The Selfish Volunteer
My last day at home. This summer I'm off to Dharmasala, India to tutor English language conversation to Tibetan refugees (lhasocialwork.org).
The expenses for this trip mount: $1500 for airfare, $100 for tickets, loss of wages, room and food in-country-- in addition to still paying my rent in Indiana, plus all those little incidentals that come with traveling and ignorance of a new culture. I have to admit I am the selfish volunteer. If my sole interest were in helping Tibetan refugees, I would just write out a check for that amount and drop it in the mail.
But this trip is about me.
It's about my education: learning about another culture and people. It's about a rich, white, westerner 'slumming' while trying to deceive myself that it is about something more. But maybe all aturism is incremental. I won't spend visit to India in an air-conditioned bus with a dispenser of hand-sanitizer ready at the door.
Tomorrow Amtrak to Chicago, Sunday evening the 14 hour flight to Delhi. After that...?
The expenses for this trip mount: $1500 for airfare, $100 for tickets, loss of wages, room and food in-country-- in addition to still paying my rent in Indiana, plus all those little incidentals that come with traveling and ignorance of a new culture. I have to admit I am the selfish volunteer. If my sole interest were in helping Tibetan refugees, I would just write out a check for that amount and drop it in the mail.
But this trip is about me.
It's about my education: learning about another culture and people. It's about a rich, white, westerner 'slumming' while trying to deceive myself that it is about something more. But maybe all aturism is incremental. I won't spend visit to India in an air-conditioned bus with a dispenser of hand-sanitizer ready at the door.
Tomorrow Amtrak to Chicago, Sunday evening the 14 hour flight to Delhi. After that...?
Labels: Dharmasala, hypocrisy, lha, volunteering
posted by Mike at 8:42 AM
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