It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon somewhere west of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. Twenty-two student volunteers, ten from New York University Shanghai and twelve from the main campus in New York, had managed to assemble themselves within the limiting confines of a classroom three stories above the bustling city street below. Outside, clothing was delicately draped over metal rods that shot out from the side of apartments and into the otherwise empty airspace above the alleyway. We were in an actual Shanghai neighborhood, one that was vastly different from our home in Lujiazui, the financial district where New York University Shanghai is located.

Although we were there to “teach English,” admittedly, the majority of us had no idea what that meant. The children burst through the door like mini hurricanes sporting school issued uniforms. They went straight for the crayons and to one another, forming groups to collectively giggle at the 外国人 “Wai-Guo-Ren,” who had absolutely no idea what they were doing. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how much actual English education was accomplished that first day, but amidst the laughter and hubbub of the classroom, I decided upon one acute observation: we were doing something right.

I am writing in response to an article I read last week in the Huffington Post, that discussed the term “voluntourism.” The word itself means a form of tourism in which travellers participate in voluntary work, typically for a charity while on vacation. The term is often used to criticize service trips similar to the 2015 trips sponsored by the Deans’ Service Scholars program at NYU Shanghai. Critics reference the Instagrams of privileged college kids posing with indigenous children; their argument stemming from the idea that the entire volunteering process is more for the spiritual upliftment and development of the volunteer rather than the actual alleviation of poverty.

As NYU Shanghai moves forward in developing the Deans’ Service Scholars (DSS) program it is important that we not only address the issues of “voluntourism” within the context of DSS, but also acknowledge and highlight the role of education in the context of service.

With many of the 2015 service trips, volunteers were forced to face absolute, abject poverty. Those who participated in the Anhui program, for example, were introduced to the discriminatory social effects the "blood disaster" of the 1990's, in which 195 out of the 1,256 persons in villages such as Luliu became infected with AIDS. In addition, the group that chose to volunteer in Shanghai over the winter holidays, through work at the Shanghai Raising Community Center, began to understand the social issues migrant workers and their families face living in Shanghai. What started off as a small-scale program during the 2013-2014 academic year, the Alternative Breaks Program -- involving a handful of students and two domestic trips -- has transformed into a six-trip operation with seventy-five student volunteers and a dozen more staff supervisors from New York University Shanghai, forming today’s DSS program. In addition to the quantitative expansion, the program has adopted a comprehensive and rigorous academic focus. The scope and types of trips have also broadened, involving everything from work with HIV/AIDS impacted communities in Anhui to vocational training in Cambodia. The complete list and descriptions for the 2015 programs can be found on the official blog for the Deans’ Service Scholars program.

Frankly, the alternative to “alternative breaks” is a vacation spent with very little direction, one in which the educational development and awareness of an individual is limited to the hours spent tanning on a beach. It would be unrealistic to believe that, after just one week of volunteering, elementary students in rural areas would be left completely fluent in English. Nor, can we pretend that a few days spent in some of Anhui’s villages eradicated the HIV virus from the area.

The point of service-trips is not instantaneous retribution but, instead, to spark a conversation. Often those who who are capable of helping, both economically and politically, exist beyond the realm of those directly affected. More often than not, the students and professionals who participate in these types of ventures are the individuals most capable of returning to institutions of power and advocating for change and for the underrepresented. The last few DSS trips ended in April, and all the participants are now focusing on how to pass on their experiences to the larger NYU Shanghai community. This is being accomplished through the Capstone projects, which will be a compilation of everything participants have experienced and learnt during their service trips. The point of the Capstone projects is to raise awareness about the social issues witnessed by the DSS participants during their volunteer experiences; they will be presented from 5:30-7 pm on Wednesday, 6th May in the NYU Shanghai auditorium. Education and social awareness will be two of the themes adopted by the evening as students enter into the conversation about social activism.

On Tuesday May 5, the DSS committee leaders will be meeting at NYU Shanghai’s Academic Building to discuss changes in the 2016 program. In a conversation with On Century Avenue, Charlene Visconti, the Dean of Students’ at NYU Shanghai, mentioned that the committee is looking to expand the program to include more trips in Shanghai and in China in general. Although Visconti did acknowledge the value of international trips, she indicated that future plans for the program would most likely be directed towards domestic ventures. “Everything is a rumor as of now,” she commented when probed about the possibility of the program being turned into a two-credit course. It was confirmed that the program will venture into the next academic year because, as Dean Visconti explained it, “as NYU Shanghai, we have a responsibility to the greater community.” This article was written by Lilly Korinek. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Pottel