Global Volunteer Network and why you shouldn’t join it or give it any money

Today I noticed that one of my facebook friends, who is pretty much just that, a facebook friend, not even an acquaintance, had posted photos of Indonesia, where she has been living since graduating in 2007. They looked pretty cool so I checked them out. I noticed one of the photos was of a classroom, so I figured she was an English teacher. I checked out her profile a little more and found out this was indeed the case, except that she was a VOLUNTEER English teacher, I am not sure what NGO (non governmental organization for those who don’t know) she is working for but she was a member of the group for the NGO “Global Volunteer Network” (It is impossible for her to be in this program as they do not have placements in Indonesia)

George has told me about these things and he has a love hate relationship with them. On one hand he hates them because they make you pay a ton of money to VOLUNTEER to teach and the owners of the NGO get rich off of your money, plus the money from donors, in this case Bill Gates is the largest donor. George loves them because he wants to open a school one day and cut expenses by having an NGO like this provide him with what is basically slave labor.

In general I hate NGO’s because not only are they filled with stupid liberals who don’t know how to do anything, but also because, especially in Africa, they often make things worse. All the while the people at the top of these things who pretend to be doing all this great stuff for humanity, are more often than not living high on the hog at the expense of those they are trying to “help”. George says that there is one NGO very similar to this that he has heard of where the owners are billionaires.

The scheme works like this, they provide you with a “job” housing, and some food, you pay for the rest, your airline ticket, extra meals, EVERYTHING. On their end they charge you WAY more than the cost of living and then pocket your money.

So when I saw that this facebook friend was supporting this organization I decided to look them up and see if they were up to the same thing, sure enough they were indeed. I found their page and under recent news it was announced that they had contributed $5000 to one of their sites, an orphanage, in Vietnam. Naturally I wanted to know more about the program in Vietnam. What I found out was almost appalling. The cost of volunteering for one month was nearly $1000. I asked George what living costs would be and he said, given what they were providing, no more than $250. So where exactly does the other $750 go? Remember this group is funded by Bill Gates and numerous other big donors, yet $5000 was all they gave to the orphanage in Vietnam, and that is only $500 more than what they net in a month with the 5-6 volunteers they have at the center, why is the orphanage not getting THAT every month no matter what?

There were several sites available to teach at, one being the orphanage. The others however were schools where kids pay to go. The amount of hours the volunteers work are slightly more than what George has now, and he makes nearly $1,500 a month. So now the school makes money because they don’t have to pay their teachers and the people who own the school, which in many cases is the NGO itself, get rich in the process. Even if the NGO does not own the school they get money from whoever does to find volunteers. Furthermore the site says that “As placements are not well resourced, you may like to bring items with you to help you with the activities you will be taking part in.” and the $1000 a month you are already paying, $750 of which basically disappears, is not nearly enough to cover basic supplies? I’m sorry but that is a crock of shit.

People, especially those “looking to help” are way too gullible. Hardly any of the foreign aid money or supplies we give to Africa actually helps the people there. In many cases, such as with clothing donations, it is simply stolen and sold for a 100% profit. In other cases, free food gives farmers an incentive not to farm, and that hurts the world. Most of the world’s food shortages have been caused by failed government policies and foreign aid, not weather.

Looking back through the “news” section of their website, there are listings of what money they have given and to whom. I can count a little more than $60,000 since December. In 2006 it was reported that they placed 2000 volunteers. That number has probably gone up but for sake of argument let’s say it has not. Now let’s say they make an average of $500 a month per volunteer, not including the money they save from having to pay them. That is $1 MILLION a month! So if they made $3,000,000 in the last three months why did they only give away $60,000? This is not counting the money that they receive from donors like Bill Gates, just the money they make off of volunteers.

So for anyone who is considering working for one of these things, please take the time to realize that your goodwill is being used for huge financial gain and you are getting a really raw deal. Teaching English here in Vietnam, or elsewhere in the third world, is a way to make a living but not a way to get rich, though you just might if you open a school yourself. In the end someone is making money so it might as well be you, as opposed to some jackass with an NGO.