Winter Term In-Service hurts recipient success
By: Drew Olson
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Opinion
Felix, a young Filipino man, works as a general laborer on construction jobs around Lapu-Lapu City, currently on a project for Island Ventures Inc. Felix makes no more than four American dollars a day, barely enough to feed his three children and himself. He possesses no blankets to keep warm on cool nights, no electricity and no running water. He lives in a shack. Upon completion of the building project, his job will end and he will join the millions of unemployed in the Philippines.
I went to "help" Island Ventures Inc. with their project with a DePauw Winter Term In-Service (WTIS) group in January 2009. Unknowingly, I took hours of work from men like Felix who already struggle to survive in this rundown urban area. By working three weeks on this building, ten students replaced over 20,000 Philipine pesos of wages with free labor. While this was not our original intention, it was an inevitable outcome of this service work. If I had considered these effects beforehand, I may have donated money to pay for the project and the wages of these workers rather than my flight to the Philippines.
According to the WTIS mission statement, the aim of such trips is to provide students with "exposure to relevant social and political issues, engagement in critical reflection of our values and experiences, and increased understanding of diverse communities' interconnectedness." In no way do I attempt to refute these objectives. The program's aim is altruistic, honorable and a much-needed step in a world of accelerating globalization. But I do intend to present a perspective often lost in the new environments, new experiences and new friends found on WTIS trips such as mine. Are we "just" in pursuing the aforementioned aim if we damage the society we study in the process? Are these trips truly only about education and learning when the programs in which we participate run entirely on assistance from young American students rather than a consistent, stable community? Such economic, social and cultural considerations are often neglected by WTIS groups before departure and even upon return.
I went to "help" Island Ventures Inc. with their project with a DePauw Winter Term In-Service (WTIS) group in January 2009. Unknowingly, I took hours of work from men like Felix who already struggle to survive in this rundown urban area. By working three weeks on this building, ten students replaced over 20,000 Philipine pesos of wages with free labor. While this was not our original intention, it was an inevitable outcome of this service work. If I had considered these effects beforehand, I may have donated money to pay for the project and the wages of these workers rather than my flight to the Philippines.
According to the WTIS mission statement, the aim of such trips is to provide students with "exposure to relevant social and political issues, engagement in critical reflection of our values and experiences, and increased understanding of diverse communities' interconnectedness." In no way do I attempt to refute these objectives. The program's aim is altruistic, honorable and a much-needed step in a world of accelerating globalization. But I do intend to present a perspective often lost in the new environments, new experiences and new friends found on WTIS trips such as mine. Are we "just" in pursuing the aforementioned aim if we damage the society we study in the process? Are these trips truly only about education and learning when the programs in which we participate run entirely on assistance from young American students rather than a consistent, stable community? Such economic, social and cultural considerations are often neglected by WTIS groups before departure and even upon return.
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