Ethical Service, By Lauren D'Agostino

Meet Lauren, GSP Mentor 2015-2016
Thoughts on our program, and how we are getting international service right!

 The world of international volunteering is deeply fulfilling but also fraught with ethical dilemmas. To go to another country with little knowledge about that place and assuming that the privilege of being American is enough of a qualification to affect real change is a mentality that can lead to service work that, at best, doesn’t hurt the community it serves. To have the opportunity and means to travel is a gift. Wanting to use that gift in a way that you believe is beneficial to others is spectacular. But just because you want to do something good doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. In order to understand this responsibility, one must first understand the fact that their ability to travel is in fact a form of power. If you direct your economic and cultural influence towards a organization dedicated to changing conditions in the country you are traveling to, you are supporting that organization and its effects.

This is an example of a place founded by a Belizean educator and supported by many foreign volunteers.
A great partnership. 

In a group of 20 volunteers, few, if any, are well versed in the nuances of Belizean culture. It would be very difficult to run a volunteer program where intimate cultural understanding was a prerequisite for participation. But without cultural understanding, how do we actually help a community? If our group were to come to a school and tell students what their community needs, it creates a power dynamic. We -the members of a wealthy and influential nation- have come to fix things for them. But what if the community feels things don’t need to be fixed? What if what we as Americans see as a problem is actually inconsequential?
Before I left for Belize this summer, I seriously considered the implications of my participation, but I felt that the curriculum for this summer’s camp was one that dealt gracefully with my ethical frustrations with international work. GSP focuses mainly on reinforcing skills needed to pass educational entrance exams and standardized tests. This summer, the curriculum focused on reinforcing those skills through empowerment activities.

Students at St Matthew's Government School Summer Day Camp, July 2016

By running a program where Belizean students are encouraged to explore their power to affect change in their communities, we are imparting one crucial fact on them-they hold the power to affect change. Our summer camp was developed because teachers expressed a need for more one on one time with students. Because they have so many children in their classrooms, many teachers felt that their students would benefit from more personal interactions with the people leading their classrooms. One on one time with students creates a space to understand each student educationally and personally. We talked about different learning styles and challenged students to self reflection through art, music and story writing. It was painful at times, and in two weeks, our students did not all transform into self-confident community leaders. But paired with GSP’s long term model, an empowerment based curriculum has the potential to impart the only thing that matters in the struggle for a safer and kinder world-that those who know their community are the ones who know what it best for it. I can honestly say that I was proud to be part of a group that understood that our power comes not from the fact we have free time or an interest in doing good, but that we have the opportunity to be tools for making others powerful.