For the thousands of Australian tourists who visit Cambodia
each year, there is one stop on the tourist trail that continues to be popular:
visiting an orphanage. Typically, a visit involves meeting and playing with the
kids, walking through their living quarters and taking photographs. It can also
include a short performance or dance routine by the children. Often there are
opportunities to volunteer – for anything between a few hours and a few months.
The visit usually culminates with a request for donations.
Cambodia's tourist
orphanages
Cambodian orphanages are
increasingly used to service a tourist industry that has sprung up around
Westerners visiting them.
For
Australian couple Linda and Geoff Foard, it was a chance to interact with local
children and do their bit to help.
"I
hadn't been to Phnom Penh before and I hadn't seen poverty on this scale,"
says Linda. "We were a bit overwhelmed by it all."
In
hindsight, Linda recalls a number of red flags that only later gave them pause
for thought. "We were given carte blanche to wander around the orphanage
and talk to the kids ... When we went out to buy some sacks of rice, some
of the kids wanted to come with us. We were allowed to take half a dozen kids
out of the orphanage. They had only met us an hour beforehand. We could have
been anybody. They didn't know our names or anything – it was crazy."
The
Foard's experience is typical of many Australians who visit Cambodia.
Orphanages are easily accessible to tourists, with visits often advertised by
guesthouses or tour companies. Some orphanages even bring their children to
popular tourist areas, handing out flyers and urging tourists to visit their
orphanage.
An entire
industry has grown out of thousands of these tourist visits. In the last
decade, the number of known orphanages in Cambodia has doubled, with dozens
more still being uncovered. This is despite the number of orphans in the
country actually decreasing. The uncomfortable truth is, more than 75 per cent
of children in Cambodia's orphanages have at least one living parent, while
many more have other family members who could look after them with the right
support.
Why are so
many parents giving up their children? Mostly it's because orphanages are
promoted to poor families as a better option for their children. For families
struggling to survive, this can be convincing – a chance to give their children
the education and opportunities they missed out on.
Australians
have a clear role to play in putting an end to this practice. We need to reduce
the demand of tourists wanting to visit and support these orphanages, in order
to stem the supply of vulnerable children being removed from their families and
communities.
The
Cambodian government must also continue to crack down on unregistered
orphanages. Positive steps have been taken but close to half of the country's
known orphanages have failed to register and there are no rules in place around
who can have direct contact with children.
A ban on
tourists visiting orphanages must be considered, if best-practice child
protection standards are to be enforced – or at the very least, a requirement
for formalised background checks. Without any regulation, children are at high
risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
For the
Foard's, their experience of visiting a Cambodian orphanage not only left them
questioning the safety and wellbeing of the children, but left them out of
pocket. Wanting to ensure an education for some of the children they met, they
sponsored three children upfront at a cost of just over $1000. While the money
was acknowledged as received, they never heard from the orphanage again,
despite multiple enquiries spanning a year.
"It
leaves a really sour taste in your mouth," says Linda. "In that 12
months, their website disappeared ... I got a report from somebody in
Cambodia to say it was being updated, but it's never appeared. This was four
years ago."
The business
of orphanage tourism must end once and for all. For Australians wanting to help
vulnerable children in developing countries like Cambodia, there are far better
ways to provide support that will prevent more children being pushed into
residential care.
If the
significant amount of funding enjoyed by orphanages was more appropriately
funnelled into community development programs, the impetus for poor families to
place their children into institutional care would be vastly reduced. This is
why organisations like ChildFund work with local communities to alleviate
poverty and keep children safe – ensuring access to education, healthcare and
proper nutrition for even the most vulnerable children and supporting parents
with livelihood programs to boost household incomes.
Improving
conditions for children within their own families and communities is always
preferable to placing kids in institutions. Ultimately it's about providing the
necessary support to ensure children can be safe, educated and heard, while
enjoying their right to grow up within their own family.
Mark Kavenagh is child protection advisor at
ChildFund Australia, a member of the ReThink Orphanages network.
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