Let me start by confessing that I was originally set on calling this episode “Laying Down the ‘White Man’s Burden’”.

After all my interview guest, Dave Coles, is a white British man who, as a young, idealistic volunteer, ventured from his home in the UK to make a difference in Africa. Inspired by a steady diet of colonialism-inspired media narratives and the lyrics of a popular Christmas song by Band Aid, he was sure people in Africa were waiting for people just like him to come and help end their despair by doing something about their poverty.

However, since he first visited Ghana 20+ years ago up to now, he’s become much more of an expert in the ‘do’s and don’ts of doing good’ as a volunteer than an expert in how to solve poverty in Ghana, let alone in Africa. Today, as Volunteer Centre Manager at London School of Economics, as a blogger, and as a passionate advocate for ethical voluntourism, Dave uses his personal and professional platforms to push back against narratives all too pervasive in popular culture and sadly, in the development space, that depict Africans and other POC from "developing nations" as kind of hapless victims. He also uses his platforms to advocate for an end to orphanage volunteering and to unpack for himself and others what it means to do good in a way that actually does good with honesty, humility, and sometimes humor.

After reflecting on his journey, I realized that I saw too much of my own story reflected in his story for me to call this episode anything that might even seem to suggest that the biggest takeaways from our conversation were specific just to white men or white people or to people who work or serve internationally.

There are some “do's" and "don’ts” we, as people who want to change the world, all want to avoid- regardless of the geographic context in which we volunteer and/or just engage with other human beings who may have a different background or socioeconomic status from us.

That’s what this episode is about.

Links for Reference

• Band Aid: Stop the stereotypes -https://davecoles.blog/2014/11/19/band-aid-stop-the-stereotypes/

• Sidekick Manifesto - https://sidekickmanifesto.org/⁠

• “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time?” with lyrics - https://youtu.be/DS7bn_gm9o0?si=Y4QSOm_rLpb75kYp

As always, I invite you to drop me a line on IG @missjanaiashley, find me on LinkedIN, or send me an email at janai@gilmorefacilitationllc.com to share whatever reflections this episode brings up for you.