The exploitative world of working holidays (aupairing, wwoofing, volunteering)
Vložit
- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- Bonjour à tous !
Today we're talking all about working holidays and how the values of organizations and systems such as Wwoofing, Aupairing and Volunteering have fallen for worker exploitation. Don't forget to like and subscribe, I'll see you in the comment section :)
SOURCES/RESSOURCES:
Testimonies:
www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/f...
permies.com/t/58100/experienc...
lashworldtour.com/2011/08/vol...
• France : les zones d'o...
'The Voluntourist' : • Documentary 'The Volun...
I was a humanitarian and I regret it: • I Was a Humanitarian.....
Articles:
(French) www.liberation.fr/futurs/2013...
(French) Mathieu Perrier, Woofer en Nouvelle-Zélande, entre tourisme et travail: www.cairn.info/revue-pour-201...
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...
(French) contrelatraite.org/index.php/a...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_C...
Books and others:
Geo Maher, Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela, Verso Books, 2016.
Erik Olin Wright, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, Verso Books, 2021
Angela Davis, Imagined Futures: • Angela Davis - Imagine...
MUSIC:
Ryan Little - Never Letting Go - thmatc.co/?l=7506200C
SOCIALS:
Instagram: / aliceoverall
Enquiries: alice.cappelleyt@gmail.com
À bientôt !
I'd like to point out that these travel opportunities are only available to people from select few countries. Mostly from first world countries. For example, that NZ visa you talked about is not available to me, an Indian person. There are thousands of opportunities for people from other countries to travel to the third world and experience new things but very little opportunities for people from third world to travel abroad.
Indeed, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the western world's history of commoditizing previous colonies.
Thank you Casey for pointing it out !
Yep, many "less developed" countries are more or less used as a playground for first world tourism, business and, of course, for usa/nato military bases. It's a great opportunity for human trafficking, because these westerners are willing clients and the majority of our population is still poor.
In my country it's still so fucking hard to get a visa for the USA, all the while their military occupies a lot of space and our state has to buy weapons from our "partners" instead of using that budget for public services, like education health and a social safety net, that we so desperately need. Heckin' unequal partnership
@@theswampus670 globalization is just colonialism 2.0 unfortunately, but now it's sugar-coated and they use economic means of control instead of armies😞
Hindus should stay in their country
This gives me the same vibe as unpaid internships. Taking advantage of young people who need to build their CVs for no pay, but in this case you also manage to disrupt the local communities in some cases. Great video, I was not familiar with these things before.
You're right! Thank you ☺️
Don't forget the context of the job. They either give you impossible work or the work that anyone can do or simply reject you. Unpaid internship is meaningless as a result.
I was trying to get a job a couple months a go and the internships I could find were asking for previous work experience... Isn't the point of internships to get work experience?!
@@allanvargastomas3493 i Fully agree, it should be common sense...
And every form of work should be paid (even from unexperienced students...
The fact that the UN doesn't pay interns still appals me
The double-standards are glaring. They demand and tell young adults to be more active and become employed and in the same breath tell them that their negative work experiences don't amount to anything notable or worthwhile.
True !
I was an aupair in Italy just after high school. It seemed like the only way I could really go out of my country as I don't come from a well off family. I've learned a lot but it was a bunch of incredibly draining lessons. The whole idea of living in the same house as your employer is actually making it really difficult to distinguish between work hours and free time. I was often pressured to stay up with the family even though I just wanted to have some time off as I was working pretty much the entire day. Balancing the wants of the parents and the kids was also quite impossible. I felt like a bother most of the time. Once the host mother commented that I'm eating too many toasts for breakfast meanwhile I was hungry most of the time as I was too afraid to take any food other than some bread and cereal. At the end I didn't even travel much at all because the pay was very small and I was also trying to save up a little bit of it. It was incredibly difficult mentally to try and manage all the expectations and the feeling that you are not wanted. The girls I was taking care of were quite rebellious and I spent half of my time trying to make them play with me or go out somewhere as they only really wanted to watch the TV. They had their moments but they would also laugh at me for not speaking Italian (it was litteraly my job to talk to them in English) and just be quite difficult to deal with and would make me cry on multiple occasions as I was trying to do my job as best as possible entertain them and all but it was quite a struggle most of the time especially when then the parents would question my work. Now after all that I understand that I should have stood up for myself more. I think maybe I took some things too personally back then but my anxiety was very high and I definitely didn't feel like the cultural exchange part of the deal was happening much. I didn't feel like I was a part of the family quite opposite of that actually. It had made me a stronger person but it was also quite depressing so I am not quite sure how I feel about the entire experience.
That sounds very difficult. I thought about that - living in the same place as your "employer" must be so difficult to have healthy boundaries. I hope you took some good moments from it too, even though it was anxiety provoking. I just finished recently a European Solidarity Corps project, which, while I was provided with my own room, still made me confused about the work I was doing - I was supposed to teach others about fair trade - while being on "pocket money"? I am happy that it's over
Hello there. As I find myself crying on narratives that involve people having to tough it out for a job that no longer serves them good, I'm glad you were out of it. I can ony hope and pray that with the knowledge we've collected, it would be strengthened by strong labor unions and movements, and that people do not have to live under the gruelling demands of capitalism.
What a fucked up situation! I hope you're better now
Wow, I had the exact same experience in London, but it was a great lesson and opportunity, after that I managed to find a job as an artist at a small company and I started to live my London life to the fullest. I couldn't have done that without first being there and having that au pair experience
The same thing almost to a T happened to myself. I was living in Florence after high school and the entire experience made me so much stronger, more resilient, and more mature-but it mentally drained and ruined me in a lot of ways...
I’m Brazilian and an au pair in the US. I was in a very manipulative family that made me feel guilty all the time and would constantly say that they were doing a favor by hosting me instead of me going back to Brazil (I have a very good life in Brazil, I came really for the experience, so no, he wasn’t doing a favor). I switched families and now I’m having a good experience, they treat me like equals and always follows the rules without abusing it. There is a way to have a good experience but is the exception, most families are only on the program for cheap labor and 24/7 availability
@Lachaille26 As a Brazilian, I can say with a broken heart that you’re right. I gave up on my dreams for a degree. Is really hard to live as an artist here. It’s sad, but I hope I can at least make my family comfortable.
@Lachaille26 Brazil has chaotic regions, it's not all about violence and corruption. Yes, it is a poor country but it still has a significant middle class.
@Lachaille26 you're trying to sound smart but just come off as ignorant
I worked as an au pair in Norway, and one additional aspect of the culture around that there -- and probably other countries -- is that many of the women who want to become au pairs want to use the job as a way to stay, usually because they are fleeing poverty and a lack of opportunity in their home country. This makes them even more vulnerable, and the rules around working hours and days off are often ignored by the host family because they know that their au pair will do anything to stay. It's disgusting.
My friend is in a similar situation in Germany. She has a degree in Portuguese and German from one of the best universities in Brazil and wanted to use au pair as a way to establish herself in Germany and eventually start a Master degree. Oh boy did things turn out horribly. At the beginning it wasn't great but it wasn't terrible, but with the pandemic she basically became a slave. She managed to get out and is now living with a friend, as a favor, and taking whatever (illegal) job she can to save some money to go back to Brazil. It's a shitshow, really.
The new government is actually planning on closing down the au pair scheme, calling it modern day slavery. Au pairs often do work that a hired cleaner, babysitter and cook would be paid for with a regular Norwegian salary, whilst they are given maybe 5000 kr a month. The problem is how easy it is to exploit au pairs under these conditions, and personally, I think the solution isn’t to abolish the scheme, rather provide them with more rights and protection. They should be treated as regular workers because at the end of the day, it is a job, and often a complicated one. But I’m not so educated on the details of this, so I can’t be certain on what the best solution would be.
I'm living in a third-world country where many of our citizens strive to migrate or work abroad so this concept where you get to travel free in exchange for manual labor is foreign to us. Instead we experience the same slave-like working conditions abroad to provide for our families. Some even have expired visas and cannot apply for extensions due to their employers blackmailing them. So it's baffling to me how people think it's fun and quirky to do woofing and volunteering especially.
Labor laws typically dont protect immigrants so do they rly expect to be treated better than them? Of course not, and that is wrong. Workers, regardless of their background, deserve to have their basic human rights acknowledged.
I wish these influencers would stop poisoning the minds of the fallible individuals because they honestly have no clear idea of how the world works. Even volunteering does more harm than good and promotes white saviour complex. This was a very good video on a topic I never knew existed! Keep up the good work!
@Arthur Frayn
How exactly does that solves the problem?? You think that these foreigners aren't exploited by western companies on their own soil as well??
Where are you from, dude? Sorry to hear that.
@@lunayen so true
I honestly feel like au pair is just a “gentrified” word for being a nanny. I met a lot of immigrant single mothers who were from predominantly developing countries working as nannies for rich families. They endured a lot of abuse and mistreatment and were always seen as inferior. The whole au pair culture just screams the same type of abuse but hiding it under different marketing.
I guess the main difference is a nanny is usually a middle aged immigrant and the au pair is usually a french student or something
Au pair literally means from the same social class that’s where the term comes from so that’s why it’s seen as like a more gentrified thing ig
My brothers bf ruined his back working at a New Zealand farm. After 6 months, he had to cancel the rest of the trip and return to Germany to get back surgery and he‘s still recovering. They worked him 10h a day on the fields without proper equipment & even after he complained to the organizers, he was not taken seriously as he was perceived as a „Rich German kid“
That's so disgusting...how shameful for them honestly. I hope he was okay after that. It can be quite brutal on the farms here, I've heard some bad stories but that's no excuse for this kind of nonsense...
@@eilishrebecca7534 they‘re building a case to sue the wwoofing company right now for disregarding his complaints; he‘s still recovering and when he‘s better, he‘s actually planning to go back to New Zealand and finish his round trip but as a real tourist or course
I live in NZ and I am glad pandemic happened to reveal the reality of NZ. NZ has been addicted to the migrant workforce and labour exploitation has become a common practice. I remember my colleague told me not to work at farms because the working conditions are terrible and they have no intention of improving them. It breaks my heart to hear this kind of story.
Such an interesting topic. I served as a Peace Corps volunteer (which has its own issues) for two years in Burkina Faso. While there, I met a lot of volun-tourist who would spend a week or two trying to “help” and then return home. I learned a lot from my time in Burkina and made amazing memories and friendships, but more than anything I learned that you can spend two years in a place and still barely understand the culture, social, economic, and environmental issues.
Yes! I spent 2 years in Guinée with the peace corps and feel the same way (except I didn’t come across any volun-tourists). I learned so much about myself, ruined my mental health, and learned skills that got me the job I have today but was it worth it? Certainly not if you take only what the Guineans got out of it into account, which arguably should be the main thing taken into account.
Hi, I'm interested in Peace Corps after school. If you don't mind, can you tell me what kinds of issues it has?
@@tripler4678 there's a section with criticism on the Wikipedia page for the peace force, the paragraph about white saviourism is especially important.
international aid is often times tied to a world view that looks down on "third world countries" and is trying to enforce western ideals.
aside from the fact that issues in said areas can't be overcome by aid alone. often times vokunteers or missionaries don't benefit local communities bc they only offer short time help, nothing substantial. this kind of work only feeds into their egos nad complexes but does nothing to benefit the people they've come to visit.
if you want to bring change to the world there are many other ways, you could even start by helping those in need in your own community! I'm sorry i couldn't go into detail, it's probably better to do your own research anyway :)
Merci, parce que vous venez faire du tourisme carrément !
@@user-zh2cx9vv2s thank you for your help!
Something I didn't mention in the other comments is how interesting this topic is to a student of international relations who's currently studying contemporary slavery. I think this could be a very interesting monography/thesis
Contemporary for the gig economy or the normal slave labor
This makes me think abt how the whole "being your own boss" is just an illusion. You're always gonna depend on someone in order to survive. But that is not a bad thing. We are a society, a community. Like it or not, we need each other to survive.
Do you think entrepreneurs are an exception?
@@ataj585 I don't want to speak for @saheru, but I don't think that entrepreneurs are an exception. They depend on the people that buy their product. You're never truly on your own in this world.
@@yoonshibum3539 yeah I absolutely agree. Not only that, but also their employees. Even if they're replaceable, they can't continue without them
@@Sara-ji1ih That's why selfmade businesses are a lie. The moment you employ people you lose the privilege to call yourself selfmade. It feels crappy and disingenuous as an employee too, when your boss calls himself selfmade.
You can be your own boss but you also need of others for that, yes we all need of others...
I found another ‘victim’ of aupairing is the kids the au pair looks after, they are having a teenager come into their home and spend almost all day every day with them and often looking after them more than their own parents, and then the au pair leaves and they never see them again. Especially families that have many au pairs one after another can end up having children with really damaged attachments and other issues
Exactly what I was thinking. I can only imagine what it's like having nannies who are barely old enough to take care of themselves & can't or don't speak the same native tongue who end up leaving after a short period of time.
Poor children too
Nice video. I was an au pair in Paris quite a few years ago and it did not turn out how I expected. I'm fairly certain I used aupairworld. The host family never paid for or enrolled me in any health insurance like they were supposed to per the contract, and I didn't find out until something happened. They told me I would have to pay with my pocket money but I did not make enough to cover the expenses. When I told them I would have to return home so I could use my health insurance there and get care they were so angry that they kicked me out without any of my stuff and wouldn't allow me to return for multiple days. Luckily a friend allowed me to stay with her. When I returned they had trashed my room and gone through my personal things, sent emails to my parents about how disrespectful I was and how angry they were. It was really weird, the mother was always very short with me, as well as suspicious and controlling.
Jesus fucking christ.
Oh my God, that sounds awful! Honestly, middle/upper class families -in my experience- often have a tendency to treat young household workers like absolute shot because they see them as inferior, but are at the same time jealous of their youth and "freedom". I graduated from law school during the pandemic last year and had to cover a few months until my dream job started, so I took a few jobs tutoring and babysitting. People didn't realise I was a law grad and actually 25 (I look about 20) and tried literally every manipulative and illegal method to drive down my pay and make me do work on the side for free (like clean their house). Pretty much all the wealthier families I worked for did this, and none of the working class ones. It's in large part a matter of social hierarchy. I can only imagine how hotrible such an experience must be for someone who is actually very young, in a foreign country, without a support network and in dire need of money. I hope you don't consider this horrible family representative of Paris or France though. Having lived and gone to uni there, I can assure you most people are wonderful and kind. But exploitative psychopaths are an international problem apparently...
Thank you for posting. I hope things are better for you now
I was Au Pair for two years in France. The first year I was in a very sad situation, there were weeks where I worked 50 hours a week, without free days and for 80 euros a week. The kids were very little and they were twins so they were mostly crying and shouting all the time. The parents insisted that the situation was normal, that I was too sensitive and lazy and they even suggested I could be depressive.
I'm a physician in my home country and I've never had mental health issues and the only reason I tolerated this awful year was because I didn't want to go back to my country. I wanted to stay in France, flee the dictatorship, start a new life and because of that I tolerated so much. I even stayed in the same city to study and when I go through the street they used to live I feel bad, awkward, sad and angry, just because of the memories.
I would like so much to share my experience with as many girls as possible, to helo in someway with my history. Sadly I still don't know how but I'll figure out. Your video was amazing! Thanks
i'm from argentina, and what my siblings an i have done multiple times (and something that's really common for middle/upper middle class young people from my country) are "work and travel" programs to the USA, in which you pay for the program cost + flights (usually add up to around $2500 usd), and work in the states (usually for a hotel or some kind of amusement park) during your summer break from university, so from december to march, and earn your money back + get to travel around the states once you're done working. i looked into being an au pair, but due to some of the reasons you mentioned, i decided to do this program instead (also, i wanted to keep attending university). personally, while i think "work and travel" programs can tend to be less exploitative to other methods, they do require you to have the money to pay for the program upfront, so even if they're sold as "culture exchange" programs, they're only available to a select cut of society and their culture, and it can also lead to some overworking yourself due to wanting to be seen as "a good latin american/asian/etc"
on the other hand, my brother has spent the last... 7? years or so traveling around the world by a finding short term jobs in the hospitality sector, sometimes for money, sometimes in exchange for room and board, and while his experience has been great, and he's visited over 20 countries, he's always said that it can be hard and dangerous if a) you're not a man, and b) you don't have a 'hard' enough personality to stand up for yourself against anyone. he's also been in some shitty situations though.
Siii work and travel es la mejor experiencia!! Si bien se trabaja bastante, la paga es buena y se pasa re bien... De todas maneras mi familia nunca ha sido de tener mucho dinero ni tampoco mis amigos con los que he ido, de hecho gracias al work and travel que hice el 2019 podré ir este año ya que ahorré ese dinero haha
@@SashaFierceBadass hay algún programa o sitio web que te haya sido de ayuda para organizar el viaje? Agradecería alguna recomendación.. gracias 🙂
@@pilarpighin1255 hola!! Mira lo único que podría recomendarte es que si o si debes tener una agencia que te respalde, ya que esta será la que te dará tu empleador de Estados Unidos y te ayudará con toda la documentación para la visa j1, y sin agencia no puedes hacer work and travel. Ellos te ayudarán en organizar tu viaje de la. Mejor forma posible! Y cambian dependiendo del país que seas, yo soy de Chile y estoy con la agencia USE.
@@SashaFierceBadass gracias!
2500 usd jesus. "but the experience!!" yeah that's what i'll have after the whole year i'll have to work to even get that. (sorry this topic just made me so angry and im also from argentina)
The whole volunteering travels have always been kind of contradictory I guess, specially the ones where you have to pay a lot of money to do so lol
As a fellow traveler, I love the concept of this video, as I've looked into all these options for my travels and never felt fully comfortable because of those "forced labor" vibes. We ended up going with pet/house sitting and traveled for one year by lining up housesits around the world. We tried to pick taking care of cats, so our free time was maximized. Absolutely wonderful option for any traveler and I'd highly suggest it. You only need to care for pets and watch the house, and the host is usually gone, though they might show you around a day or two to get used to the area. Some of them let us use vehicle and eat the food in their house. (We used trusted house sitters.) Great option for long term travel
I wonder, what kind of platform did you use to find the hosts?
@@tintaly we used Trusted House Sitters. If you Google that the website should come up.
@@skyywriting thx!
When I was in uni it was very popular to go work on a farm in Western Europe or the USA for the summer (I'm from Eastern Europe) and I kinda sorta considered it. My mom wasn't very much into the idea because she's heard all the horror stories of her friend's and colleagues' kids. I ended up doing an Erasmus exchange program instead and basically got paid good money to study abroad, some people, even teachers made fun of me for choosing study exchange over working, but I had one of the best experiences and it changed my entire life in so many positive ways!
Sorry, how did you manage to do an Erasmus+ while being paid? I've never heard of this before!
@@baobabbaobab6487 This was back in 2007, not sure if rules have changed, but back then you got financial help based on the difference in standard between your home country and the country of exchange. I came from the poorest EU country and went to one of the wealthiest so I got around 500 euro a month. If you are from a country with already high standard you are likely to not get help.
@@forindet Yes ok, thank you for your answer
I did WWOOF in Texas and worked sunrise to sunset with zero pay and not even four walls. I pulled weeds, fed animals, and cleaned the house
Good grief!😮
The same happened to some college partners who did their internship in the States as a prerequisite for their Animal Science bachelor's degree. There were no guarantees, even though our university was the one backing it. I heard a lot of similar stories, and that's why I didn't want to do my internship there. It's disconcerting, really...
I’ve had a look into joining a commune, because it’s a way of life that really appeals to me. But where I am at least, they all have huge buy-ins, making them completely out of reach for anyone not at least upper middle class. Which I think defeats the entire purpose of a commune. They also tend to be not at all disability friendly. It was such a disappointment.
One of the major reasons I want to live in a commune-type situation is that as it is, I’m considered to be nothing more than a burden on society (as someone who cannot work a traditional job and who relies on government benefits to survive). But I’d like to be able to contribute what I can- whether that making or mending clothes (even if slowly), providing social support to other people, especially disabled or elderly people, tutoring children (I’m not up to teaching as even a part time job, but I could definitely tutor, as long as parents are willing to let me work from bed- and I don’t see why I couldn’t). I could definitely help with setting up or maintaining legal and political structures (horizontal structures, but those structures do need ro exist in some form, whether that be a council of all citizens who then maybe do put forward representatives to a larger union of communes, who put forward the agreements of their community into that larger space- council communism, basically).
I WANT to contribute what I can. I WANT to help build a fair and equal community- I have the education regarding political and legal structures, and that’s something I feel is useful for the setting up and maintaining a fair community. I have skills like hand sewing and mending- skills I’ve already had to learn to work around my disability (though I’ve been unable to live off them in my current capitalist society). I’m not useless. I don’t want to be a burden. I want to contribute.
But I’m locked out of even attempting such a thing due to being poor and disabled. A lot (all) of the communes I saw were very focused on being “eco communes”, but without that drive for a fair, mutual aid structured society. Or any sort of leftist ideology, really. It’s rich white people playing at a tree change. And that just seems to be not a real commune to me. It’s basically just a gated community where they delude themselves that they’re helping the environment. And so I know some would say “well, just create what you want to see in the world”, but I’m disabled and poor, and setting up a commune like that is beyond my current abilities and I know it. I shouldn’t have to have the ability to start one from scratch in order to be able to live in and contribute to one. It’s just all rather depressing.
Actually you could start a commune for people with disabilities. You seem to have writing skill to learn to write a grant. There is all kinds of grant money out there for disabled individuals. I worked in social work and one of the people I worked with, we wrote a grant to start a group home. He won the grant and to this day his home is a reality. It is kind of similar to what you want. They make jam and sell at the farmers market. It is good to find purpose in life and contribute where you can. I think you can do it. Maybe make it part of your business plan for the grant. Good Luck!
FWIW one of the reasons is that in many countries because of lack of tax benefits and issues around land ownership and bank loans setting up communes costs a lot of money, is considered high risk and is restricted when it comes to planning permissions versus buying a house for example. Most governments endorse nuclear family units over communal living. This makes it inaccessible for people with lower capital/income and is why a lot of eco communes have high buy ins.
I've found this same problem. I feel like you either get communes that are "buy-in", "cultish" or just shitty. I really want to join one but It's so difficult to find organizations you can trust or that meet your needs.
Just a reminder that your worth/value is inherent and you don’t/shouldn’t have to contribute shit all the love ur friendly neighbourhood autistic anarchist :)
Imi DJ yeah, too bad we all can’t just exist and love. Truth is we are all expected to contribute something worth money.
A lot of au pair families now expect their au pairs to be amazing English teachers too even though it isn’t part of the contract
Very interesting topic! It's always irked me the wrong way that discussing money issues or asking a salary that fits your qualifications has been made into such a taboo, especially for women. I mean, just think about who that benefits. And how can we travel cheaply without basically gentrifying the local job market?
I felt validated just from seeing the title of this video. Thank you for making it! I did a little WWOOFing in South West England where I'm from when I was 20 and it was a shitty experience.
I was expected to work as often as the paid workers and to work as fast or faster than them because I had chosen to be there. The farmer made me feel like I was a burden because I didn't weed or plant as fast as the other people.
Rather than 15 hours a week it was 4 days of 7 hours and one 12 hour day on Wednesday when we would harvest the vegetables. It was exhausting, especially considering I'd never done physical labour before.
We were not given meals, we were just told to take what vegetables were in the big fridge thing and to cook ourselves.
It reinforced both my low self-esteem and the feeling I had nothing to offer.
Thank you so much for sharing!
I’m currently an AuPair in Germany and luckily I’ve had a really great experience with my host family who treats me as one more of their children and always respect my work hours but I’m fully aware this is not everyone’s experience since I’ve met other girls that had told me horror stories, choosing a family is a gamble and it’s usually girls on the younger side that get exploited the most, I’m in my late twinties but I feel like people need to be ware of families that specifically look for girls between 18 to 21, as in, they know exactly what they are doing by trying to recruit barely adult girl who most likely would let them exploit her. What’s even sadder is that some girls from very economically damaged countries offer themselves as slaves to these family, fully aware they offer whatever to the families just to be chosen (ex. Accept less payment, work almost 24/7, clean the whole house even though is not part of the job) and many families know this and feel like it’s ok to do it just cause this vulnerable girls accept this from the get go just cause they are looking to scape their countries.
Hmm I think it is interesting that you say girls from economically poorer countries offer themselves as slaves. While there are many factors at play here, I think culture plays a big role. Many Asian and Latinx cultures are very communal. You are expected to help out with cleaning, cooking, and everything else. And this isn't just if you're a part of the family. Even if you're a guest to the house, it is seen as being respectful when you offer to do the dishes or help clean up. So I think this cultural background makes it hard for people to distinguish what's appropriate in this new culture. They are internally fighting between two worldviews - a hybrid or a third space as Homi Bhaba calls it. This is a result of colonialism.
In short, I don't think these girls are offering themselves up as slaves. They themselves are fighting an internal battle of worlviews which is exploited by others with more social power.
I was planning to do one of these in my early twenties, thankfully I didn't. Why would you go to another country to have bad & unsafe working conditions, when you can experience it from the comfort of your own country?
😭😭
I guess you would have to travel in order to answer that question?
It's so important for all workers to understand the power and significance of their labor. Recognizing the contribution they make--and the profit it creates--is an enormous means to develop worker solidarity. Neo-liberalism, especially, has created such a fealty toward individualism that the idea of worker unity feels like a thing of the past for so many. I appreciate your efforts to encourage creative thinking, imagining new models, and daring to think of alternative ways than the current models. In fact, I think it is imperative for our future as a species.
It's hard regardless, but the power dynamic is very different depending on where you come from.. Two western European friends did wwoofing and they had wonderful, life-changing experiences. A Ukrainian friend did aupairing in Austria (my mom met her doing German courses together) and she has proper horror stories - including at some point the family threatening to report her to the police because she was using their WiFi, which, y'know, they'd given her the password for. The positive was that it was a way for her to get a toehold in Austria and learn some German, which then eventually allowed her to go to uni here, get a job, and just recently citizenship. But to get there she had to endure some misery where I think my Western European friends would just end up going, "fuck it, not worth it", and go home.
Lots of us put up with things not just Ukrainians. I’ve been treated terribly by some hosts and do not just say “fuck it”
Barely started and I'm already loving the video. I've always been curious about the au pair thing
🥰🥰
I was aupair in Germany for a year and was very poor experince. I know a lot of young people who does it in Europe and the same Situation. Poor working conditions, stress, exploration, even bullying sth
@@lie8086 damn, I'm really sorry about it! I've heard of quite a few "horror stories" regarding it
I was an au pair in the UK. It can be a great job and I loved the kids. The parents though... It was a very cold family and I was very aware that they could fire meand I would have no job/home in a matter of hours. I lived in a state of low level anxiety. They underpaid me and I struggled to pay for even simple things. Be wary.
With WWOOFing in particular it can be a mixed bag. I had a great experience and learned skills that I wouldn’t trade for the world, but then I’ve heard horror stories of people essentially living in squalor and starvation. I think it really comes down to
A. Knowing your rights and the reasonable expectations of the host and B. Heavily vetting the host by references
Then again this only my experience. Very cool and informative video nonetheless as always
I did wwoofing in japan for a week and it was honestly such an amazing time. The hoest keeps in touch with all the people he's hosted on fb and regularly shares photos etc. I think that's some good advice.
This subject matter needs to be discussed more. I've always wondered what it's all about ever since I used the Tandem app to learn Spanish and Filipino, and a little French. That's when I started seeing the word "au pair" thrown around.
Great video, I have traveled by volunteering in hostels and I think it's a great way to travel, of course as long as you know your worth and always have a back up plan. But I would recommend working in hostels as a way to live for a few months in cities that otherwise you couldn't afford to live in.
This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart is on a student exchange to France and gets exploited and mistreated by the winemakers there. Until he recognized that he unconsciously learned to speak French by being exposed to it and alerts a policeman in perfect French :D
I was an Au Pair in the US and I had a terrible experience that really afected me emotionally. Because I am from Africa they thought I was their slave and they were making me a favor by hosting me and giving me food so I was suppused to be grateful and do whatever they wanted me to do. I was feeling very vulnerable because I was away from my country, family, in a different country, culture and language. I stll carry a lot of trauma from that experience and I pray that no one goes through the same.
🙄 you think it’s because you are from Africa? Literally every one on Worldpackers and Workaway are treated like this by some hosts including myself 🙄
My husband and I had an interesting experience this summer. We went to a lake campground (state ran) in our RV. We asked if there were jobs available for parking the RV there for the summer for an exchange. They gave us a job. It was 24 hours a week from both of us in exchange for 4 days in a row 6 days a week. I would work the booth checking people in and out and my husband would be cleaning campsites and also cleaning the bathrooms. We agreed to do it and got up and to work. He was told to clean 6 bathrooms without gloves or proper rags. So he did it and that took him and the guy training him 2 hours....the rest of the time they just ran around on the golf cart and bullshitted with people. I on the other hand was stuck in a booth with no ac, and there was a complicated nightmare system...and the woman kept berating all of the other people who quit because it was too complicated without a computer to keep track of marks on a white board with a grease pen. It was a mess and she was also making mistakes and I was catching them...and she was training me. It took 20 to check someone in...and we had people lined up out to the freeway about 10 deep...very inconvenient and people were getting angry. I told her I didn't think I wanted to do that for my summer and would rather clean the bathrooms....needless to say when we were finished with the day we turned in our notice and they called us lazy and ungrateful. Maybe we were, but at least we left and enjoyed the rest of our summer. These gig jobs are not all that they are cracked up to be. You are probably better off volunteering. Then there is no room for people to say you are not doing enough...or threaten to fire you.
Hey, Alice! I'm Ryan Little. It's really cool to hear my music in your background of your video. I'm honored.
Oh hey! I absolutely loved this song, thanks for letting us, creators, use it 🥰
Reminds me of the time when I was about 22 and was looking for a volunteering/cultural exchange experience abroad. I remember talking over skype to some two guys who were running a youth hostel in Edinburgh, I think. First red flag was when they said it was a catholic hostel and that they adhered to the rules strictly. I was like ok, I can put up with this (not meaning to offend anyone here, it's just I'm not a big fan of the catholic uprbringing I got). But then they said that many people who volunteered thought they were there for fun and just wanted to go out and NOT WORK, you know, as in, HAVE SOME FREE TIME and treat this job like something extra. Which, you know... I mean it's working for free, advertised on one of those "get to know the real Scotland/England/etc." websites, so the cultural exchange should be important. Anyway, after that talk I kinda lost interest in that sort of volunteering (1.and instead went on to having an awful corporate boring job in my hometown, ehhh...2. which I soon quit :P)
What are you doing now?
I believe this video is very necessary. I am a Brazilian and I see many people of my generation looking for oportunities to study abroad and travel. And, even though I still think is a good idea to travel the way you can afford, we need to be aware of the ugly side of it. i research about it a lot on internet, bc I'm about to graduate and I want to have an experience abroad. I see some brazilian girls with good experiences as au pairs in the US, but I also see bad ones. Imagine living in the house of your boss? They sell the program for the students as they would become the new older sister of their host families, however, for the families, they sell the program as a way to get a cheaper help for the kids.
so I believe your video is really helpful to make us think more about it.
Tenta a Worldpackers. É uma plataforma bacana e você trabalha realmente pouco.
@@synthozy já olhei tb, é uma possibilidade. Mas muito obrigada ☺️
i have recently become extremely interested in traveling, and am trying to understand the niches of the tourism industry so that i don’t put myself in a bad situation. thank you for this analysis!
I'm a NZer and exploitation of seasonal workers is a serious problem. People have this view of NZ as a type of paradise but as much as I love NZ we are definitely not perfect!
Absolutely! Great to see another kiwi in the comments. I've met plenty of ripped off foreign workers here, it's sad.
Young women and teenage girls in rough working conditions in their own hometown aren't taken seriously either. All of my friends that work at McDonald's have terrible working conditions where they are doing nearly too much than they can handle and often have a lazy coworker that's older than them pushing them to do more. When they complain to managers or the company themselves about being treated badly by other staff or getting burns from the fryers nearly every day they are ignored and told to toughen up.
I completely agree, being a WWOOFER myself. I've met those who have been exploited, and it's disgusting.
My own experience was absolutely amazing. The hosts were passionate about teaching us about farming, and were very flexible. Hosts in general need to understand that it's a cultural exchange, not a job. I personally had enough time on my hands to hold down a part time remote job while working a few hours a day on the farm. I traveled around the area, and did my fair share of work to accommodate a room and a few meals a day.
Yes!! Wwoof, workaway, etc. can be great experiences, but too many people just use it for free labour. Here in Portugal many people are doing permaculture type things, making natural buildings etc. All very labour intensive things that they usually use this type of platform for. When we question that we get so much push back from people! Our goal is to set up something different, as we are anti-capitalist after all, and while many people claim to be that also they still use these things in the name of "learning experiences". This is just so annoying to me as it's just another flavour of capitalism.
this made me think of white saviourism, when you mentioned people going to asia, africa to teach english, taking the jobs of the locals, is this something you are going to talk about in your next video possibly? i'd love to get your insights on that!
also, i'm super interested in the working holidays programme (both australia and new zealand), where farming work is included to extend your visa, and they are known to pay well (although farming work is super exhausting), your video made me think about the possible risks involved in these practices, so thank you! i had a super brief and general view on woofing (considered this summer but i need the money to be honest) so thank youu
also (again), i'm french (yes that's super weird to say it now) but i feel like in france, we don't really have this culture of volunteering? i study in the uk and i can see how much it's encouraged by the uni (and more generally with charity shops and stuff) while in france, in my experience, not many people mentioned volunteering being beneficial for your employment later - maybe because i come from a relatively well-off neighbourhood and people get into prépa and grandes écoles to earn a lot without having the need to work during their studies (i'm part of them so that may be a reason why i was never encouraged to volunteer until i got into uni).
anyways, sorry for the long message, i enjoy your videos so much, so well structured, i appreciate how you bring light on social issues that not many talk or think about, i learn a lot so thank you and i look forward to your next video! enjoy your summer!
It's called voluntourism.... volunteer and tourism. I'm from Indonesia. Many foreigners come to my country to teach English and have vacation too...some people see it as...like many foreigners, although they fluent on English, much much much better than us...they don't have qualifications as being a teacher. And others see it as foreigners who volunteer here while on vacation, they take local people's job.
As someone who'se been living in France for their studies, I find your take on volunteering very interesting. I kinda have the same opinion as you, but I have some other reasons to add to the ones you just mentionned.
France has the "service civique" which I think kinda serves the same purpose of some of those volunteering experiences. Also, I feel like people in France invest a lot of time in being a benevole in associations, which at the end of the day can also be written in your CV. I guess those two elements could draw some french people away from the programmes mentionned in the video.
@@arinaira1417 yes voluntourism that’s the word i was looking for! i thought white saviourism in relation to people from the west, developed countries (mainly white people) going to third world countries to “”help”” them develop when in fact they fulfill their saviour complex and a view that people are “less” civilised
@@ciella7876 yeah it's still related with white savourism. There are documentary about it on youtube. Yeah it's kinda sad. I personally feel sad for foreigner who visit these country because i genuinely believe that they have good intention, but the organization who take money from them, exploit their good will and leave the locals with nothing. Voluntourism is a business anyway, that's why it's sad. I don't understand why people from developed country think people who live in third world country is less civilized. I mean.... I live there all all my life hehe 😅
If you’re going to do farm work in Australia or New Zealand, make sure you know what accommodation is available at the farm and what options you have for food, some places are good but it’s not uncommon for people on working holiday visas to end up having to spend all their money they earned doing farm work just to sleep and eat or to end up camping illegally. Some farms are a very long way from any town
Thanks for bringing up this super interesting topic! I'd like to add a bit on the Woofing portion of the video, though.
What I found missing from the analysis is the fact that these kinds of opportunities actually are one of the only and/or the best way for someone who is not from a farming family to learn farming skills.
You really can learn a lot, but of course it depends on the farmer you are working with, and how didactic in their approach they are, or if they just use you for the dullest jobs.
Another factor is that workforce is really a huge investment for small farmers and it can be very helpful for them to have someone coming over and use the resources they already have at hand in the farm (space, extra food), while you as a woofer are getting really really delicious and organic food that would actually cost you a lot if you would be buying it in a supermarket. So I don't think Wwoofing deserves to be portrayed as a solely capitalist invention.
And I don't think communes have so much to do with fixing the issue of farmers not being able to achieve a sufficient price for their products and being able to employ full-time workers. It would be so much easier for farmers to have someone who actually knows that job and whom they don't have to teach each two weeks anew how to do it everything, or having to fix something after the volunteers weeded the vegetables instead of the weeds, etc. It also takes a lot of energy from them to have someone in their house and think of their needs as well.
Saying all that, talking with my last WWOOF host, she said that she likes having volunteers because that way she enables someone who wouldn't be able to pay to learn these skills on a seminar or a course to learn them for free. I was thinking to myself how delusional that thinking was - most people cannot afford not to work for a month and to travel somewhere (from their own money), work without any reimbursements, and even pay for their own sanitary pads or whatever extra things you need. It is definitely not an opportunity that is open for everyone.
So I would conclude that there should be these kinds of opportunities, but they should be better regulated and more geared towards people interested in starting their farms and compensated both for the farmer and for the student-worker.
But until the farmers get a fair price for their products and especially organic producers in countries with lower GDP, Woofing remains a viable form of getting some needed work done. Finally, let's not forget that a huge portion of farm work in Europe is done by unpaid immigrant laborers who actually work in conditions of complete slavery. Learn where your food comes from and support your local farmers! xx
I haven't watched the full video yet but I was an Au Pair in Ireland when I was 18 and had an absolute blast! It was the best thing ever and I gained lifelong friends and a new family *-*
BUT I do know AuPairs who had a horrible experience, it sadly really depends on the family.. 3 pieces of advice: trust your gut!! And talk to the current AuPair of the family before matching as they will probably be more truthfull/you can ask different questions, relating to that talk to every family member so with both parents!
thank you for the advice
A family friend of mine went to au pair in Spain & got stuck in a horrible situation - the family totally misled her on what they expected from her and they took her to a rural area of the country every weekend (when she was supposed to be off working to do as she pleased) and she was totally isolated. She’s fine but it was miserable.
This topic and the points you made is what I've been thinking years ago, but no one wants to take a deep dive in the issues so there wasn't much material to read about it except 'horror stories'.
The solution you suggested is simple and great. Empowerment via education on both sides and one not having the upper hand over the other. Thank you!
When I saw the title I thought you were going to talk about the evils of working while on holiday 😂 I learned something today. Thanks for the video Alice!
the family i au paired for in italy needed to hire a nanny, not an au pair. there is a difference. i was working fulltime for 70 euros a week and was berated when i asked for a day off. i barely saw any of the country i lived in for 3 months. it sucked.
I was an au-pair and I'm too tired to write about it here, but in short I have never in my life met someone who was an au-pair and genuinely liked the experience. At best people find it an ok temporary employment and somehow they managed to stay there for the entire time they are supposed to and power through it just to learn the local language, at worst the family turns out to be abusive yada yada yada. I heard so many horror stories. More negative ones than positive ones. In fact, as I said, I never heard of a true positive one, the best you can hope for is mediocrity. You are literally hired help, living 24/7 with your employer, in an highly unregulated job that offers no guarantees at all. You are at the mercy of the kindness of rich people (also let me just say the spoiled brats of the rich are generally not normal children, they are possessed by the devil lol I speak from personal experience).
I just found channel and Im loving it. I really like the way you explain your points and your editting is pretty good as well. Love from Brasil :)
Wow. I've seen videos on TikTok promoting this work. I'm glad I saw this video. I've been watching all of your work for hours now, I appreciate the topics you cover, thank you for sharing this
What I do like when it comes to "free traveling", as a university student is scholarships for exchanges, internships, courses... However you usually have to be a genius to be accepted hahaha
I did WWOOF and guesthouse-workstays, and all but one experience out of 6 were overwhelmingly negative and abusive. I was desperate to stay in that country because of a boyfriend there and accepted the perilous living situations - we need to discuss this issue more. Thank you for this video.
Thank you, you don't know how much I needed this video to be made.
Four years ago, being desperate to put something in my CV and improve one of the two languages I was studying (Hungarian and Russian), I enrolled in the European Voluntary Service (EVS). For those of you who don't know, EVS (now known as European Solidarity Corps) was an international volunteering program where people would work with a local organisation, do all kinds of activities, and have a chance to do a personal project. I spent 12 months in Debrecen, Hungary's 2nd largest city, and. It. Sucked.
Oh boy, where to begin.
When you said that exchange programs tend to reproduce the dynamics of work environments, you were absolutely spot on. I accepted the position because I wanted to go anywhere, but I ignored a huge red flag: the project description was incredibly vague and open to interpretation. During the Skype interview, they told me I would mostly co-teach English and my native Italian and help organise activities for young people (mostly high schoolers). That part of the experience was actually pretty great! It felt good to improve the kids' confidence regarding foreign language skills (especially since, on average, Hungarians are terrible at that - more on that later). But something felt off from the very beginning. It seemed like we were there just to be flunkies, regarded as an afterthought by the organisation. After all, our actual working schedule was sometimes limited to six hours a week. The rest was filled with endless EVS days and coordinator meetings, where we would discuss and evaluate our project instead of doing something worthwhile. Like, dunno, the actual goddamn project, which felt more like a reward for all the box-ticking above. Some of you eagle-eyed readers may have spotted a reference or two to Bullshit Jobs by the late David Graeber. According to him, around 37-40% of workers think their job is pointless, and this has apparently spread like a metastasis to the world of volunteering. Yikes. If you've never had a job like that, I can tell you it was quite possibly the most soul-crushing experience I've ever had in my life.
Interactions with other volunteers and the locals were rather awkward for the first 4 months or so, leading to me having pretty much no social life during that period. No wonder I adjusted so quickly to covid quarantine 2-3 years later.
The organisation itself is its own can of worms. For the most part, the employees were underpaid and unhappy, so much so that at one point, six people left in as many months. Communication was simply dreadful on every level but especially between them and us. Since not many employees spoke English (mind you, they had been hosting international volunteers for years!), whenever someone organised an activity for us, they had to tell our boss, who then had to tell our coordinator, who then explained everything in English for the volunteers. It was a convoluted game of Chinese whispers that bottlenecked the communication and could have been easily solved by asking me to simply translate everything from Hungarian to English. Of course, when I offered to do this, I was promptly ignored.
Most of the time, we were just left to our own devices. We were supposed to get an info pack about the project and the city where we would have to spend 12 months, but we saw none of these. As a result, we had no idea of how to recycle, get a library card, etc. The landlords who owned the flat where I lived were some dudes I never met and had contacts only with the organisation. Too bad because I basically lived in a dump, and the problems I had there would have to take an entire separate comment. Our project coordinator was absent and inattentive and clearly had some kind of burnout. He resigned halfway through our term, and his replacement was one of the biggest arseholes I've ever met in my life. She would often bully or berate us for things that weren't even our fault or were just us asking for basic rights; she actually made me cry a couple of times.
At a certain point, it was clear there also wouldn't have been room, attention and/or resources for my personal project, so I just stopped caring. Mind you, the project lasted for 12 months, starting in October, so by the time the school year and the youth initiatives were over, we still had two months to kill, which I basically treated as a vacation marred by the minor inconvenience of having to turn up to a crowded, noisy, overheated office for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Sounds sweet once you take out the "office" bit, but it was a defeat for all intents and purposes. I definitely wanted to take more out of my experience, but that wasn't meant to be, I guess.
This is an eye-opening story, thank you so much for sharing
Honestly one of your best videos!
I lived in Ireland for a year as an au pair after graduating, and while it was one of the best decisions I made, it was also incredibly hard mentally.
I definitely worked more hours than I was paid for and the tension between my host parents took its toll on my mental health. I cried so many times, not because I missed home but because I felt belittled for not knowing everything about how to raise children immediately (mind you I was 19-20. right out of Highschool).
On top of that you can never escape work since it’s all around you.
I was very lucky cause I was able to talk things out with my host parents who simply didn’t notice the stress I was under and I made wonderful friends that are still with me to this day.
I am not mad that I made this experience but if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t repeat it (I still struggle with the anxiety from those moments to this day)
Thank you for your comment. May I ask did you have to get a specific volunteer visa as you were there for a year? thank you
Traveling and working felt like a life hack, and it was, just not for the one who is doing the working
You have presented a fair critique of the volunteer work exchange programs, but as someone who has used services similar to WWOOF and working holiday visas, I might be able to give a different viewpoint. I'm an American and after my first year of college, I decided to take a gap year. I used a site called Workaway to find work exchange accommodation. I worked on and lived in a vineyard during harvest season (3-4 months). The owner paid for my food, housing, and supplied almost any other necessity I needed (he even took the entire harvest crew to an amusement park). This experience changed the trajectory of my life. Since then, I've gone abroad and worked on a vineyard in Italy for 3 months, set up vineyards in Germany, moved halfway across the US, received a degree in winemaking, and became an associate winemaker.
Now, I am speaking from the perspective of an American working in the agriculture/wine industry with one of the most expensive crops to grow. I am aware I may be an outlier and my experience is strictly tied to the wine industry.
The hard truth is that the vast majority of Americans don't want to work in the fields. This usually stems from a two-pronged issue with pay and ego. On the issue of pay: Historically, it hasn't been glamorous but the market is starting to meet the needs of the employees with a livable or well above a living wage. Regarding the issue of egos, farm labor is viewed as unskilled labor and a lot of Americans view themselves as above the position. As a whole, the American agricultural industry would crash if it weren't for seasonal, contractual workers.
These same issues are a problem in almost all developed countries in the world. So, working holiday visas in Australia/New Zealand/Canada aren't removing enological and viticultural jobs from the local employment pool because the demand is greater than the supply.
I agree with your statements about fair compensation for the work. I also agree that worker rights should be expanded to include the gig economy to curb worker exploitation. I think we disagree on perspective?? You said that work gives you a sense of self-worth but you have felt bad about yourself when you were underpaid. I don't view my self-worth as tied to any monetary value but the progress I've made in life. If I am underpaid, I am upset at the individuals who wronged me but never myself.
I was really waiting for such a video 😅 amazing
Thank you for raising this subject Alice. I worked in the Leisure Department at a Hotel in Corsica (during Summer season) 3 years ago. The Building was literally falling apart. The living conditions for staff were squalid. The management was terrible. The pay for the long hours we worked was pathetic with barely any time to sight-see around the Island. Basically, the deal was very mis-sold to all of us. Most people (myself included) chose to quit the season early.
It's just really disheartening to me that a lot of programmes and agencies that give options for people to help someone elsewhere are just based on exploitation. We all obviously want to see the world, some of us really want to help other people, and it's just really sad that it all comes with a price from both sides.
This is a really good, really important video. This problem is not even acknowledged enough.
Another great one - I was an au pair in Italy when I was a teenager, and a lot of what you said has really rung true. Thanks for the video!
From 2019 to 2020 I traveled abroad through workaway to Taiwan where I lived and worked in a co-living space for 5 months. The work involved cleaning the apartment and some other coliving spaces around the city. At first I loved the experience because I felt like I had a community and was living in the best part of the city for free. However, I met many different people with different views on the work. Some travelers didn’t like it and felt they were being taken advantage of because they weren’t being paid, yet some other coworkers said that the working conditions were great and that you do need to be careful because other hosts will take advantage of you. A major realization I personally made while working there was that volunteerism potentially drives down the cost of labor and/or disallows economic opportunity for locals. Because almost no one can compete with free labor.
I hope people in NZ realise this economic principle.
Such a good video. There are so many blurred lines around the rules and regulations of “volunteering” overseas. I did some volunteering in Indonesia, and I came away questioning a few things about my experience. I worked full time, 7am until 5pm, everyday, no days off, with no food until 12:30pm everyday. Overall it was a beneficial experience for me but looking back I feel like I was possibly being exploited, as well as taking away possible jobs from locals. It’s complicated as I was working for a charity that didn’t really have the money to employ anyone to do the job, so they rely heavily on volunteer labour.
Great video, I have heard similar things about mission trips. I love the way you speak, you are calm and thoughtful but also engaging and clearly care about these topics.
glad to see more people talking about exchange and gift economies. we have to try experimenting with living like this on a small scale, with friends and family, so we can understand how to do it on a large scale
Amazing. I went down that rabbit hole when thinking about fleeing the USA. You are confirming some things I was noticing.
I did a 'teaching abroad' programme when I was 18 and knew nothing about education. It was an incredible experience (for me), and sparked my passion for education and international development. Now, 7 years of experience and study later, I look back on that experience critically and feel uncomfortable that I naively took part in 'voluntourism'. What particularly worries me is the lack of safeguarding for children. Having so many adults come and go on a weekly basis can really harm vulnerable children. I'm planning to go into the global education field, I'm ready to dedicate my life to this, but I still worry about the complexity of the situation. How can I be helpful without pushing my own agenda of development and education? Is 'good education' a universal concept that can transverse culture? How can I be involved in charities/charitable work without falling into the 'white saviour' trap? I believe there are ethical options out there re: volunteering (I've been looking into VSO's professional volunteer programme, and doing research into grassroots NGO's), but essentially, you don't know until you try. Wow, I've written an essay on this and I still have so many questions. Thank you for another thought provoking video!
Not sure if you'll actually see this because it's been a while, but I'm a h school teacher who always felt bad for not avoiding offering my skills in that way, mostly because I instinctively recognized the voluntourism complexities mentioned here. I did, however consider offering short teacher training courses in areas where teachers are often those with a high school education, which could be an option for people in your position.
If you intend to stay somewhere and are still asking the above questions, I highly recommend reading friere's 'pedagogy of the oppressed'. He taught literacy in sth America from an activist perspective. His ideas still underlie my English/literature teaching decades later, despite the pressure from Aussie school systems to squash thought in favour of standardized testing.
I've known a few people personally who've been abused in wwoofing situations. It's quite common for foreign worker rights to be abused. Thank you for addressing this!
Such a good video.. I was on a farm through wwoof and left when the hosts left the farm for a few hours leaving me without food from 8 til 5pm. When I brought it up, they said it was a misunderstanding and also that I was just very young and naive. I always doubt myself when I think about this, not daring to call it exploitation because it was my choice to go there and it is all about the ‘experience’ and ‘exchange’, not about money or labor rights… turns out the hosts were very rich as well, working on online business while I was weeding the garden for hours alone. There are so many risks to wwoof and workaway we need to talk about more openly. There is this idea that wwoofers are not to be trusted to work hard, just chasing cheap vacation, while the woofers are actually objectively in a precarious situation compared to the host. There is a power dynamic inherently there..
Very interesting topic! As per the NZ WH Visa, you don't have to apply thru things like wwoof or another organization, and you don't have to do agricultural work for that matter, you do get offered the minimun wadge in most under qualified jobs however, but you can also find higher paid jobs. You get part of your taxes back once you leave the country. I must say though, that workers that come from low income countries, that are brough specifically for seasonal jobs, which is not the same as a working holiday visa, are kept in condisions that you could pretty much say "hostage", with their passports sometimes taken by their employees, and they're kept in a shared accomodation with limited to no own transport and are dependent for food since maybe they don't get their full payment until the end of the season; not to mention that they work extremelly hard, fast and very long shifts.
Holy shit I was literally just talking about this subject with my friend and another person currently "volunteering"... Perfect timing, I had a hard time finding resources about this subject and here you come with a video
I was just talking to my mum about this a few days ago! I’d like this to be common knowledge, this should be the sort of thing they teach in compulsory education too!
There's always been something about these kinds of jobs that felt odd to me. I will admit that I personally know some people that do volunteer vacation jobs in some poorer countries, and I was mostly convinced the one I knew, because they worked directly with locals and locals mostly managed everything, that it was ok. And maybe the way they ran it was ethical, but still, you know? When I decided to go to Korea to teach English, for me it was never to go have an easy job then go travel on my vacation time, I met plenty of people that were there for that, and then they realized that it was a legit job and that it wasn't all fun and games as they thought. For me it was always about the job, because of doing my undergrad in linguistics, and did a lot of classes in second language aquisition, I was already drawn to foreign English teaching jobs. I did a lot of research and made sure to do the work to get a job with the Korean government and not with a private academy, because I knew teaching in a public school had more securities, benefits, and rights, I even had to submit a police background check because I'd be working with children. I really worked hard to try to understand the culture, I failed miserably with the language, but I worked my butt of to know the culture. But the thing is, there are soooooo many rules put in place for the job I had, while we had a lot of benefits, there were a lot of rules put in place to protect both the worker and the schools, but the ones to protect the schools made most of us feel like children, because honestly, they're usually dealing with 21/22 year olds right out of uni and don't quite understand life yet. These kids that found this job honestly only applied because they thought it was a way to explore Asia, most of the people I met through this ended up backpacking through Asia for 3 months after finishing one contract, some could barely handle the full contract and broke their contract 6 months in just to go backpack around Asia. Also one of the things that irked me about this job is what countries were allowed to participate and which ones weren't. Like the Philippines and Singapore weren't allowed to participate but South Africa was, so only countries that have English as a native or near native language, and all of them tend to be countries with a large, if not huge, "white" population (hence why I mentioned South Africa). I didn't question this at first, but over time it really started to bother me. Anyways, what I did for work in Korea doesn't completely count as this, but it's one of those jobs where it can be an exploited situation for people from "rich" countries (not all are rich of course) to have time in a foreign country and it's not always a good situation.
Also, I'd like to point out that very few countries offer US citizens a working/holiday visa. I never even heard about them till I got to Korea and met tons of Koreans that did it in Australia or New Zealand or even Ireland, and people from non-US countries that had done it in other countries. I'd heard about US citizens going to be au pairs, but never this work/holiday visa and go work on a farm or a cafe.
I had a similar experience in China. I was teaching Russian as a foreign language (which I'm qualified to teach) at a big university. Most of the Spanish, German and French teachers were actual teachers with degrees, but English "teachers" just had to have a degree in anything and hold a passport of an English-speaking country. And they were paid much more than any of non English teachers. I actually remember helping out a couple of them, explaining basic English grammar (as I had my first degree in TEFL and a ton of experience teaching English in Russia) and most of them didn't treat the job seriously too! But the thing is you can only legally teach the language if you are a native speaker. And if you choose to work illegally (like many Russians do) - you are in a very vulnerable position and most likely will be overworked cause your school stuck their necks out for you, so now you owe them. Even though that situation has nothing to do with volunteering, I still felt a lot of unfairness and insecurity there.
I think it all boils down to "first world countries" being extremely closed to foreigners, in the sense of not wanting to provide them opportunities to fill the employment gaps on the same footing as the nationals.
It could be a win-win situation (for the country and the person wanting to work there), but their wish to keep foreigners away is bigger than any sense of logic - and the current "be your own boss" culture as well, glamourising the notion of not having any decent rights and making do with whatever 'opportunity' is thrown at you.
That said, I'll be doing aupair in a month and I do see the issues with it. I'm hoping my experience is a positive one.
Thank yooou, another great video. Just wanted to also say thank you for the subtitles! I usually have to watch with low/no sound, so it's very helpful.
Going to the US on a work and travel program was one of the worst experiences of my life. I worked myself to the bone the whole summer and in the end I barely came even on the loan I had to take to go there in the first place. I now know that programs like that have nothing to do with cultural exchanges or providing opportunities, they are only there to abuse young people who don't really have any way of protecting themselves once there. Cheap labor with no threat of real consequences for the companies commiting the abuse.
I have always wanted to travel for free by working, now I'm having second thoughts on it.
direct democracy may work in a very small nation or a village as you said , but never in big country, as the main problem that I see that stopping this progress is: HUMAN NATURE, see humans like to up one another by nature, in any social settings. for that we need to understand power , and power dynamic , how to obtain it and be ok to use it when necessary so we don't be mistreated.
Good video as always informative , I really enjoyed it.
YESSSSS LET'S TALK ABOUT WORKERS' RIGHTS! It's really interesting to think about how these types of "Holliday" are passing as opportunities, but actually are part of a huge system that exploits the workers, but the thing is that the people who work through them don't even call themselves as workers. So if you cannot even identify as a worker, how can you ask for your rights as one?... We can also think about how the home office and freelance world, gives the company more opportunities for them to not provide any sort of rights, plus as someone who has work with the home office structure, the company spares soooo much cost because you usually work with your own equipment your computer, your internet, etc), so they don't have to pay any of that....
I saw this and was like "This will be fun..."
my aunt was an au pair in england in the 80s, after she had finished high school. She wanted to polish her english skills and thought it'd be a great fit bc she loves kids, and she really did enjoy looking after the kids but she just really didn't get along too well with the host family's parents. They not only expected her to nanny the children, but also to tutor them in german (my aunt's native language), which she of course did not get paid extra for. They had a french girl as an au pair at the same time and she was also expected to tutor the kids in her native language.
At the time my aunt was obviously still very young and just excited to be in a foreign country for the first time in her life, and also to earn a little money, but looking back now she really did not get compensated adequately and she definitely worked more than 8 hours per day
I had a poor experience with Workaway. My friend and I agreed to work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Upon our arrival the host mother told us we would be working 8 hours a day 5 days a week saying they didn’t have as much help as the normally did. We tried to help them out by working those hours but after two weeks we couldn’t do it anymore. I finally stood up to them and simply told them we were only going to work our agreed upon hours, I was yelled at, treated poorly and ostracized from the family for the remaining part of the trip. Not to mention we’re only provided one meal a day and our accommodation didn’t have AC like we were told it did, this wouldn’t generally be a problem however there was a heat wave our entire trip and it was an average of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I know that there are good families and opportunities out there so I hope people aren’t scared off but I wish I saw this video before I went. If you do work exchange you must be able to speak up for yourself and have an emergency plan for if you need to remove yourself from the area. Stay safe!
Oh I'm sorry for your experience where did you stay like in which country ?
I was an aupair in China a couple years ago and I completely agree with the exploitation issue, at first I went there with the idea of having a free travelling adventure during my gap year in a completely different country but after the first month I started feeling that they didn't even see me has human and just the next babysitter. The family was alright but the local organization was super abusive of me and other aupairs, demanding reports everyday of what I did with the kids, and would send me passive aggressive messages saying I didn't "love" enough the kids because I would sometimes say no to their requests. In the end there was also an issue where I realized they were not even paying me the pocket money that was in the contract and that was a huge task just to get a few more dollars to my "salary" that was signed by all parties involved. I don't regret the experience but I wouldn't do it again and I would advise anyone who wants to be an aupair to not expect a great treatment.
I'm glad you posted this. Not to be appreciated as one should is damaging
i was an aupair in china for 4 months when i was 18. i did it with the thought in mind that i would attend university there after my contract ended. my family was mostly hospitable, but like previous comments, it is very difficult to work for someone you live with. i would usually work from 9 to 7pm. i had saturdays off and one other day but half of it was spent going to my chinese class, which was actually individual lessons so i wasnt able to befriend anyone. as an aupair its very easy to feel isolated and mentally unwell when you have such a strict schedule. i wanted to travel throughout the country, but i would feel guilty for asking to have time off. the little girl i took care of was 2 years old so it was quite tiring to chase her around all day when she wasnt that interested in listening to me. these programs can be good, but culture is a big part of it. chinese children usually aren't disciplined much until they become older. i had uncomfortable moments of family members talking about me in dialects so i couldn't understand and other tough moments. i am grateful for the experience and i learned alot but it was very stressful and difficult to do for even the 4 months i was there. i received about $200 usd in pocket money which was enough, but i couldnt leave for trips due to the working times even though i think i was working more than the contract stipulated. also being a new adult and trying to teach a little girl english with no experience and the mother asking me about my methods and to address certain things was very stressful. the mom also tried to get her daughter to learn french before me so it was definitely odd.
Thank you for compiling all of this, very informative
Very interesting video and view! I recently volunteered in a permaculture in Portugal and if it wasn't for a girl who after three days lefts because she understood we we're working too much compared to how much it was agreed before I would have never even realised we were undervalued and "underpaid" (we didn't get any money, just food and location). Her leaving got me realized I was compromising because I was in a lower position where my only power was to leave, which I didn't want to because I was learning so much but at the same time the owners were not comprehensive at all and we were all exhausted. It was my first time experiencing this, because in my other volunteer and Workaway experiences were amazing so not only I didn't expect it but also wasn't ready to deal with them: I think that everyone who begins with these programs should be advised about the negative and problematic parts that come from them in order to be concious and more prepared to defend their value. It's a part of the story that I usually never share when people ask me about my experiences but now I'll definetly warn them!
I totally agree!
What a Great video! i think its helpful to see these kind of "jobs" in a different light just so people can take informed decisions, i've seen tiktok videos advertising these gigs reach millions of views and as cool as it might seem there's a lot more to consider 🙌
Damn. The human rights implications are bigger than I thought.
Woohoo looking forward to watching the rest of this video! The working holiday visa is what got me into France from NZ two years ago. I wasn't after any babysitting or volunteering or even pub work. Got myself that salary baby! and now chipping away at qualifying for a French passport. I highly recommend young people looking to do working holidays to take your time to do your research, and get a skill or qualification than can get you a proper job/rights in the country you're going to. For example in NZ we need so many healthcare and trade workers, bring your skills and your English, there's far more than farm work to be had here. The working holiday visa will get you in, your skills will let you stay. Same deal in France etc.
Hey, true this is a great idea for many young people. Good for you that you got to France! I'm also from NZ and tbh some young people prefer hands on jobs that require little academic study. When I turned 18 thats what I did (I tried to study at Uni but couldn't commit) and learned a lot. But the other factor I was thinking of is that Uni can be quite expensive for some, because poorer families have to worry about full time incomes when their kids turn 18 (this was the case for a friend of mine).
My point is that everyone's story is different, for some it can be very up and down. At 22 I'm studying again :) out of curiosity, what sort of qualification/skill do you have?
@@eilishrebecca7534 yeah, you're definitely right about the cost of Uni. Good on you for knowing yourself and taking your time to do something that suits you. All the best with your studies.
What's great about NZ is the wide variety of practical polytech courses and trade apprenticeships, and I also feel like practical work is still valued in our society. I did a Bachelor of Arts and even with that mum and dad made it quite clear that I had to have a job in mind for the end of it and wasn't there to muck around and just study whatever, because each course was a hundreds of dollars of debt. Also had to have a job on the side and pay them board, so I felt quite prepared for the real world when I finished.
I majored in English and Linguistics, and took mostly French electives outside that. I've been working as an English language teacher both in NZ and now France ever since. The pandemic has destroyed the industry in NZ so I'm looking now to upskill and move into a more instructional/learning design role for if/when I leave France.
My aunt's did aupair work in their youth. They had some good and some awful experiences. They ran away a few times from exploitative families, taking their luggages and escaping in the early morning before everyone was awake.
thanks for this video, I think it's really important to be aware of the problems and potential pitfalls of these kinds of organizations!
The thing about farming just rubs me the wrong way as someone who is from a country where people immigrate constantly to wealthier ones in orders to work extensive hours with little pay and plenty of times under the table (which makes it easy for human trafficking regardless of labor, sex, or organ types to flourish). Germany and Italy are some of the greatest offenders of profiting of imi migrants from other European states since their reputations and social status basically make them fool proof when people bring these things up. The fact that now it’s a becoming a trend for people looking for experience is baffling.
Globalization caused this problem and for a business it's a difficult choice to make. Work and stay afloat or head into the red with money.
Great video! What would you recommend as a good alternative to volunteering or au pairing for long term travel? Setting up communes seems like a very intense commitment, like somebody else here had mentioned
Tellement intéressant!
Yeah, I would never trust a stranger so much that I both work for them and live with them, especially in a another country. I have volunteered once, at my dad's friend's bed and breakfast for a week. It was nice, we only worked 1-2 hours a day and were treated great. We even get to go at a neighbour's smoke sauna and dinner party once.