Voluntourism

Voluntourism comes in all shapes and forms.  In neighbouring Ghana it's become a profitable business for many charitable organisations that doesn't always direct the money where it should to help the NGO in question.

People of all ages from gap year students to retirees are paying what I would consider phenomenal amounts of money to 'help'.  They often arrive without skills that would be of use to the NGO in question for short periods of time that really doesn't merit their presence.  At the end they return home with photos on their social media pages surrounded by 'disadvantaged' children and another box ticked on their CV.  It's really quite sad.

Imagine the shock when a volunteer is offered the chance of a 3 month placement without paying a fee; just their flights, visa and daily costs.  Room and board included to assist a centre with trafficked children, references are obligatory as is a current police check.

An Australian art teacher was given this opportunity, previously known via their professional life in Khartoum, Sudan and more recently in Cairo, Egypt.  A reference was obtained and the police check held on file.  The objective for this volunteer was to work with the children allowing to express themselves in art whilst keeping an eye on the overall running of the centre and finances.  Very kindly money was raised to gain art supplies and buy paint to create murals at the centre, or so it said on the crowdfunder website.

Unfortunately it all changed on arrival; quickly deceived by a (now former) employee, communication was limited with the organization's board due to the employee's greed and deception.  Knowing that this volunteer had already spent time in Africa, the presumption was that the volunteer would see the reality of what was actually happening.  Sadly not! 

However, things took a turn for the worse when the volunteers website was discovered.  Firstly personal details of the children and their origins were put online (thankfully the former employee didn't carry out the correct research so the child's village is some 200km away from where they thought).  The NGO's own motorbike was used without authorisation to go miles into the bush with terrible consequences for its wear and tear, particularly on the engine. Then upon leaving the paintings done by the children had been removed so that they could be sold online ... https://theartandsoulproject.wordpress.com

People close to the organization are disgusted by this behaviour, numerous messages were sent to the volunteer which remain unanswered.  There was one minor change, that the money raised by the pictures will go back into the project.  However the former employee is currently being interviewed by the police for a variety of matters, despite this conduct the two still seem to be in cahoots!

Whichever way you turn, volunteering isn't as simple as it looks!

PS. June 2016, our former coordinator was held in police cells in Abengourou for two nights for blackmail.  Only when he agreed to return the money did he escape a prison term! 

C.R.E.E.R

C.R.E.E.R was formed last night.

Finally after years of wanting to do something to assist children, I've formed a French charity with a wonderful team of people who are all committed to the cause; Centre de Reinsertion et Education des Enfants de la Rue; Cote d'Ivoire.

It's going to be a lot of hard work. Prior to forming C.R.E.E.R I had some great news that 5ha of land would be donated to us; we'll be under an hour from both the Ghana border and the coast in a very quiet & un-touristed area of Cote d'Ivoire.

The idea is to run it as a farm with workshops. We will initially take in street kids between the ages of 12-15 and train them in various trades so that when they're ready to leave, they will have a trade to help them find employment; we're looking at carpentry, metalwork, sewing etc for both boys & girls. Many of them will have been affected by the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, have been the victims of trafficking or encountered some personal catastrophe to be living in the streets.

Controversially we will be opening the doors to volunteers. I've previously said that I'm anti-volunteering organisations, but as a French charity we are non-profit making. All the funds will go to Cote d'Ivoire with very little held in France, solely to pay website fees, banks transfer fees and charges of that nature.

Our plan is to ask volunteers for a one-off sum to reserve their place, they can stay as long as they like. It's not going to be anywhere near 1,000 euros a month as others charge. They can go & assist with a number of projects initially clearing of the land & construction of the centre; accomodation will be offered locally.

Accomodation will eventually be provided on site in very basic dwellings with a small sum being asked of the volunteers for their stay. The reservation fee will pay the salaries of the small team that will run C.R.E.E.R, buy materials & offset any other costs they may have. Other funding should come from the produce on the land, vegetables, eggs, meat etc plus the products that the children will be able to create with their new skills.

To my mind it's a 'HAND UP and not a HAND OUT' project. In 5 years I'd like to see this being self-sustainable. If there's 'extra' money available in the longer term then we plan to build a second centre elsewhere in Cote d'Ivoire with the same principles.

I'm just back from a business trip to South Africa & Botswana, it's been 27years since I was last in South Africa, went as a child; very pleased to see the changes there. However my heart is still firmly in W.Africa, there just wasn't that vibe down there that I was expecting!!! Whilst there I visited a few projects in my spare time which gave me a lot of ideas about what could be done in Cote d'Ivoire with the children & made a few very useful contacts.

At the moment, this is a word of mouth project. If you know anyone who would like to help us, either by coming & assisting with the project or by fund-raising at home, we'd be very grateful to hear from you. I hope in the near future we'll have a website up & running with constant updates on the progress of the centre.

Post a comment on here with your e-mail address if you like (it's not published unless you ask me to do so) or e-mail us at: c.r.e.e.r.rci AT gmail.com

Aid ... comes in all shapes & forms ... or does it?

Africa needs assistance ...

There's various ideologies; from the UN's various departments such as http://www.unv.org/en/how-to-volunteer/volunteer-onsite.html down to the small NGO's such as the one in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire www.emsf.org; another in Cameroon www.fundacionkapsiki.org
or this one in Ghana http://www.fundacjafreespirit.pl/eng/index0_eng.html . Added to all these and many others, there's a village I know in Guinea Bissau, a gorgeous spot right on the beach. They didn't have access to the outside world for 10months due to an Oxfam truck with 10tons of rice that fell into a river & broke the bridge & their lifeline as a consquence; that village needs assistance in many forms!

However, having spent the last two weeks ranting about a certain airlines' lack of assistance in getting my much needed humanitarian goods to Abidjan with me in a few weeks, I've decided to rant on-line especially having seen a piece from the guys on www.africansurfer.com.

There's too much money out there not being channelled correctly!!!

Why is it that Royal Air Babouche (amongst others) are refusing to take these much needed supplies? They've admitted to me that they USED TO allow humanitarian goods to travel with passengers. I've been told to cough up 15euros per kilo ... I pointed out I do not have the resources of a bank (& most banks lately seem to have been bailed out by their governments anyway - I'm sure Sarko won't do that for my excess luggage bill).

Why is it that there are thousands of 'organisations' out there that GAP year kiddies parents can PAY to send them to a foreign land to 'voluneteer'. Do they help out??? I somehow doubt it ...

Why then is money flowing to send un-needed adolescents to 'do good' in countries that could get the money in other forms; send your kids there to see what's happening but FOR GOD SAKES don't pay these unscrupulous 'organisations' to put them to work ... send your money elsewhere to a smaller NGO that needs the money you were thinking of paying Mr Fat Cat.

Just look at this 'google' list http://www.google.fr/search?q=volunteer+africa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a all I did was tap in 'volunteer africa' and thousands of pay-to-volunteer organisations were listed!

It's full of 'volunteer' opportunities - 900 euros screamed out at me from one site to 'secure your place' - EXCLUDING flights ... There's even a 'lo-cost' volunteering option - Ryanair's Mr O'Leary will be in on the act soon ... lo-cost flights, no frills with lo-cost volunteering - I ask you!!! What is the world coming to?!!!

So if anyone wants to send me some cash to pay RAM to fly my 'excessive' supplies to www.emsf.org - I'd gladly accept it!!!