#1140 – The Expat Files: Volunteer Tourism, Health Care Systems, and Legal Challenges in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started All right. Let's start out today with an email. Let's bound to take us on some interesting detours This is from longtime listener Clara. She says dear Johnny speaking of haters. I used to get so angry at your show I would scream at you through my iPad, but that was a long time ago and you've grown on me

[00:48] I guess you could say before kovit I was partially woke but I'm sure on woke now She said what I wanted to talk to you about today is do-gooders and the newest stupid American craze called Volunteer tourism on that subject. I'm sort of an expert. I've done do-gooder tours in Haiti, Honduras and Bolivia They used to be completely organized by church groups But now this thing called volunteer tourism has popped up for people who don't belong to an organized church group who? Regularly do feel good trips and so you feel left out of the feel-good experience movement So this volunteer tourism thing is for people who want a piece of that feel-good action But don't belong to any particular church or denomination that offers such trips

[01:34] Let me start out by painting a picture for you that on the surface seems so right but is very wrong Imagine a busload of tourists coming into a school Disrupting a class to play with a group of disadvantaged children hold babies give them candy and gifts make them stop Whatever they're doing for the moment and sort of put themselves on display for people. They've never even met before Would this ever happen in Canada or the USA? Could a busload of do-gooders pull up in front of a school and walk right in and say hey We're here to play with your kids get photo ops and hand out free goodies No, I don't think so if that happened in Canada or the States the principal would call the cops It seems only first-world people with way too much have a savior complex

[02:23] I know I was and sort of still am one of them as For me right out of college with a useless degree in psychology I wanted to travel help people who grew up with less than I had This coming from a girl who never wanted to do dishes or take out the trash It was a surprise to my parents, of course that they suddenly had a do-gooder daughter They thought our young girl our precious entitled baby who got a brand new car as a high school Graduation present who never wanted to serve her family She actually wants to go to an s-hole country and help her more disadvantaged neighbors They thought something's wrong with this picture But I went anyway If nothing else I'd stay out of trouble and my parents thought it would widen my worldly experience and it did I went on the trip saw true poverty and I was deeply impacted by what I saw I came back

[03:10] Really moved trying to tell others how many poor people I saved for that week of my life and I would cry when I told Them every time I saw a poor person on the street or on TV from then on I Relived part of my week-long experience. I felt I was different I had a spiritual connection that few other Americans of my age ever had and I went back for more Yes, three times. I Thought what I did was valuable and that the people I helped and did services for and the kids I hugged and played games with needed my help needed my time. I needed my non-existent yet all-knowing first world expertise But those three experiences along with my Peace Corps service developed in me a firm belief that short-term Voluntered tourism is just a feel-good, but eye-opening learning experience, but nothing more

[04:01] It took three trips though for me to learn that our efforts Wasted materials and took jobs away from individuals who could have been paid to do the work properly and been amply Compensated for their work with less than half of our eating expenses for the week though I know I'll get a lot of flack for saying this but the services provided during those types of experiences do not Aid the communities in which our groups were working building houses painting orphan inches Building fuel-efficient stoves constructing campsites and conducting daycare are taking jobs away from community members who depend on those jobs daily To provide that daily small amount of income for their family Just one day without that family's small bit of income will negatively affect that family not just for that day

[04:48] But for the week maybe the whole month. Yes, it's true Those service projects leave those who participate with a sense of well-being Feelings of positive impact and of success and accomplishment. I know that feeling well. I felt it right after my first trip It's what pushed me to keep coming back for more. I'll never forget it We spent our time and efforts mixing concrete to refurbish a charity compound yet Our cement mixing was shoddy and incorrect. It was just not effective in accomplishing the needs of the site But what did we know our efforts wasted materials and took jobs away from individuals who could have been paid to do the work Properly and knew how to do the work for the conditions None of us in that group had ever mixed cement before the only mixing experience I ever had was mixing Pillsbury cookie dough

[05:34] But none of us at the time ever gave one thought to the fact that building a house painting an orphanage Building a fuel-efficient stove constructing a campsite conducting daycare experiences, etc. Etc Though great and happy communal experiences for us do-gooders We were actively taking jobs away from community members Then she says one of the most interesting things I've served about those service trips from my own experience and from coordinating one for others Was the big disparity and expectations and outcomes for all of us do-gooder participants Groups come wanting to serve a community and leave feeling they were most productive Painting a classroom or playing with children. That's because they can immediately see the impact of their work be it a colorful classroom

[06:20] Or smiling children, but painting a classroom and playing with kids doesn't actually do anything except make a room look pretty or introduce Gringo games into the regular rotation of local kids games It's work All right But the kind of work that does nothing to improve the conditions of the local people at the end of our week or two Week-long do-gooder trips they pass out Evaluation surveys for our groups that in itself is an endorphin and serotonin boosting experience Just one problem in looking over those forms You'll see something strange that almost everyone found the projects They enjoyed most and viewed as the most valuable were those which had the smallest impact in the long run Painting happy kids on murals having a sing-along teaching in English class. It sounds nice good and fulfilling, right?

[07:10] But think of this One of some foreign Spanish do-gooders came into a Philadelphia grade school went into a sixth grade classroom and taught a one-hour Spanish class for just one week and Then they left a gauntlet effort, but I guarantee in a month. They all forgotten everything Though a few of us do-gooders after the end of the week became slightly aware of the activities Which did not go well or as planned Either because they were outdoor activities in the weather failed us or because local community organizations that were supposed to be there didn't show up Whether because of manana time or they just didn't want to help us because they knew in the end. It wouldn't do much Surely most local community groups have gone through the same drill over and over again with each new do-gooder groups arrival

[08:00] but what did we know we had poor people to save and For people who say that donations are the answer to an effective do-gooder trip People just don't realize donations be they monetary or tangible create a dependence on outside sources and take away opportunities for industry locally to develop or pre-existing services to be used on top of that Bringing over donations or school supplies clothing or money and handing them out I'll let cart with no specific program or final aid in mind can have negative effects on the community particularly on Long-term do-gooder volunteers living in the community who then become bombarded with demands for more stuff More pencils more shirts more free lunches. It's not that those communities lack the things most commonly donated

[08:49] It's that the people in those communities then start prioritizing their own purchases based on what free stuff they get Poverty is the problem not the lack of shoes and pencils Giving away donations rarely corrects the problem instead it compounds it and creates a dependence on foreign visitors and that outside aid I found out from my experience so far that to really serve a poor community and meet their needs you have to build Relationships and understand the problems and wants of a community that means not staying down there for a week or a month But for years and who's got time to do that. I Really think instead of a do-gooder group coming down for a week or two with one Semi-professional person managing the whole show keeping everyone busy But in reality giving them pointless jobs at least in the eyes of the community or local organizations

[09:39] That kind of traditional do-gooder formula and giveaways are not the answers Locals must be trained in professional and technical skills that can be used in the future when the do-gooders have gone But that rarely happens Positive impact on a community is not building a jungle gym in the schoolyard Making children smile nor painting nice murals in classrooms Alright, then Claire says Johnny Did you know that in 2021 the average cost for a volunteer to go on one of those do-gooder trips for a week or two? Was four to five thousand dollars per trip about two years salary for the average Latin American The other and perhaps more important issue She says is that so many of us volunteers don't even know what we're doing

[10:25] We never did any physical manual labor work in our own lives We never had to but we also know that putting one of these trips down on our resumes Once we graduate from college will help us get jobs at home looks good on that resume But our inexperience undermines the initiatives of whatever projects we're supposed to be building once we arrive in that third-world country many of our first attempts at mixing cement laying block or putting on a roof and Did a disaster with a complete teardown and redo most of us never even held a hammer before in the end The locals were ten times better and faster at doing it, but we were down there to make our mark So we rarely gave them the chance While we were working though The local people were all smiles of course and very eager to watch a bunch of gringos doing things and very forgiving

[11:16] When we screwed up though, I've often wondered if they were laughing at us inside what their dinner Conversation was like with the family when they got back home the phrase clueless gringo crosses your mind So Johnny, there you have it. Those are my experiences with the dark side of do-gooder ism Signed Claire from Philadelphia. Well Claire. Thanks for that. It's good to know you don't hate me anymore Not like you did in the early years of this show anyway, right? Though I have to admit I do find it funny that the haters keep listening Takes one second to turn the dial, you know or swipe left Anyway, there you have it from the horse's mouth or the do-gooder's mouth and now an email from Colin Manchester, UK He says dear Johnny you talk about national health care in Latin America and how medieval and dysfunctional it is compared to first world

[12:08] Health care models. Well, I say bollocks We've got our own version of medieval national health here in the UK as you well know Johnny the world considers the UK The poster child or model for successful first world national health care After all, we were the first modern country to have it. You've heard that before right? Mr. Johnny But what the media is not telling you is that there's six million on the waiting list for social health care in the UK Yes, six million people waiting and waiting and waiting to get some kind of national health care treatment done The government says for years NHS, that's National Health Care Services has faced shortages of staff and resources Forcing long waits for people who need care. That's what they always say a shortage of doctors nurses and health care professionals

[12:56] Why do you think that is? It's because no one wants to work for the National Health Care Service Mostly because it's a thankless job and it does not pay as well as private health care As far as the six million on the waiting list. Here's the breakdown fully 24,000 patients have been waiting for more than two years Just to get seen by a doctor and it's not just people with minor health care concerns who are left waiting Over 60% of emergency room patients have waited more than four hours to see a physician Only heart attacks bullet wounds and strokes will get you to the front of the queue Anything else broken bones accidents neck trauma the majority wait over four hours before they ever see a physician Then there's the case of people who've had urgent cancer screenings more than a third more than

[13:45] 33% of people in that situation Must wait over a month to even get the results of a screening for those unfortunate patients who are diagnosed with cancer 38% or more than a third had to wait at least two months to get their very first cancer treatment despite receiving an urgent referral I'm bringing all this up Johnny because it seems every American I run into is just Dead-set on wanting the US government to start a national health care program like ours. I say be careful what you wish for Alright Colin, thanks for that. Here's my opinion. Take it or leave it I think the idea of national health care is great Yeah, cut out all the fat the middleman that means the insurance companies all the useless paper pushers

[14:33] Etc, etc. However, the sad fact is that everything government touches turns to shit Just take a walk through the VA social services or the Social Security Administration building near you It's nothing but slugs and pinheads on parade. So in reality I don't know what's worse leaving it in the hands of private insurance companies and big pharma like it is right now or Handing it over to the slugs retards pinheads and swindlers in government Of course, we had a nice big taste of it back in 2013 with Obama care If you recall in the early days when they're setting up the computer software for it, they dumped a half a billion dollars That's five hundred million dollars into the Obamacare website. It was a spectacular failure It all goes back to central planning and how horribly that works. Just look at the Soviet Union by the way

[15:21] I don't know if you know this few people do but on the debut of the Obamacare insurance Sign up website. Remember there have been hundreds of IT people working on that website since 2010 They had three whole years to work it out It was such a failure that on the first day when 2.5 million people went on that site Only six people in the entire country got it to work well enough to select coverage on the day it launched in 2013 That's six out of two point five million visitors You'd have a better shot at winning the lottery and yet three out of four people in the US Want to put the entire health care system in the hands of those retarded idiots Oh, and there's thousands of stories of Canadians coming to the United States to get work done because they've got huge waiting lists up there, too

[16:12] But you knew that already, right? In fact every Canadian that's come to one of my Exped Insider Seminars has pulled me aside and told me some horrific stories about their own or their family or people they know who've had Terrible experiences with the Canadian health care system though. They always admit It's great for checkups and routine stuff. In other words, if you're not sick or having any problems, it's just fine Is there something asked backwards about that or is it just me? But then again, the world is just filled with people overweight and out of shape. No need to remind anyone about that Obviously, they're the ones weighing down the system No pun intended But I have to say what I read about that teenager who fell to his death from a 430 foot high ride at the icon theme park in Orlando, Florida

[16:58] I'm sure you caught that headline I thought there had to be something more to this because when you go on those big rides They have that all encompassing support bar that they drop down over your shoulders and chest before they start the ride and as they Slide it down and it's secure. There's a solid clique and sure enough a couple days later in the news the small print Of course, it said the maximum weight for that ride was 287 pounds and Tyree Sampson the teenager was 340 pounds or 53 pounds over the limit Hmm. What do you make of that? Now I'm not fat shaming here because that's pretty much what I would weigh if I lived on Jupiter By the way, as far as the amusement parks and rides here in Latin America a long time ago, maybe five six years ago

[17:47] I spoke about how Latin American cities and towns are just loaded with amusement parks Almost all of them traveling shows very very few permanent ones I've been on quite a few rides myself But I don't go on rides that are either heavily rusted out or fabricated before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor I have my standards, you know But hey, let's face it. We all go on rides to get a thrill and if that thrill maybe includes not coming out alive some people like that kind of danger to if you ever been into Parachuting hand gliding or scuba diving, you know that feeling you must know those sports are hundreds of times more dangerous than hopping on a Ferris wheel By the way, did you know that the Ferris wheel was named after George Washington Ferris? He invented it for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

[18:35] Oh, and did you know that before around 1950 almost all really big amusement park rides were made out of wood in both the US and everywhere else talk about blind trust and taking your life in your own hands and If you're wondering people down here in Latin America get hurt on amusement park rides all the time Yep, and some die too, but people still come to get on the rides because the show must go on Speaking of a good and really cool show Lately, I've been seeing ads and posters showing that Cirque du Soleil is touring through Latin America They do that ever so often and I understand Cirque du Soleil has many different troops going around the world at any given time And there are lots of first-world bands and theatrical presentations coming through Latin America all the time, too

[19:20] Just to reinforce the fact if you live in or anywhere near a big Latin American city You'll almost never be hurting for world-class entertainment and of course really brain-numbing crap Entertainment, too. All right now Let's switch gears a bit and talk about hiring the locals here in Latin America Whether you've got a brick-and-mortar business or you're just hiring a cleaning lady or maintenance guy There are some pitfalls and traps that you must be made aware of now as for me I'd never want to have a brick-and-mortar business or hire a cleaning lady or maintenance guy on the books That is in a Latin American country. That's on the gringo tourist trail What I'm gonna go through now is the employment law for a country. That's well on the gringo tourist trail. That's Ecuador It's pretty much the same for other places on the gringo tourist trail, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, etc

[20:09] However, do remember if you're off the gringo tourist trail in countries like Salvador Guatemala Honduras Bolivia Peru and a half-dozen others when you're off the tourist trail the local employment laws Are much more lenient. So anyway now you're gonna hear why I'd never want to hire help in Ecuador or anywhere else on the gringo tourist trail And so if you're gonna live on the tourist trail and want to have a business I highly suggest you have an internet business then you won't have to hire any locals and conform to some of these idiotic rules Anyway, here goes. Let's say you want to open a small business in Cuenca, Ecuador It used to be simple and easy But not anymore not since the gringos have piled in and as such the government has created tough labor laws And they enforce them like never before

[20:56] Alright, let's talk salary. Let's say you agree to pay your new full-time employee the base salary of 425 bucks a month. That's minimum wage required by law Now again, remember we're talking on the gringo tourist trail off the trail minimum wage is more like 300 to 350 a month Anyway back in Ecuador where you'll pay a $425 a month minimum wage Understand you are really obliged to pay not for 25 a month, but 595 a month. How'd that happen? Well, the law requires you to pay an additional 11.15% each month to the Social Security called I ESS You must pay a month's extra salary for Christmas a month's extra salary for family holidays and 15 days of vacation

[21:41] And after your employee has been with you for a year or more. You must pay another 8.33% into Social Security called the fundo de reserva. So broken out by the month is 425 for base salary 47.38 for Social Security $35.41 for that Christmas month 35.41 for that family holiday thing 1768 for 15 days of paid vacation and when your employee hits one year of service You'll pay an extra $35 and 40 cents a month for that fundo de reserva We were talking about then there is overtime and weekend holiday pay and pay for nighttime work Which works out to a hundred and fifty percent of a day's wage for overtime 200% for weekend holiday pay and nighttime work

[22:30] 125 percent extra by the way over time is called order supplement area and holiday weekend play is called order Extraordinadia and nighttime work is called orders not turn us All right, let's talk about firing Let's say your new hire doesn't work out regularly comes late to work doesn't do a good job on the phone all the time Well, you could be stuck with this person forever if you fail to make him sign a contract from the get-go But let's say you've got this signed contract and you get that from your lawyer by the way You just don't create one on the spot by yourself You got to get your lawyer involved or it won't be legal. Anyway Suppose you've got that signed contract and it only becomes clear after that probation period of 90 days that you got yourself a real bad Employee a lemon the only way to get rid of him after that 90 day period without paying stiff penalties is to go to court

[23:22] But you'll probably lose because if you can't make your case and the standards are high and much in favor of the employee Not the rich gringo. You'll have to compensate your employee by paying an Demonization equal to three months basic salary also pay a dismissal penalty equal to 25% of his annual salary and you'll pay an extra amount to an account for vacation pay and other expenses Now, let's say your employee quits after three months with you Well, you'll still have to compensate with Indemnization or three months pay if your employee has worked for more than three years. You'll also be liable for a year's Indemnization. Yep an extra year's salary That itself being five grand or more yikes Now here's the part that you really won't believe if your business is lucky enough to make a profit

[24:11] You are required by law in Ecuador to share 15% of the profits with your employees if you take a loss though, it's on you But none of this takes into account the hefty cost of hiring women who could become pregnant or disabled persons or long-term employees Sure, you want to help them and look out for them if they're good employees, of course That's why many a long-term gringo an expert would rather hire a guy consider this if your employee gets pregnant You can't fire her because she can sue you and get her job back or she can sue you and receive 12 months of basic salary From you again, that'll be about five grand or more while she's pregnant and still working for you You must pay three months of maternity leave and when she returns to work reduce her hours to six hours a day for the next

[24:56] 12 months so she can nurse now if by chance you have a disabled employee and you have to let them go you have to pay 18 monthly basic salaries to him not 12 if You one day reach a place where your star employees coming up on 25 years of service You're looking at an honorous pension liability. If you don't fire him well before that we won't even get into it So maybe you think you'll get around all this expense in red tape by hiring an independent contractor to do the work you need Nope, the law is clear. If you provide a regular schedule detailed duties, etc Provide equipment and materials or training you have an employee on your hands and you'll have to follow all those rules and payouts Previously mentioned there's one final thing to think about when opening a business and having local employees and it's a big one

[25:46] What if you do all the work to get things set up right and your worker steals your ideas or steals from you or your Clients it happens all the time. Of course, it's not right. But what are you gonna do to protect yourself? You get a non-compete clause in your employee contract Violating this non-compete clause can cost the offender a lot of money So you have to have a clear-cut contract with that clause Your lawyer will know about that if you have more than just a small business You should also consider having a clear-cut contract with your clients who might think to continue business with your worker Who might be selling the same thing on the side later on in summary You need three contracts from day one a contract in Difinito for the worker the non-compete clause and the client contract

[26:32] You might also insist that the parties sign the contract at your lawyer's office bottom line Go ahead with your dreams open your legit business, but make sure you can afford it So there you have it the basic labor rules for Latin American countries on The gringo tourist trail. It's a hell of a lot different when you're up. Believe me How's that? You might be wondering well for starters I've lived off the gringo tourist trail for around 30 years now and I've had Gardeners and cleaning ladies mostly full-time and I've never had an employment contract with any of them though I've had to fire a few and some have stolen from me I've never been sued or taken to labor court Oh and one more thing doesn't matter if you're on or off the gringo tourist trail if an employee steals from you

[27:17] Especially just fire them. Let them go Don't take them to court because but one they haven't got anything so you won't be able to get reimbursed and two if you want Revenge or you want to get even it's not worth it either It's a waste of time because chances are they won't show up in court and or just disappear You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. No spamos