This post opens a series I’m calling “the Soapbox.” As you can imagine, it’ll be my space to vent, rant and be grumpy!
You may have noticed that a couple of links in my Friday
Favorites encourage people who are not aid workers to stay home instead of going
on what is commonly called a voluntourism trip. Voluntourism is mixing
volunteering with international tourism (in a developing country). For
instance, you go and help build a home in Kenya or you teach a class in Peru
for one week or two. Voluntourism is frown upon by aid workers, for good
reasons. Unless you have real skills to offer that others in the village you’re
traveling to don’t have or don’t have enough of (you’re a nurse, a doctor, an
engineer), you will not actually help anyone. You will feel good but you won’t
really help “the locals.” And the absolute worst you can do is volunteer in an
orphanage.
If you’re thinking about going to an orphanage during your
vacation or on your church’s next mission trip, I have two words for you. Stop.
Rethink. I’m not the only one who says that. Others have done it before (here
or here). I’m just going to give you my very passionate yet respectful opinion.
Now I understand that aid workers are cynical people who
scuff a lot at people’s good intentions. And I know people who want to
volunteer abroad have a lot of good intentions, especially when it comes to
children. They might have heard about the toll orphanages take on children -the
more they stay in orphanages, the more attachment issues they experience. They
want to reverse that by giving children love during a week or two. I get it.
BUT, and this is the most important thing: volunteering in orphanages will
damage children even more. Children in orphanages do develop attachment issues.
Some will cling to anyone who shows a bit of love. So, say you come to an
orphanage to cuddle and play with children. These children will love you back.
But then you leave -your head full of wonderful memories, your camera filled
with beautiful smiles. But these children? They’re left alone, abandoned.
Again. And that happens anytime an outsider comes to an orphanage. Attachment /
hope, heartbreak, attachment / hope, heartbreak. Repeat. The children will be
even more hurt and will have much deeper trust issues. In short, you have done
immense harm to the children you wanted to help.
Another reason why volunteering in orphanages is harmful is that
it worsens the orphan problem. About 80% of children in orphanages have a
living parent. They are “orphans” by definition (UNICEF defines an “orphan” as
a child who has lost one or both parents) but, with adequate resources, they
could live with their relatives, or in their birth / local community. But
parents see well-funded orphanages and think their children will have a better
life in these establishments. Orphanages are still popular recipients of
donations from people like you and me -either individually or through places of
worship. The problem is that in some countries, orphanages and, at higher
level, the whole adoption system, become corrupt. Orphanages might receive
money but not spend it on the well-being of the children in their institutions.
They may take bribes when wealthy parents want to adopt so as not to go through
the formal system (which is usually lengthy) or even offer parents money to
place their children in their orphanages to increase the number of children
available for adoption. As a result, some countries have decided to stop
international adoptions, putting the lives of actual orphans who legally can
and need to be adopted at risk because their only future now is to remain in
the orphanage until they’re adults.
Next steps:
If you want to volunteer in an orphanage, please reconsider
or make sure that you will not be in contact with children. For instance, offer
to help with administrative tasks (writing grants or reports, filing).
If you want to donate to an orphanage, please do your
research. Make sure that the institution is well run and that it offers
opportunities to give back to the local community to reduce the number of
orphans -in other words, you want to donate to an organization that doesn’t
seek to raise the number or orphans but takes steps to intentionally reduce it.
Consider donating to organizations that work in communities
to improve maternal health care, offer economic empowerment opportunities,
encourage young girls to stay in school, and work on strengthening families by
developing positive parenting behaviors.
These two non-profits are but a sample of organizations that seek to solve the orphan
issue:
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