I regretted doing a volunteering project in Fiji
Originally submitted as one of my degree portfolios, published on Wixsite . Colonial Legacies and Intercultural Awareness As an international student in the UK from Malaysia, a country shaped by its own colonial history under British rule, I have become increasingly aware of how colonial legacies influence everyday intercultural encounters, for instance, the assumption of Western superiority or the notion that English fluency equates to intelligence. This awareness intensified during a mental health volunteering project in Fiji in my second year, organised by [redacted]. Before I even joined the programme, I remember questioning what it meant for me, as a student from a previously colonised country, to participate in a volunteering project in another former British colony. This suspicion was closely tied to my understanding of voluntourism. Conran (2011) defines voluntourism as “an activity in which people pay to volunteer in development or conservation projects.” Even in this def...
