Guys I made this a post on my feed as well. I thought it would reach a greater audience here so I'm making it a post for discussion
I know this is supposed to be about dramas, and I try really hard to stick to that but in this case, I feel like I have to say something about this.
Guys, if you ever plan a trip to a developing country, please don't volunteer in or donate to orphanages. Most children in orphanages have at least 1 parent alive and when you give money to orphanages, you create a demand for them. The parents are convinced by the orphanages that the children will get 3 meals per day and a good education and so allow them to live there.
Instead the children are taught by an ever revolving door of young heartfelt volunteers who are not qualified for the work they are doing, so not only are they actually harming the children's education they're also taking jobs away from qualified local teachers in that community.
On top of that the children only have a few hours of "class" per day and their classes can be interrupted at any time so that the tourists who drop in (potential donors) can see a show put on by the kids. Also the children form attachments to the volunteers who stay for 2 weeks to teach them, and then those volunteers leave, abandoning them and the cycle starts with the next round of volunteers. This produces adults who have been raised to believe that as long as they smile and are nice people will give them the necessities and love them, a whole generation who cannot speak up for what they think in case people won't love them any more and so they starve.
and finally these volunteers are never vetted. They never have to provide police clearances from the country that they come from, they never have to go through working with children checks. They never have to prove that they are qualified for the job they're volunteering to do. (by the way, this also goes for traveling to a developing country to build a house for needy people when you are not a builder - if you do this you take a job from a local builder - give the family money for the house if you want to help, and let that family employ a local builder)
Think about when you went to school. If all your lessons were taught by amateurs, if your classes were constantly interrupted so you could sing a song for and have a cuddle with a complete stranger from another country would your family have approved of that? would they have allowed you to continue learning at that school?
The orphanage industry is just that, an industry. There are now more orphanages and less orphans in Cambodia than there were after the Genocide in the late 70s and early 80s. How is that possible.
If you want to support poor people in developing countries, find those NGOs that do actual work to keep families together, like alcoholic support and treatment, NGOs that provide schooling by qualified local teachers and then send the kids home at the end of the day, NGOs that provide microloans so families can start their own businesses, Women's rights groups. Domestic Violence support groups. Buy a bicycle for a child who lives too far from school, so their food goes further and they have time to study.
Every time you support an orphanage, it's like ripping a child from their parents and ruining their lives. Please don't support orphanages for any reason, ever.
Here's a video about orphanages in Cambodia (where I live)
Thanks for your time
