Shamus Brown

There is a voluntourism group at my accommodation in Mole National Park. “Expedition Volunteer” as it says on their shirts.

I was going to just ignore them, but I ended up going down to a view point and all 20 of them were there along with their “parent supervisors”.

To not be rude, I greeted one of the parents and asked where they were from – we exchanged pleasantries and then I asked him about what they were doing here. The man replied: building a school in arcree I said back: you mean Accra? A city of 3M people? He said yes. I said okay yes poverty still exists there- as it does everywhere.

From there, he proceeded to explain how 5 groups of 20 American teens will be going down to Ghana for 2 weeks to “build a part of a school” then by the end: bam! A school!

I followed up with the question: so why are you doing this? It was interpreted as me praising the kids for taking time to come to Ghana to volunteer so they said: to give back. I said: that’s an amazing sentiment but say it costs at least 3k for each of you to come for only 2 weeks then there’s 5 groups of you coming and 20 per group, wouldn’t the money be better used if you just had local people build the school?

They were all silent. The dad said: well, we are free labor. I followed it up with: labour in my opinion is not the issue, it is very cheap here and it would be benefiting someone by giving them a steady job for a few months.

Silence.

I then realized I probably destroyed a couple kiddo’s worlds and the last thing I wanted to do was shame them (because once you shame someone, you lose any ability to connect and help them expand their views).

So I said: look – here’s what I’m doing here (engineering work for a social enterprise) then said there are definitely Ghanaians here who could do my job and this brings me joy, as it reminds me that what this life is truly about is experiences.

A young woman from the group then piped up and said: it’s all about the experience. I said: YES EXACTLY – AMAZING.

I continued by saying: Ghanaian people are some of the kindest people I’ve met and the last thing I want to do is lecture a bunch of people with nothing but good intent in their hearts, but please remember this is an experience for you, a privilege for you, so please keep that in mind as you cary on with your journey.

Again, silence.

Then I said goodbye and left.

As I reflect on it now – I am so happy I didn’t just shame them. Because that would have just made them hate me and not have actually gone anywhere productive.

Now hopefully at least a couple of them have a little think- beyond just the inevitable “man, that guy sucks”.

I’ve been in social situations where I was the richest & others where I was the poorest.

I’ve been in conversations where I was the most educated & others where I was the least educated.

I’ve worked in environments where I was the most experienced & others where I was the least experienced.

I’ve been in rooms where I was the most privileged & others where I was the least privileged.

The list goes on, and as it grows I get to experience many perspectives within my own life and become a more complete person.

Though these experiences are sometimes frustrating and uncomfortable as they happen, having sat at both ends of multiple situations is a blessing.

It has gifted me with a unique perspective and understanding that continues to grow day by day. I’m excited to continue this beautiful journey and see how many walks of life I can experience within my own limits.

Regardless of what side of a table someone sits on I can connect with them on some level of mutual understanding and that’s worth any hardship, isn’t it?