please feel free to comment and share. And please send any questions you might have about volunteering.
