Recently I posted an opportunity that was uploaded from an organization in Kenya. The organization was looking for someone to: “Volunteer and Manage and Orphanage in Kenya”.
This quickly resulted in a response from twitter saying:
did you really mean mean this!! “#Volunteer to Manage an #Orphanage” @TrueTravellers http://t.co/SmFakg8OkD
— better-volunteering (@bettrvolunteer) July 12, 2013
The answer to that question is yes. I did mean what I tweeted. Although, I do have reservations about the post and have since taken it down.
There are a number of issues that have developed over the past few years in global orphanages due to the emergence of the voluntourism industry.
“Here are the issues in a nutshell:
Haiti
– There are 600+ orphanages in Haiti.
– The majority of children in the orphanages are not orphans.
– The children are often placed in orphanages because parents see no other way to feed, clothe, and educate them.
– Many orphanages are unregulated and uncaring.
– Some children were purposefully under-fed to attract more donations. If they looked healthy and well-fed foreign donations might decrease.
– Children may be given over to international adoption (the fee charged for facilitating international adoptions can make them very lucrative).
– It is better to support the family in caring for their own children whenever possible.
Cambodia
– More than three-quarters of children in orphanages have living parents.
– The number of orphanages has doubled over the past five years
– Only 21 of the 269 orphanages are run by the government. The rest are funded and run by foreign donors and faith-based organizations.
– Many orphanages have been set up to make money off of foreign funds, especially volunteers and tourists (voluntourists).
– Most orphanages have not yet been inspected
– It is cheaper and better to support families in caring for children.”
A large component of what truetravellers.org does is connect people to volunteer opportunities around the world. I do a high level scan of the opportunities that get uploaded to the site. With orphanages, I look to see if they are registered charities in their country, if they have a board of directors, how long they have been around for, how much the charge, and other other indicators of the integrity of the organization. Of course, an accurate assessment is incredibly difficult to do as there are so many factors that differentiate organizations around the world. I rely on feedback from volunteers and others who visit our site. I also believe it is important that individuals do their own due diligence on organizations as we are operating as a resource for travellers.
I don’t think it is fair to just stop posting opportunities about orphanages looking for volunteers. A number of these organizations are legitimate and can use the help and funds brought to them through volunteers. However, the negative consequences and the ways people are profiteering off of orphanages is something that I do not want to have anything to do with.
So, what do you think? What can we do to ensure that organizations listing opportunities with orphanages are legitimate and not profiteering? How can we help volunteers do their due diligence to ensure that they are volunteering with a legitimate orphanages? Or, should we just avoid voluntourism at orphanages?
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