Tag Archives: volunteer abroad

A caution regarding IVHQ – in their own words.

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A cartoonish hand is palm facing the viewer, as if to say stop.

Anyone who has read about me online for more than 10 minutes knows I’m not a big fan of voluntourism travel agencies. I know that it’s been largely colored by my background working in international and local aid and development, as well as my expertise in volunteer and community engagement. I’ve been open about why I’m not a fan of most voluntoursim, so I won’t repeat those reasons why here in this blog, but I’ve tagged all my many blogs on the subject here. And you’ll note as you read through these that I started off, decades ago, staunchly opposed to all voluntourism, and then, through outreach from ethical organizations with a very different focus than the voluntourism travel agencies, as well as volunteers who had participated in such, I gardually changed my mind about voluntourism being always wrong – and even ended up participating in a pay-to-volunteer-internationally program myself.

But one of those voluntourism travel agencies is REALLY angry with me. It’s called IVHQ. And this company is now threatening me because I have offered cautions in comments about the company on Reddit: I’ve told people that there are some very disturbing negative comments out there and they need to read them, and I’ve noted that a massive number of online reviews aren’t always an indication that a company is doing well, that it’s very easy to manufacture such reviews by AI and other means.

All true statements. All sincere cautions. I wish I could refer to them all, but IVHQ has pressured many Reddit moderators to take down any negative references to IVHQ. IVHQ, rather than address concerns, is bent on removing any negative comments about the company. Knowing that, and reading this email below, please think very, very carefully before booking your feel-good-look-I’m-volunteering-abroad! trip with IVHQ. You have to really wonder about a travel agency that is so threatened by an independent nonprofit consultant that they would resort to writing an email filled with inaccurate, misleading statements and threats:

–——- Original Message ——–
Subject: Re: IVHQ
Date: 2026-10-13 19:50
From: Sam Morrah sam@hqtravelgroup.org

Dear Jayne,

This is a formal notice that you must immediately cease publishing false
statements regarding International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ).

For several years, you have repeatedly posted negative claims about IVHQ
in online discussions, most recently on Reddit, asserting that:

  • IVHQ is a scam.
  • IVHQ’s reviews are fake.
  • There are many complaints about IVHQ.

These statements are entirely false and unsubstantiated:

  • IVHQ is a legitimate organization: More than 160,000 volunteers have
    traveled with IVHQ since 2007. Based on verified volunteer reviews, Go
    Overseas has named IVHQ its Top Volunteer Abroad Provider for six
    consecutive years.
  • Reviews are authentic: IVHQ does not write, purchase, or fabricate
    reviews. Every review is submitted by a verified participant.
  • Claims are unverified: When asked to provide evidence of the
    complaints you cited, you declined to do so. Furthermore, you confirmed
    via email that you have never volunteered with IVHQ, and you did not
    contact us regarding any concerns prior to publishing these claims.

Due to your conduct, Reddit moderators have already removed most of your
comments regarding IVHQ and banned you from communities including
r/volunteer and r/premed. Your statements mislead prospective volunteers
and harm the local partner organizations that rely on these programs.

We require that you immediately:

  1. Cease stating or implying that IVHQ is a scam, uses fake reviews, or
    is subject to widespread complaints.
  2. Refrain from making any further false claims about IVHQ online.
  3. Remove all existing false statements you have posted online.

Please reply to this email to confirm your compliance.

We are actively monitoring online platforms. If this behavior continues,
we will report all new posts as false information and harassment,
submitting this notice and prior correspondence as evidence. HQ Travel
Group and IVHQ reserve all legal rights and remedies.

Regards,

Sam Morrah

Sam Morrah
Chief Executive Officer
HQ Travel Group

E: sam@hqtravelgroup.org
W: www.hqtravelgroup.org [1]

HQ Travel Group is home to two market-leading brands that facilitate
life-transforming travel experiences in over 60 countries for customers
living in more than 100 nations worldwide.

At least some of my comments about IVHQ, as well as some of the negative reviews I’ve referred to regarding IVHQ, can still be found online. I wish they all where still there but, as I said, IVHQ has, as it admits, pressured (I would call it bullied) moderators into taking the negative reviews and comments down. Again, you have to wonder about a company that is more focused on getting negative reviews, and references to such, taken down rather than addressing concerns.

A big thank you to colleagues who are also out there trying to ensure quality in international volunteering and fight against unethical voluntourism. Let’s keep up the pressure and not let people bully us into silence.

And if your voluntourism agency wants to be one of the “good guys”, I’d be happy to work with you to help you refine your program so it’s focused on local people as much as its focused on giving volunteers their Instagramable experience. I have very reasonable rates.

Ending Orphanage Volunteering (Webinar presentation – about 7 minutes)

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Sinet Chan of Cambodia shared her lived experience in a Cambodian orphanage, where she was placed when she was 10 years old after her parents died of AIDS in a presentation, about 7 minutes, that was given as a part of the “Beyond Institutional Care: Rethinking How We Care for Vulnerable Children” conference addressing the issue of care reform.

While at the orphanage, she was “badly neglected.” The orphanage was set up to attract foreign volunteers and donations, but the children rarely benefitted from this – children were denied food, medical care and education. She and other children were forced to do manual labor, and she and other children were regularly raped.

Sinet Chan’s own words are so powerful:

During this time, we had many volunteers and donors coming and going. We would always entertain them, singing them a song, and playing games with them, to encourage them to donate money… the volunteers were nice people trying to help us, but now I realize it was a form of exploitation: using children to generate funding.”

All the other children in the orphanage – they all had parents who were alive and they missed their families… all the coming and going of the volunteers and visitors then compounded our feelings of loss and abandonment. The love and affection we feel from the visitor initially feels nice. Some visitors and volunteers would come for one day, some for a few weeks, and some for six months or more. It was always very traumatic when it was coming time for them to leave. We would be very (unintelligible) and cry a lot. I think it is a trigger memory of the loss and separation we have all suffered already. Having adults coming in and out of our lives feels like we were constantly being abandoned. They would always say they were coming back but, they never come back.

I think the uncomfortable truth behind the reason why white people feel like they need to participate in voluntourism is they have a white savior complex. The white savior complex is caused by the unconscious belief in the incompetence of the people they are trying to help. That belief justifies why they feel they must come and do it for us, like building our house, digging our wells, saving our children…

So, in order to combat voluntourism white people must examine their unconscious bias and learn how to be a white ally instead of a white savior.

You can hear her entire presentation on YouTube:

Also see: