No, RAG aren’t ‘self-indulgent voluntourists’ – they help those who need it most

The world of student media is an interesting one. It’s a hive of opinion and controversy, where it very often seems the latter is sought before genuinely considering the former. Most of us, being British, simply bite our tongues when we read something on the far end of the silly spectrum, or we moan to a friend, or, even better, we laugh at it.

On this occasion, however, I have to take exception. A recent Tab article titled ‘Forget helping people, you’re only in RAG for the free trips’ left me quite unsatisfied with only a quick moan and chuckle. This is not least because I am a proud member of Warwick RAG myself, but also because I see first-hand the incredible work that the society does.

Jessica Smith’s piece is one of big assertions. Beginning by asking the reader to “stop pretending these people are doing something charitable”, it develops to question why we don’t focus on ‘domestic help’, and concludes by asking us volunteers what we consider to be more important: climbing Kilimanjaro or helping charity. There’s also a nice side note in which Jessica expresses her desire to pie a ‘middle-class voluntourist’ in the face, presumably in some kind of pastry-based class-war.

Me and my fellow self-indulgent voluntourists

The idea that big foreign challenges or projects are self-indulgent and unnecessary to raise money for charity is without basis. It ignores a basic reality: the more incredible the opportunity, the greater the challenge, the bigger the story to tell afterwards; the more volunteers it will attract. This year, Warwick RAG will take 187 volunteers abroad, something simply not imaginable if all RAG offered was a trek across a muddy field in Wales. And, of course, the more volunteers, the more money raised.

This leads directly into a second point. From my own experiences standing with a bucket in the many rainy high streets of Great Britain, I can confirm that people are far more willing to donate, and in larger sums at that, to a person who can tell them they’re climbing the tallest mountain in Africa than someone who isn’t. In fact, these schemes will raise £225,000 for charities such as the Meningitis Research Foundation and Make a Wish Foundation, who, don’t forget, rely on people’s generosity to exist in the first place. The people they help certainly don’t call us self-indulgent voluntourists.

Jacob and Jack getting far too into their dancing

The second half of the article is characterised by criticism of Warwick RAG’s apparent lack of consideration for domestic issues. It is argued that, in building playgrounds in Africa or climbing Kilimanjaro, we are misusing our skills. We are told, rather dismissively, that we can do plenty for those overseas “with the internet”, in a line which takes Jessica from pastry-loving Marxist to “who-cares-about-overseas-aid” Ukipper.

The problem is that there is no better use of our skills than the work we currently do. I think it’s a preposterous idea to turn our back to the rest of the world and focus only on ourselves, great though the needs here may be. It’s preferable to strike a balance, and that’s exactly what Warwick RAG already do. RAG week this year raised money for mental health charity, Mind, who, among others, help countless in-need students – a firmly ‘domestic issue’. But, this summer, 20 volunteers will build a playground in Uganda for children on a different continent to us, for example. And, no, that isn’t possible via a Skype link.

The article concludes by telling us that, if we “really wanted to help people”, we wouldn’t “trek the Inca Trail”. Apologies, Jessica, but what is it about the £132,000 raised by this specific scheme for Make a Wish, a charity which grants wishes to seriously ill children, that doesn’t help people, exactly?

The truth is that Warwick RAG is a selfless, passionate, relentless group of people committed to, you guessed it, raising and giving. In truth, there really aren’t that many raisers or givers out there, so why ridicule those of us actually motivated enough to do some good? I might be climbing Kilimanjaro this summer, a crime to some, but I’ll also be giving the Meningitis Research Foundation £1500 and raising awareness of that dreadful disease. I don’t think that’s so awful.