Criticisms of Volunteerism Volunteering abroad can be a great opportunity for one to combine their passion for serving others and traveling. However, as with many things, there are many negative effects of volunteering abroad, which are known as criticisms of volunteerism. One of the most common criticisms of volunteerism is that the trips are short term, meaning that they are often only one or two weeks at the most. This leads to many other downsides of a short-term trip for volunteers, such as; limited interaction and immersion, limited impact, no room for error, and the volunteers feeling rushed. First, a short-term trip can cause limited interaction and immersion between the volunteer and the citizens of the community. This is the case because, it may take the locals two or three days to warm up to the volunteers in their community, and by this time their work in the community will be almost finished. Having limited interaction and immersion with the locals is a negative aspect of volunteering abroad because, the volunteers don’t get the opportunity to get to know the citizens and the individuals whom their work is impacting. Also, less interactions with the locals of the community means that the volunteers aren’t being exposed to the local culture and they don’t get to experience the traditions of the community. Next, a short-term trip can cause the volunteers to have a limited impact on both the work they are doing and the locals. This is true because, it takes some time to connect to strangers and have a personal impact, meaning that, since volunteers are only there for about a week, they won’t have as much of an impact as they would if they were there for longer. For example, if an individual went on a service trip to teach children in an orphanage, they would have a limited impact on the children. This is accurate in this situation because, it would normally require time for a teacher to connect to the students and work through a curriculum, however, it often takes a week or two just to simply get used to a new setting and become comfortable in one’s role. A short-term service trip can mean that there is no room for the volunteers to make any errors. This is the case because, since they only have a week, any errors or problems in the work could lead to little or no impact being made at all. For example, if something were to happen while completing a service project, the volunteers may have to start over, or they may not be able to complete any work at all. Another incident that could occur on a short-term trip, is sickness, which will also have an impact on the amount of work that one can complete. For example, if a volunteer caught a stomach bug midway through their ten-day trip, which is a common occurrence when one is eating new foods or drinking unfamiliar water, then the work they were sent to complete has a good chance of not being completed. Lastly, a short-term service trip can also cause the volunteers to feel rushed to complete their project. This can be a problem as the trip could only be ten days long, and one tries to fit in all the site seeing and complete their project in that short amount of time. This leaves the volunteers feeling that they may not have enough time to complete their work, so they rush to try and finish. Also, this can cause the volunteer to have an unpleasant experience on their trip and they may not want to complete more service trips abroad. When completing a service trip, one also needs to consider other aspects of the trip. How are the volunteering opportunities chosen? Are the projects being completed of real need to the community? Is there an application process or certain qualifications for the volunteers? What will happen to the project over time? Is there any commitment by the organization to finish the work they started? These are important questions to ask both while looking for a service trip to go on, and completing a trip. It is important to consider how the volunteer opportunities are chosen and if they are real needs of the community because, it is important to make a difference while on the trip, and not just do work that doesn’t have any meaning to the locals. Next, it is important to ask if there is an application process or qualifications for the volunteers because, for some service projects, such as giving antibiotics or vaccinations to the locals in a community, the individuals giving the medicine should be certified. Lastly, one should consider what will happen to the project over time, and the commitment made by the organization to finish the work they started because, if they know they are not going to finish the project, or have plans to finish the project, then they won’t be making much of an impact while they are on the trip, so it would be more of a voluntourism trip than volunteering abroad. I can learn from these criticisms to better my work in the future, before going on any service trips abroad. These issues will help me when deciding if I should participate in a trip. For example, I will use the questions listed above to analyze the aspects of the trip to see if I will be making an impact by going on the trip. Then I will use the criticisms described above to reflect on my experience, to decide whether I made an impact on the community or not. In conclusion, it is important to be cautious when selecting a trip to participate in, to make sure that your experience will be purposeful, and not just for traveling abroad.