"The world is so big, I want to see it." Nowadays, the money-saving and fun "volunteer travel" has gradually become a favorite way of travel for young people, and many volunteer enthusiasts have repeatedly appeared on the hot search.
Coming to a strange place, feeling the local life, and making friends with like-minded friends are the original intentions of some young people who choose volunteer travel. However, can volunteer travel really achieve "poetry and distance"?
"Volunteer travel" is not worthy of the name
The so-called "volunteer travel" originally referred to the voluntary participation of a certain group for free and the volunteer activities at the same time as the tour. This way of travel is still a relatively fresh concept in China, and is currently mainly active in Douban, Tieba, Xiaohongshu and WeChat public accounts.
In recent years, this concept of travel, which emphasizes the identity of "volunteers", has gradually become confused with "part-time work and accommodation".
Searching for "volunteer travel" on social platforms shows most of the information about youth hostels and inns recruiting "volunteers". Among them, Shangri-La, Lijiang, Weizhou Island and other places have become popular places for volunteer travel.
In the view of Wu Xin, who has participated in volunteer volunteer trips, these hostels are just recruiting free labor under the banner of "volunteers". "This kind of essence is simply a part-time job change, and should not be confused with 'volunteer travel'."
Where do the feelings fall?
Working in hostels and homestays in exchange for food and accommodation, is there really such a coexistence of labor and poetry as imagined? In fact, disputes between volunteers and homestays have always existed.
The survey by China News Network found that the current requirements for volunteers in homestays are uneven. Most homestays are required to work for at least 1 month when recruiting volunteers, take 1 week off, and work for 4-6 hours a day, and even 8 hours of work.
Almost every one of these recruits promotes the beauty of the local cuisine and describes the interesting experiences that can occur. Most of these descriptions are romantic and poetic, and for young people who pursue feelings, they can be described as "right in the middle".
But on social platforms, many people complain that the intensity of volunteer work is very different from what they imagined: "I thought it was just to help attract guests to enliven the atmosphere, who knew that they also had to clean and wash dishes, and they were not allowed to play during working hours." "You have to get up at 8:30 in the morning, you can only take a shower and go to bed at 11 o'clock at night, and if you retort a little, you will be chased away by the shopkeeper."
In addition, the homestay environment has also been criticized, some volunteers are attracted by the legendary beauty, but after arriving, they find that the location is remote, the scenery is single, and there are more "deserted and fleeing" people appear: "The homestay is indeed tall, but the volunteer lives in a deserted inn, every night is very afraid, stay for three days to escape." ”
In this regard, many hostels and homestay owners are also "bitter": "Many people are unwilling to work after coming." Some homestay owners said that they recruited 5 people, and as a result, they ran three, and the turnover rate was as high as 60%.
Therefore, in many of the information on the recruitment of volunteers, there are such requirements: "I hope to have the spirit of the contract, there is life in the eyes, and there is no princess disease." ”
Labor relations are maintained solely by good faith
In front of volunteers and homestays, it is not only the gap between fantasy and reality, but also the problem of integrity.
A lawyer told China News Network that the relationship between volunteers and homestays is extremely unstable and their personal dependence is weak. This also means that the relationship between volunteers and homestays can only be maintained by the "spirit of contract".
Some people have tried to establish a benign mechanism between volunteers and homestays. China News Network noted that some netizens have proposed the "84-hour volunteer travel convention" on Douban, hoping to become a working system recognized by both sides: that is, the recruitment period is 15 days, and the working hours per day are 6 hours.
"Since volunteers serve the store without pay, and the original intention of coming to the store is to travel or play, then volunteers should not be required according to the contract workers, and the management scale can be appropriately relaxed." He wrote in the Convention.
Whether volunteer travel can become a "utopia" pursued by young people is not yet conclusive. But as netizens said after the experience: "Young people's time should not be wasted on simple chores, and volunteer travel should be given more meaning." ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhao Hanlu Text Editor: Yang Rong Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Infographic Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying
Source: Author: China News Network Zuo Yuqing
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