A recent article in The Observer titled ‘Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do’ has stimulated healthy debate in the volunteering community.

Phoenix Mourning-Start from the Rocky Mountain Collegian has been one of many commentators quick to criticise the negative spin the article puts on volunteer programmes overseas.

According to Mourning-Star, the paper’s conclusions are based too heavily on what it calls ‘orphan tourism’ in South Africa and is too eager to apply ‘inaccurate false generalisations’ to ‘the wider arena of citizen service.’

A student himself, Mourning-Star disagrees with the view that overseas volunteer work is largely carried out by ‘heartless college students doing these “excursions” solely for resume points’.

Far more disconcerting to Mourning-Star would be an absence of empathy and effort: “As I read about the great worries of conning unsuspecting westerners and the “long-term” mental health impacts of some of these volunteer efforts, I couldn’t help but to think: Well, what is the long term health impacts (mental or otherwise) of not being hugged or having clean water?’

‘It’s no secret that importing products and services to a region can greatly shift the local economy’ and ‘in this case, people willing to pay to volunteer are a “premium product”’. However, even by The Observer’s estimates, the short-term impacts of volunteering are positive.

Moreover, we should question ‘the long-term consequences of these issues if people who have the ability, time and money to help choose to stay home and do nothing?’

For Mourning-Star there are many more dangerous things in the world than ‘a slightly misguided human helping another with their time and energy’. People need to ‘stop overthinking things, go out and volunteer’.

Find out how you can help overseas communities with volunteer teaching, community volunteering and volunteer childcare on your gap year or career break.