Orphanage Tourism in Haiti, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Guatemala

By Rally on 4-11-2011 in Buckner, Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Orphanage Tourism

Orphanage tourism is a newer twist in the child welfare landscape of many countries. The Daily Mail states that “unregulated orphanages have become a boom business trading off Western guilt.”

Haiti

In Haiti, child welfare expert Jennifer “Morgan, whose job is to reunite children with their families, was even screamed at one day by the director of an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. ‘Stop reuniting children with their families,’ he shouted. ‘You’re destroying my business.’”

After the earthquake last year, “[o]ne aid worker saw babies left unsupervised on chairs, in danger of rolling on to the floor. Another official found all the children were painfully thin, so asked the director if they were short of money. The reply was chilling: ‘We have lots of money. But if we keep the children thin, when we send pictures to church groups, they send more money.’

“Misguided pity is piling on misery, creating and fuelling an industry that separates children from families and drives many into slave labour, sexual abuse and terrible trauma. “

Cambodia

This writer researched “‘voluntourism’, the fastest-growing sector of one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet. Insiders admitted that packages including voluntary work in orphanages sold the best, whether to gap-year teenagers or middle-aged professionals with a romantic desire to do good during their holidays.

The increasing number of orphanages matches rising levels of tourism. Many are clustered in the most popular destinations, with holidaymakers bombarded by offers to visit privately-run centres and donate time or money.”

“Now the Cambodian government has announced an inquiry into the country’s orphanages after the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) voiced concerns. The number of orphanages has nearly doubled in five years, as has the number of children in care – yet almost three-quarters of them have at least one living parent.”

Indonesia

“In Bali, the number of orphanages has doubled in less than a decade, despite two-thirds of the children having parents. Scouts lure cute children from poor families with promises of food and schooling. Some are then forced to work from dawn to dusk on building sites, making jewellery or selling street food. Malnutrition is common.”

“Brenton Whittaker, founder of local charity Bali Kids, says the worst directors – who live in large houses and educate their own children abroad – sell on all donated goods, even medicines. ‘The conditions are shocking,’ he said. ‘They run these orphanages as a business, spending as little as possible on food, health and education for the kids in order to make the most profits.’”

The scandal of orphanages in tourist resorts and disaster zones that rent children to fleece gullible Westerners
[Daily Mail 4/11/11 by Ian Birrell]

Guatemala

Under a religious guise and some kind of “service” to the local population who get to observe American mother-and-daughter interactions, US adoption agencies like Buckner International are now marketing orphanage tourism. “”We are taking mothers and daughters to Guatemala (and spending a majority of their time in Guatemala City) to do various types of ministries .”

“Participants will spend much of their time with other daughters and orphans who are without mothers. “They’ll be visiting an orphanage there, also a transition home for girls, and they’ll be visiting two of our community centers,” explains Marble.

The time will be more than just visiting, though. Marble says “it’s a good picture of hope” for motherless girls in Guatemala to see a healthy, working relationship between a mother and daughter on the trip. Buckner community centers encourage these familial relationships regularly, but there’s nothing quite like seeing it in action.”