Being open-minded




I now feel more confident about going to Nicaragua then I do from when I wrote my last blog post.  Last week, my biggest concern was that my ignorance and naivety towards what developing countries really need versus what I "think" they need would negatively affect my trying to "do good" in Nicaragua.  However, I have recently learned that although this is still possible, there are different approaches I had not yet thought about that will open my mind and hopefully make it easier for me to relate to and help the Nicaraguan people.  In a speech by Ernesto Sirolli, I learned that it is common for volunteer tourism trips to be unsuccessful, and therefore, the volunteer tourists need to understand that we must put ourselves in the shoes of the people who live in the countries we are traveling to. A "white man's burden" mindset will not be beneficial; it is important that you ask the people of the community what they need help with, rather than tell them what you will be helping them with. Sirolli notes that the tourist needs to understand that people from other countries often have different ways for going about common practices- and that there are reasons that they do these things differently. For example, people in Africa will not be able to grow tomatoes as easily as Italians. Sirolli explains that tourists need to learn from the community members the way in which they do things and why they do these things in order to really understand how we can be of assistance to them. Sirolli uses the words "paternal" and "patronize" to describe the mindsets most volunteer tourists have towards the communities they believe they are helping, but really are hurting. In order to be successful with volunteer tourism, one really must lose this mindset and understand that the first step of being helpful is respecting why people in different countries may do things differently.

After listening to this speech, I am more confident about my trip to Nicaragua. Especially after the failure of my last volunteer tourism trip, I now not only know, but I truly understand what I must do differently in order to at least try and make this trip a success. Even if my group does not successfully install enough bio-sand water filtration system for an entire community, but we are able to communicate effectively with the community members and learn their customs so we can understand how we can adapt the water systems to be beneficial for them, I will be content.  I think that the most important aspect of volunteer tourism is learning to respect the community in which you are working in and be able to put yourself in their shoes.