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4/3/2017 How Orphanages in Cambodia Trick Travelers
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How Orphanages in CambodiaTrick Travelers
Orphan | © Dean Moriarty/Pixabay
/ Cambodia TRAVEL - MISC
Nikki VargasTravel EditorUpdated: 30 March 2017
With over 260 orphanages and 12,000 orphans inCambodia, travelers around the world are flocking tothis South East Asian country to volunteer, unawarethey are fueling a sinister form of tourism: fakeorphanages.
A quick look into volunteer opportunities in Cambodiareveals a photo parade of smiling global volunteers. A groupof sun kissed 20-somethings stand kneeling beside skinnychildren in over-sized clothing at an orphanage in SiemReap. Dreadlocked backpackers with handwoven
EUROPE NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA ASIA AFRICA MIDDLE EAST ANTARCTICA CENTRAL AMERICA
4/3/2017 How Orphanages in Cambodia Trick Travelers
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wristbands sway in tune to the dance performances oforphans in Phnom Penh. Gap year travelers in faded, colleget-shirts happily hold hands with toddlers at an orphanageoutside Battambang.
Looking at the idyllic shots of Westerners extending a handto children in need, it is easy to see where the discrepancyrests between what is perceived about orphanagevolunteering and what is the reality. The compassion ofvisiting tourists is an incredible emotion and unfortunatelyone that is monetized in Cambodia where UNICEF reportsonly 28 percent of children in orphanages are in factorphans. It’s a shocking statistic that causes pause. Why arechildren who are not orphans ending up in orphanages?How can orphanages possibly be on the rise in a countrywhere the number of orphans has steadily decreased?
Cambodian child | © yunbin dong/Pixabay
Up until the 1990s, Cambodia was wrapped up in a civil warthat—once dissipated—gave way to a growing tourism boombringing in over two million travelers a year. According to areport in AlJazeera, ” ‘Voluntourism’—the fastest-growingsector of one of the fastest-growing care industries in the
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world—is fueling a high-profit volunteering business thatsees volunteers’ dreams exploited and Cambodian childrenseparated from their families.”
Of the alleged orphans in Cambodia, at least 70 percenthave at least one living parent. The reason these children areending up in orphanages comes down to the simple age-oldequation of supply and demand: there is a demand forvolunteer opportunities from travelers, which is answeredwith the creation of fake orphanages that funnel children(who are not in fact orphans) in for the sake of makingmoney.
Families from poorer, rural areas are manipulated intosending their children to these institutions where qualityeducation, better living conditions and access to healthcareis often promised. Instead, the children are sent to fakeorphanages where they grow up surrounded by strangers,are vulnerable to neglect, exploitation and even abuse.
Cambodian family | © Sasin Tipchai /Pixabay
When travelers donate money and time towards fakeorphanages they are not helping orphans, they
4/3/2017 How Orphanages in Cambodia Trick Travelers
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are creating them. Volunteering at these corrupt orphanagesposes displaced children as an exhibit for travelers to spendtime with. To avoid inadvertently supporting a fakeorphanage, education is key.
According to Orphanages.no, an organization dedicated tospreading awareness of fake orphanages, “Any orphanagethat will let you in off the street to volunteer for a day is NOTan orphanage you should be supporting. In other words, theanswer to ‘which orphanage should I volunteer at today?’ is‘none of them.’ ” Other ways to spot fake orphanages inCambodia include: looking for long term volunteeropportunities versus short term ones, seeking orphanageswith dedicated, full time staff members and avoidingorphanages that use a third party organization to place youwithin a volunteer program.
Rather than spend a week at an orphanage, volunteersvisiting Cambodia are encouraged to explore ways to helpthe rural communities where children are being lured from.Whether it’s supporting educational programs, localsbusinesses or initiatives that fight to keep families together, itis better to pour time and money into fostering communityprograms instead.
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