Log in to hire Vilhelm

Vilhelm Stokstad

Photographer
      
Voluntourism
Public Project
Voluntourism
Copyright Vilhelm Stokstad 2024
Date of Work Feb 2013 - Jan 2017
Updated Dec 2021
Topics Activism, Adoption, Africa, Conceptual, Discrimination, Documentary, Education, Orphans, Parenting & Family, Photography, Photojournalism, Poverty, Racism, Relationships, School/College, Travel, Vacation, Volunteers, tourism,, Youth
VOLUNTOURISM
Travel to make a difference - For better or worse
By Vilhelm Stokstad

“It's exactly like going to Magaluf, except you hug kids for a couple of hours out of your day” - a former volunteer.

Volunteering is the new backpacking. It is a booming business with slogans like ”travel to make a difference”. But some of these arranged volunteering trips establish a ”we and them” thinking that can increase the social, cultural and economical gap rather than decrease it. This gets even more evident when the often wealthy volunteers — a volunteering trip often costs several years of annual income in the country of visit — stays in guarded compounds, sometimes with their own chef and maid. As volunteering has become more of a business, many companies care more about profits than actual change.

At orphanages, children often need long and stable relationships, but a two week visit by volunteers may result in the opposite. In a school on Zanzibar, to feel more included, volunteers were in charge of the English curriculum. This resulted in a new curriculum every two weeks, denying the children a long term education plan.

The ongoing photography based research project Voluntourism aims to challenge visual stereotypes by holding up a mirror on how we (including photojournalists) represent ”the other”. It questions the contrast in behaviour by westerners towards children in Europe and children of other continents and hope to encourage reflection and sustainable solutions for volunteer work.

@vstokstad @voluntourismproject
You can follow the project on www.vilhelmstokstad.com and through #voluntourism.

14,816

Also by Vilhelm Stokstad —

Project

Escalating violence in Myanmar

Vilhelm Stokstad / Laiza, Myanmar
Project

The Ping-Pong King

Vilhelm Stokstad / Stockholm, Sweden
Project

Transnistria

Vilhelm Stokstad / Moldova, Tiraspol
Project

Myanmar's Lost Generations

Vilhelm Stokstad / Laiza, Myanmar
Project

Children of Mosul

Vilhelm Stokstad / Mosul, Iraq
Project

The Gravediggers of Raqqa

Vilhelm Stokstad / Raqqa, Syria
Project

Questioned Identity

Vilhelm Stokstad / Assam, India
Project

Copper With A Cost

Vilhelm Stokstad / Chingola, Zambia
Voluntourism by Vilhelm Stokstad
Sign-up for
For more access