An interesting article about the sometimes not so shiny
experiences of students taking a gap year. What amazes me are the examples given of bad experiences. They are examples from Mongolia.
In Mongolia this summer, volunteers with TPA frequently expressed dissatisfaction with their placements and with the lack of back-up administration. Significantly, at the beginning of August a member of the administrative team in Ulan Bator was sacked for incompetence. Volunteers' requests for information often went unheeded and appointments were missed, while some placements were unstructured, even to the point of collapse.
Robert Mak, 26, had paid more than £2,000 upfront to work for five months as a business adviser with a cashmere production company, but quit in despair after two months. "The placement has been really boring, yet at the same time quite frustrating as there was so much potential," says Mak. "I have very little to do most days and the people that I work closest with don't speak very good English, which makes it very difficult to achieve work-related tasks."
IMO this shows an incredible naivity. Mr Mak goes to a country where he can't communicate with the local people, expecting that
they learn English while it should be him who should have taken the trouble of learning at least a smattering of Mongolian. I would suggest Mr Mak that, if he feels that there's really so much potential, to study Mongolian, get to know Mongolians, contact the cashmere company and offer your services. Be a professional. Present a proposal. Convince the management. And see what can come of it. In my experience, Mongolian business leaders are far from lazy or satisfied with maintaining a status quo. They want to make money, and lots of it. Everyone who can convince these managers that they are an asset to the company, can move the company forward, and can bring in more revenue, cause more efficiency or lower production costs, is welcome. If there's a country where business owners and leaders are quite easy to approach (especially by Westerners) than it's Mongolia. Mr Mak, go for it!
On two other occasions newcomers were not met on arrival. For Trish Sexton, this meant being harassed by local men in the middle of the night, and being forced to take refuge in the airport toilet. She eventually found hotel accommodation, which TPA later paid for. "Of course, no one truly expects everything to run like clockwork," says Sexton. "This is a Third World country and we come here to experience the difference. But the point is that volunteers pay Western prices and expect a Western standard of service."
Ms Sexton's's experience is, of course, a deep shame. No-one wants to be harassed and having to flee for cover, especially not on first arrival. But I find it derogative to name Mongolia a "Third World country", implying it's poor and backward, and that this lady assumes a "Western standard of service". She actually has the nerve to state that she went there "to experience the difference". I get the idea that many of these gap year students are naive about what to expect outside their cosy little world, prepare themselves very poorly, and expect things to be settled and arranged according to their wishes and (flawed) expectations.
While TPA acknowledges that it has slipped up in some areas, it claims that the majority of volunteers in Mongolia have had successful placements. It points out that "volunteers pay a good deal of money to join programmes ... The reason why they are good value is that it would be extremely difficult for the thousands of young people that we send around the world every year ... to organise efficiently and legally voluntary work in developing countries such as Mongolia."
If these gap organisations charge thousands and thousands of euro, dollars or pounds for their services, they better make sure these volunteers are received, coordinated, administrated and helped properly to fulfil the job they are asked to do. I can't loose the sense that even those who report having had a good experience often had to content with poor supervision and support and inadequate information and advice on preparation prior to the stint abroad.
Volunteers do mighty good work, often for little or no pay. They deserve to be supported in a proper fashion and receive adequate and timely advice on what to expect abroad. Volunteers, however, also should be made aware that the reality in Europe, the UK or the USA is much different from what they'll run into abroad. Things are usually not organised along similar lines as in the West, if at all. Living circumstances are quite different, often much poorer. Local people often speak little or no English, so the volunteer should at least try to learn a few basics of the local language before going there. Hygiene, food, customs, relations, etc are often on a different level, a different standard or bound by different rules and mores. It pays to get to know the gap organisation but it pays even more to get to know the country and the people the volunteers will be send to.
