Elle
My Honest Review
I went on this trip to give back to a community that gave a lot to me. I grew up in the Lao community my whole life so I'm very familiar with their culture. Some GIVE volunteer guides could have benefitted from learning the culture beforehand. One moment that really disappointed me on this trip was that one of the GIVE volunteer guides used a racial slur to describe the students we would be teaching. This slur has not only been used to describe Lao people, but all Southeast Asians, which is what I am, and took great offense to this. Due to this, I will not be going on another GIVE trip.
Response from GIVE VolunteersAug 22, 2024
**This reply was updated on 9/9/24, after completing a thorough investigation into the incident. Our original reply (posted on 8/22/24) is listed at the bottom of this reply.** Here is a response from GIVE's Regional Coordinator in Laos & Thailand, David Boongullaya, who was present throughout the entire trip referenced in this review: Hi Elle, I want to sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding that occurred. As I, along with others, have expressed to you, we deeply regret any offense caused. As a Thai person who has worked alongside the community of Sop Chem in Laos for over five years, I can share that the people there take great pride in their connection to the jungle. However, we now understand that the term “jungle kids,” which we’ve used to highlight the active lifestyle and deep knowledge of the forest among the students in Sop Chem, could be perceived as disrespectful outside of this context. While that was never our intention, we are committed to no longer using this language moving forward. To us, and to our local partners and students in Laos, the term was always intended to be empowering. However, we appreciate you bringing to our attention that it may be interpreted differently elsewhere. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness and once again offer my heartfelt apology. Warm regards, David Boongullaya **Original reply, posted on 8/22/24** Thank you again for taking the time to speak with us this morning and for providing further details about this incident. We understand that the language used by one of our guides could be perceived as offensive in certain contexts, even though that was certainly not their intention. Regardless of the context or their intention, we deeply regret that this misunderstanding occurred and we take full responsibility. This is the first time we have received feedback of this nature in over 13 years, and we are dedicated to making sure it is the last. We want to reaffirm that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy against the use of ethnic slurs or any form of racism by our staff, participants, and local partners. We take this matter extremely seriously and sincerely apologize that this incident occurred. We greatly value your feedback and are committed to continually improving our staff trainings to ensure our programs are as inclusive and culturally respectful as possible.