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S<\/span>tanding back, watching personalities emerge with glee, I studied each child. Under the humid August summer in Lagos, Nigeria, we\u00a0were playing a pickup game of soccer in the little dusty yard of their compound. I remembered a few faces \u2013 older and leaner \u2013 and spotted a couple new ones, eagerly trying to fit in yet with trepidation.<\/p>\n I was at an orphanage in Nigeria which I try to visit every time I\u2019m back home, and over the years, I\u2019ve seen the kids morph into teenagers and pre-teens.<\/p>\n But I always feel that burden of momentary detachment from the children when I leave. I read it in their eyes and I always promise I\u2019ll come back.<\/p>\n That I wasn\u2019t abandoning them\u2026<\/p>\n Oftentimes, I think of Jorge in Ecuador and Sthephany in the Dominic Republic. They are two kids whose families I support through small donations. I often wonder what their daily lives entail, and have dreams of going to visit them someday.<\/p>\n While those orphans in Nigeria are being cared for by\u00a0a trusted Anglican-affiliated residential care center because they truly are all alone and are orphans, Jorge and Sthephany get to stay with their own families and aren\u2019t pooled into \u201corphanages\u201d as a way to get funding out of willful volunteers.<\/p>\n In a world that seems to be going to hell in a handbasket in every sense of the word, we\u2019re all grasping for ways to leave a humanitarian mark. To do good work and change people\u2019s lives in our own small ways.\u00a0 One of the easiest ways of giving back seems to be by volunteering at orphanages, hugging kids who normally don\u2019t receive hugs, and giving them attention only to disappear a few hours later.<\/p>\n But the truth is that most of the children in orphanages are often not orphans and have been separated from their families, oftentimes, through child trafficking.<\/p>\n Approximately 80% of all children in \u201corphanages\u201d or \u201cresidential care centers\u201d worldwide have one or more living parent and so the term itself, orphanage, can be misleading. Children often end up in these centres due to poverty, physical\/intellectual disability, neglect, abuse, or abandonment. Oftentimes, they are the last resort for family who don\u2019t want their children to starve. They leave them at these centres with access to basic education food, and healthcare.<\/p>\n That is why major organizations such as \u00a0UNICEF, Child Safe Movement, Better Care Network \u00a0and Save the Children UK have been actively campaigning against orphanage volunteerism for years.<\/p>\n To raise awareness to stop this type of volunteer work, I\u2019m one of several\u00a0participating bloggers in a month-long#StopOrphanTrips campaign to raise awareness that volunteering and visiting orphanages can do more harm than good despite our good intentions. The campaign\u00a0is organized under the Better Volunteering, Better Care\u00a0initiative founded by the Better Care Network and Save the Children UK with \u201cthe sole purpose of discouraging international \u2018orphanage\u2019 volunteering.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why volunteering at orphanages can be a disaster if not done properly and respectfully.<\/p>\n It provides access to vulnerable children \u2013 Without adequate background checks, when travel companies offer orphanage visits as part of a travel itinerary, they are opening up vulnerable children to people with bad intentions.<\/p>\n It creates disruptive attachment \u2013 Because children form bonds quickly, swooping in and out of their lives for a few hours just to make yourself feel better has adverse effects on them. They learn not to trust and love because of constant detachment from people they care about.<\/p>\n It welcomes unqualified volunteers \u2013 Many volunteers who work with the children are not qualified to do so and their attitudes and behaviors can have negative impacts on their emotional stability. First things first, you need to learn about the country you\u2019re visiting and other ways of contributing and volunteering that doesn\u2019t directly tie in with orphanages. This isn\u2019t a Southeast Asia-specific problem but one that spans over 20 countries worldwide.<\/p>\n Avoid voluntourism travel itineraries that include stops at local orphanages. Diving in and out of their lives is extremely disruptive.<\/p>\n Look for programs that strengthen and support families and at-risk communities. Programs that focus on community empowerment, economic development, family-based care, and other socioeconomic initiatives. It is often best to sponsor children who haven\u2019t been ripped away from their families.<\/p>\n You can contact the Better Volunteering Better Care global working group, and they can connect you to a wide list of resources.<\/p>\n I feel blessed to have been able to connect with the orphanage in Nigeria where\u00a0I have witnessed\u00a0the kids grow into teens over the years, and I often send food\u00a0supplies through my mother when I\u2019m not around. It\u2019s a country and culture whose nuances I know and understand deeply.<\/p>\n And as much as I\u2019ve traveled, including as a photojournalist on an anti-sex trafficking team in Cambodia, I\u2019ve been intuitively cognizant about volunteering in orphanages.<\/p>\n This campaign is a stark reminder of just how damaging those good intentions can be if we don\u2019t properly educate ourselves.<\/p>\n If everyone who reads this can share at least one blog post in the month \u2014 if not more \u2014 there\u2019s a chance to make a tremendous impact. If something shocks you, if you learn something, if something\u2019s interesting or appalling, share it to your networks and raise awareness across global sectors and bring about the change required to #StopOrphanTrips. Don\u2019t forget to include the hashtag!<\/p>\n Share this article using its original url<\/a>\u00a0and use\u00a0the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips.<\/p>\n Sign the Avaaz petition<\/a>\u00a0calling for travel operators to remove orphanage volunteering placements from their websites by the next Responsible Tourism day at the World Travel Market in London in November 2016. Don\u2019t forget to share it and include the hashtag #StopOrphanTrips, too!<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a volunteer tourism operator who is happy to #StopOrphanTrips, then please let us get in touch \u2013 we\u2019d love to highlight your support of the campaign. For more information, visit\u00a0www.bettervolunteeringbettercare.org<\/a>, and if you want to learn more or get involved, email\u00a0volunteering@bettercarenetwork.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Perspectives on orphanage volunteering and alternative ideas for how to support local communities when traveling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":11435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,535],"tags":[158,134],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSo\u2026 you\u2019re probably wondering how you\u2019d go about helping orphans in more meaningful ways, right?<\/p>\nGet Involved<\/h2>\n