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Spring break for a cause
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Also by Alexandra Rogers:
- AIDS battle progressing (May 10, 2007)
- Students slam city bar ban (May 3, 2007)
- Neighbors discuss ownership options (April 27, 2007)
- Business mogul donates millions (April 26, 2007)
- Students to help 'cleanup' hunger (April 13, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Alternative spring breaks: seeking to make a difference (February 7, 2002)
- Law students to aid Katrina victims (March 9, 2006)
- Alternative Breaks offers unique spring vacation trips (February 6, 2004)
- Students find opportunities in alternative breaks (March 17, 2005)
- Lawrence sophomore dies on service trip (March 27, 2003)
by Alexandra Rogers
Monday, April 9, 2007
While many college students around the nation relaxed on beaches over their spring breaks, some University of Wisconsin students spent their vacation doing service work to help those in need.
About 50 students from the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, a student organization focused on the environment, spent the week on a service-based trip to New Orleans. Volunteers participated in labor-intensive work, gutting houses and other buildings affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
UW sophomore and WISPIRG member Rachel Butler said Hurricane Katrina was one of the defining moments for this generation of college students and said she felt fortunate to have the opportunity to help in the massive recovery efforts.
"It's a really great opportunity to go and be a part of this national community, to go and reach out," Butler said. "Some of these places honestly look like the hurricane happened just a month ago, and it has been 18 months."
According to Butler, it will take New Orleans more than 10 years to get completely back on its feet, and she encouraged other students to take similar service-based trips to the area.
"It is a very eye-opening, rewarding experience," Butler said. "So don't forget about it. They're going to need help, and they're going to need a lot of it."
UW junior Joe Silberschmidt said he was appalled at the damage still left in New Orleans, considering how long it's been since the hurricane hit.
However, Silberschmidt said his labor-intensive, service-based spring break was well worth the sacrifice of a more relaxing trip.
"Nothing can even touch what it looked like down there," Silberschmidt said. "To see that first hand was a very powerful experience."
The group from WISPIRG was not the only group from UW that spent last week on charitable efforts.
The Alternative Breaks Committee, part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate, also provided UW students with inexpensive, volunteer-based break opportunities.
This spring, trips were offered to 12 different destinations around the United States with a variety of service goals and focuses.
Students interested in border and immigration issues had the opportunity to travel to San Juan, Texas, to work first-hand with immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley.
Other trips focused on helping the hungry and homeless, as well as environmental issues in nine states across the country ranging from Massachusetts to Florida and from Virginia to California.
While some students backpacked through a state park in Kentucky to help the environment, others chatted with residents in Massachusetts-area homeless shelters.
UW junior John Barnhardt, the WUD Alternative Breaks Committee director, said the spring break trips range from $100 to $250 and have never cost more than $300.
Barnhardt said these service-based spring break trips are achieved through the pooling of university resources and careful organization by the Alternative Breaks Committee.
"The program itself … is sparked from interest from students who wanted a low-cost trip that they could do service work on," Barnhardt said. "The university was able to sponsor the program."
Alternative Breaks, which has run for more than 15 years as part of the WUD, makes clear that the labor aspect of the experience is secondary to the intense educational experience that will have an impact on participants.
The committee offered seven trips this winter, 12 this spring, and will offer four others this summer, as well as several "weekend break" opportunities.
All UW students are eligible to apply for participation in any of these alternative breaks, as long as they have not participated in one before. For more information, visit the Alternative Breaks website at www.union.wisc.edu/altbreaks.
Anonymous (April 9, 2007 @ 11:23am):
"Alternative Breaks, which has run for more than 15 years as part of the WUD, makes clear that the labor aspect of the experience is secondary to the intense educational experience that will have an impact on participants."
What the heck does this really mean? This is quite similar to the mission statement given by the Peace Corps. Paraphrasing, their goal is not to actually build sustainable programs, homes, infrastructure, or whatever, for the local communities, but the primary goal is providing "experience" for the volunteer.
The Peace Corps does a great job of building bridges and such with lots of fan fare. But after all the hoopla and the "volunteers" go home, the bridge falls apart in 6 months. It's all feel-good experience for the volunteer, and not much about sustainability.
Anonymous (April 9, 2007 @ 2:12pm):
I am outraged by the posted comment questioning the "sustainability" of the volunteer work done. I volunteered through the Alternative Spring Break program that traveled to New Orleans this past week. I can assure you we did not spend thirty hours gutting and rebuilding houses for the duration of our spring break for merely an educational experience! We were provided with ongoing instruction from our site leaders on the processes, whether it be tearing down ceilings or spackling, to insure we did exceptional work on the homes that hurricane survivors would moving in to. I am proud of the work my group did last week. A few more Katrina survivors are now one step closer to getting their lives back to normal due in part to our hard work and sustainable program. Who are you to judge a program you have not had personal experience with, downplay our hard work, and attempt to deter people from volunteering through programs that have made an impact?
Anonymous (April 9, 2007 @ 3:15pm):
In response to the sustainability comment, I would like to mention that unless a person has been on one of the trips, they are making an extremely shallow comment. I have heard from some that were on the alternative breaks, and they had interacted with the people they were helping. The job being done was not a "lets-get-this-done-and-go-home" type of job but a lets help these people to the best of our abilities and not leave until we've accomplished something. You may or may not be affected by the same variables as others that these breaks are meant to help, but for you to say such a thing is as shallow and closed-minded as it gets. I'll tell you one thing, the people that were helped were thankful and surely appreciative of all the work that was done. I would like to know what that person spent their break doing to see if they even made an effort to help somebody.
Anonymous (April 9, 2007 @ 7:12pm):
Read "To Hell with Good Intentions," by Ivan Illich:
'I do have deep faith in the enormous good will of the U.S. volunteer. However, his good faith can usually be explained only by an abysmal lack of intuitive delicacy. By definition, you cannot help being ultimately vacationing salesmen for the middle-class "American Way of Life," since that is really the only life you know. A group like this could not have developed unless a mood in the United States had supported it - the belief that any true American must share God's blessings with his poorer fellow men. The idea that every American has something to give, and at all times may, can and should give it, explains why it occurred to students that they could help Mexican peasants "develop" by spending a few months in their villages.
'Next to money and guns, the third largest North American export is the U.S. idealist, who turns up in every theater of the world: the teacher, the volunteer, the missionary, the community organizer, the economic developer, and the vacationing do-gooders. Ideally, these people define their role as service. Actually, they frequently wind up alleviating the damage done by money and weapons, or "seducing" the "underdeveloped" to the benefits of the world of affluence and achievement. Perhaps this is the moment to instead bring home to the people of the U.S. the knowledge that the way of life they have chosen simply is not alive enough to be shared.'
http://www.sa.utah.edu/bennion/welch/Illich.htm
Anonymous (April 9, 2007 @ 10:07pm):
I made the original comment about sustainability. I'd like to make it clear that I was questioning the goals and motives of the Alternative Spring program, and how they seem analogous to the Peace Corps program. I'm not questioning the motives of the actual individual participants/volunteers.
Personally, I've thought about joining the Peace Corps, but when I researched their policies and activities, and spoke with administrators, it dawned on me that the Peace Corps is flawed at its core. And I've been stumbling trying to articulate why. The poster who provided the Ivan Illich quote makes such a great argument. I've read Illich's book, _Deschooling Society_ (which is quite interesting and provocative), but I was not aware of his comments on volunteering. Illich goes on to make this statement: "I was equally impressed, by what I interpret as a step forward among would-be volunteers like you: openness to the idea that the only thing you can legitimately volunteer for in Latin America might be voluntary powerlessness, voluntary presence as receivers, as such, as hopefully beloved or adopted ones without any way of returning the gift."
Americans' tend to have this altruistic mentality that the rest of the world is in need of American conveniences. So they go on vacation trips to provide American "services," regardless of whether these services are wanted or are even sustainable. Look at the failed tractor program for Africa. Through a grant, hundreds of tractors are shipped over to stimulate local agriculture. The program was an unqualified success--for the first year. Then, after a couple years, the parts started wearing out. Tires went bald. Nobody knows how to fix them. Even if they did, there are no replacement parts available. Now, there's a pile of broken down tractors, and people have no use for them.
Of all the volunteer organizations I've seen, the Engineers Without Borders program tends to have a stronger focus on cultural sensitivity and sustainability than most.
Anonymous (April 10, 2007 @ 11:47am):
Hello, I'm the first poster. Here is an article I found about UW Prof. Peter Bosscher's trip to Rwanda with Engineers Without Borders. It is really illustrative, and goes hand in hand with Ivan Illich's comments.
Anonymous (April 10, 2007 @ 1:44pm):
Hey, I just went down to New Orleans on the Alternative Break trip, and I can tell you that although skepticism is much needed when approaching any volunteer work, a close examination of the majority of the work will do well to illustrate exactly WHAT is being done by whom and for whom. So...private services for gutting a house run at about $4000-8000. That's fine for some, but definitely not all people in New Orleans who were devastated by Katrina. Thus, where the government has failed to act (nobody - that is, not a single person - has been given government funds to restart their lives), private organizations have stepped in to fill that gap. Our program happened to work through a church organization, which I would like to look into more closely. However, for the time being, skepticism should not impede action. People need walls torn down (which I did), clutter removed (which I did), dry wall put in (which I didn't, for lack of training), and so on. If you are telling me that the job I did tearing down a wall is unsustainable, then so be it (actually, the organization has a good flow of volunteers who get matched up with long-term interns who know exactly what they're doing). People CALL these organizations to get this help free of charge, and I've got a big fried turkey in my belly that tells me my help was appreciated. It's easy to remain skeptical and not act. It's a lot harder to forgo other opportunities to drive 16 hours to help people who are asking for it. Yes, the government should be stepping in, but I wouldn't hold my breathe. Something tells me that a year and 7 months down the line, we can start predicting future behavior from past behavior.
Did you ever think that the reason people emphasize the experience is because having experiences like the one I did, which was incredibly positive, helps a person empathize with others and act when it's needed? I can tell you it's a lot easier to motivate yourself for another experience when you can understand exactly what people are doing, and for whom.
As for your comment on the Peace Corps. Again, it's nice to remain skeptical, and cultural hegemony and various issues should be considered. However, they shouldn't induce paralysis. You derived you conclusion from a case study. Inferring the whole from the part in that case is unjustified.
Thanks,
Kyle
Anonymous (April 10, 2007 @ 5:00pm):
Kyle,
I applaud your work over Spring Break. It's nice to know that the American spirit is still alive. Again, I wasn't trying to criticize anyone's individual motives, I just wanted to better understand the policies of the Alternative Spring Break program. I'm glad you had the courage to step up to the specific calling in New Orleans.
In fact, volunteering the basis of many Amish communities--a network of individual families that take care of each other. If one person doesn't know how to fix or build something, he asks someone who does, and learns how to do it. In close communities like this, the goo--and the bad--that come out of it is localized. If bad things (corruption of power, or whatever) are taking place, they are usually self-corrected pretty quickly. There is no bureaucracy to hid those things. In the case of New Orleans, you mention the corruption of the government. Little money has gone to the right people. That's what happens when there's no local accountability.
Have you been out to the Allied Drive area in Madison? Some parts of it are just as bad as New Orleans. What if a tornado goes through there tomorrow? It's Katrina, this time, Madison-style. The rest of Madison would probably being saying "good riddance," if they hadn't already been completely ignoring it anyway except when they need to go to Home Depot. With the $300 or however much it cost you to travel down to New Orleans, you could helped an Allied Dr. family afford a down payment on their own house. Why does New Orleans deserve your help, but Allied Dr. doesn't? How many students got recognized for volunteering in a reading program at the Allied Dr. Learning Center over Spring Break? I didn't. But that's not the point. For me, the Allied Drive area is my home, so it's natural for me to care about the kids in my neighborhood.
I'm not trying to deter anyone from doing what the heart convicts, but if you're going to volunteer, do it where you know it will count. Don't be some random transient do-gooder. Do it where you know you're making a real difference. I don't mean being able to build x, y, or z, but that you made yourself powerless as a guest in somebody else's community. If that means going to New Orleans, great! I respect that.
Again, my point was directed at the Alternative Spring Break program, because their mission statement, as quoted in the article, seems questionable.
Sincerely,
OP
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 10:07am):
Hey OP,
I really appreciate your response. You are definitely someone who thinks a lot about where you put your time, and that's awesome.
As for your comparison between Allied Dr. and New Orleans, I don't know if I buy it. I am a Madison native, and yes, that area has some major problems. Just from my intuition, however, something tells me that it's not really an area where people have had to evacuate. In fact, people are still there. New Orleans is a place that has, unfortunately, lost half of its population; that has a corrupt government; and a place where many people are now homeless in addition to being poor. Hurricane Katrina was caused a federal emergency, and had the government responded aptly, I probably wouldn't have been as motivated to go down there. However, they still have neighborhoods that look like ghost towns, to which people either can't or won't return for various reasons. The need for education and attention about government neglect, before and after this disaster, is still acute.
As for this story, I think the Badger Herald decided it because it shows how people can spend their breaks having fun AND helping out through a unique UW program. Your volunteer work is awesome, but that would be much more particular case than these Alt. Breaks, which take place every break. All they're trying to do is get people involved any way they can, and some people, sadly, may need to be enticed by the rewards of travel.
Which brings me to your comments about the 'transient do-gooder.' I think you mean you should commit yourself to something to see the long-term benefits of volunteer work, and I think that's a really good point. However, it shouldn't take away from opportunities for education and volunteering offered through our university. Although that point is well taken, it certainly should not make the Alternative Breaks program 'questionable.' As I said before, experiences like these are merely a bite of the apple...what they hope to accomplish through the education of experience is the creation of a person who wants the whole thing.
Kyle
Anonymous (April 11, 2007 @ 5:48pm):
In addition, I would like to say that it cost me a mere $180 to go to New Orleans. A price fit for any student who would like to go!
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