Cambodia's Orphanage Business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hf_snNO9X8

06/21/2012
Juliana Ruhfus
Al Jazeera

Juliana Ruhfus investigated the growth of the global commercial volunteering industry and found volunteers' hopes exploited and Cambodian children needlessly placed in orphanages.

Susan Rosas is a young American social worker based in Cambodia. When I met her at the Harvard University Global Mental Health Program last year she told me about a surprising phenomenon: in spite of the fact that Cambodia had managed to overcome decades of conflict, famine and an AIDS epidemic, the number of orphanages around the country had doubled over the past decade. This, she said, was not based on the needs of the children but the growth of the global volunteering industry, which was hungry for placements.

Over 70% of the Cambodian "orphans" have at least one living parent, Susan said, but families were lured into giving up their children by the promise of Western education.

I started to research. "Voluntourism" has been described as the fastest growing sector of one of the fastest growing industries in the world. According to David Clemmons, founder of www.voluntourism.org, an estimated 11 million people traveled to volunteer in 2011 alone, proving that voluntourism has become a "multi-billion dollar expression of travelers' desires to find meaning and to make the world a better place."

New moves to control Cambodian orphanages

February 13, 2012
ABC Radio Australia

The Cambodian government has taken aim at orphanages that exploit children for funding or fail to institute minimum standards of care.

In a progressive new policy, welcomed by social welfare groups, the government is moving toward alternative options for "at risk" children emphasising the role of family.

Presenter: David Boyle, Phnom Penh

Speakers: Chuu, autistic child; child carer; Ith Sam Heng, Cambodia's social affairs minister; Richard Bridle, country representative of UNICEF; Sarah Chhin, program manager with International Cooperation Cambodia

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

BOYLE: Chuu is an autistic child living with a defacto carer who pulled her out of a Cambodian orphanage after discovering the centre had no understanding of her condition.

CARER (English with French accent) : They used the fact that you know, Chuu's mum was lost, really lost, you know I saw her cry many, many times because she didn't know how to do, she didn't know what was wrong with her. She loves her daughter, she just wants the best for her and she just think I cannot help her myself.

BOYLE: The carer, who wishes not to be named, says Chuu's mother sent her there because she didn't know where else to turn.

A new report from Cambodia's Social Affairs Ministry found that like Chuu, seven out of 10 Cambodian children who end up in orphanages have at least one parent.

It found poverty and the hope for a better future drove many parents to hand over their children to the orphanages, which were all-too-eager to take them. But that trend is about to stop says Cambodia's social affairs minister Ith Sam Heng, who has told orphanages the practice of using children to attract foreign donations must end.

Neglect, exploitation revealed in Cambodian orphanages

Feb 8, 2012
DPA

Phnom Penh - Children have been neglected, forced to solicit funding and perform in bars while being cared for by Cambodian orphanages, a study released Wednesday found.

The rapid rise of orphanages was branded 'a cause for concern' and an option that should be of 'last resort' in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation report.

The number of orphanages in Cambodia has risen dramatically in the last seven years, most of them foreign-funded.

Most of the estimated 12,000 youngsters in residential care have at least one surviving parent, it said. Rights groups suspect that some orphanages are simply thinly disguised businesses.

Orphan Voluntourism: Who Does it Benefit?

Source:  http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca

04/02/2012 - Child welfare workers are tackling a debate in international development caused by the mixing of the volunteer sector and tourism industry in response to an "orphan crisis."

The lines between the tourism industry and voluntary sector have become blurred, leaving child welfare and protection workers to navigate the two according to the best interests of the child.

With international travel increasingly accessible to both younger generations and global citizenship likewise on the rise, “voluntourism” has become a popular way of spending vacation time.

Very few people participating in volunteer tours begin their trip with malice in their hearts or an intention to exploit vulnerable youngsters. Rather, they are looking for a way to give back to communities or, perhaps, gain new experiences outside their comfort zones.

So, how could such admirable goals go awry?

In 2010, Linda Richter of the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa and Amy Norman of the University of London explored this question in an article published in the journal, Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies.

Orphanage tourism and Cambodia's fight to end it

Dec 30th 2011
By Jessica Marati
Gadling

In Cambodia, it's not uncommon for tourists to be offered tours of local orphanages in the same way they're offered tours of Angkor Wat.

It might be tempting to accept the opportunity to experience "the real Cambodia," especially when you're confronted by extreme poverty at every turn. But before you do, a new campaign backed by international NGO Friends-International and UNICEF asks you to think again.

"Travelers care for Cambodia and are often disturbed by the perceived situation of children," said Sebastien Marot, Executive Director of Friends-International, whose headquarters are in Cambodia. "It is essential for them to understand the real situation and what positive actions they can take to effectively protect and support these children."

Stay away from Cambodian orphanages, campaigners ask tourists

October 21, 2011
ABC Radio Australia

Child rights groups in Cambodia have launched a campaign - backed by the government - to end what has become known as 'orphanage tourism'.

Those behind the campaign are concerned that some orphanages are thinly disguised businesses that exploit both children and tourists.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael

Speaker: Sebastien Marot, founder and chief executive of Friends International; Richard Bridle, country representative UNICEF

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

CARMICHAEL: You don't need to travel far in Cambodia's tourist centres to see adverts encouraging anyone at all to turn up at a local orphanage and help out with the kids.

Aside from the obvious risks, there are others too. Experts say one of the latter is that children are damaged by forming short-term bonds with tourists or volunteers who are here this month and gone the next.

It's worth stressing that not every Cambodian orphanage is trying to garner tourist dollars, but plenty are and that has spurred this campaign to educate visitors and those who fund orphanages from afar.

Sebastien Marot is the chief executive of Friends International, an NGO that helps streetkids, and which is behind the campaign. He says there has been a rapid rise in the marketing of orphanages to tourists in recent years.

Related to that: Nearly three-quarters of the 12,000 children in Cambodia's orphanages have at least one living parent, and therefore shouldn't be there in the first place.

Toronto Police Service's May Mak gives all for Full Tummy Farm Special

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5zkEf8XOH0

Sep 14 2011
KJ Mullins
Digital Journal

Toronto - Toronto Police Services has a special person in civilian employee May Mak. Mak was in the lobby at Police headquarters today for a bakery and jewelery sale to benefit Full Tummy Farm and Habitat for Humanity Toronto 9-1-1 Build.

Full Tummy Farm is May's special project. After a trip with her sister to Cambodia she knew she had to do something about the poverty she saw inside the orphanages.

"In Canada we turn on the tap and there's water, but for these children there isn't any running water. There's poverty, hunger and little future unless they have education or are lucky enough to be adopted," May said as today's sale ended.

Cambodia introduces improved standards for children at risk

Sep 8, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government said Thursday it had introduced improved standards to regulate how orphans and vulnerable children are assessed and cared for.

The move followed concerns raised earlier this year by UN children's agency UNICEF that children in orphanages were at risk, in part from 'volunteer tourism.'

In March, UNICEF said the number of orphanages in Cambodia had nearly doubled in six years to 269. Fewer than one in 10 was state-funded; the rest were predominantly overseas-funded and faith-based.

During the same period the number of orphans rose from 5,751 to nearly 12,000. But nearly three-quarters of them had one surviving parent, which raised questions as to why so many children were being placed in institutions.

Cambodian poverty sparks fundraiser

Devonport woman Leakena Dixon (second from left) spends time in Cambodia with (from left) None Paph, Srey Mom, Vicki Davis and Kang San.

12 Apr, 2011
BY EISTEN JOYEUX
Devonport Times (Australia)

ON A recent trip to Cambodia, Leakena Dixon was confronted with the poverty that strikes so many people in her homeland.

She visited an orphanage run by an ex-Buddhist monk, None Paph, where 100 children live in shanty-type dwellings while they wait for funding to build rooms.

Unlike other orphanages, Ms Dixon explained the reason this orphanage doesn't have the same facilities as many of the others, is because it is not run by an overseas Christian organisation.

She said the main reasons for these children being orphaned was because their parents had died from HIV or AIDS or from selling their blood to provide food for their family.

The scandal of orphanages in tourist resorts and disaster zones that rent children to fleece gullible Westerners

11th April 2011
By Ian Birrell
Daily Mail Online (UK)

As a child welfare expert who has worked amid bullets and bombs in some of the world’s toughest war zones, Jennifer Morgan is not someone easily shaken. But even she admits she was shocked by some of the orphanages she visited recently in Haiti.

‘Outside it is a sunny day. Then you step inside the walls of an orphanage and realise that the children there have been exposed to rapes, severe beatings, emotional and mental trauma,’ she said. It was even more disturbing, she added, than the damaged children she came across amid the deadly mayhem of Darfur.

But perhaps the most troubling thing is that these tragic scenes in Haiti are not unusual. In dozens of places around the world, unregulated orphanages have become a boom business trading off Western guilt. Our desire to help is backfiring in the most dreadful fashion.

Ministry To Seek Out Fraudulent Orphanages

A group of Cambodian orphans gather and play while an orphanage worker looks on (File photo, Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 24 March 2011

“We have the best interests of the child in mind, and at the moment we believe that many of these orphanages do not have the best interests of the child at heart.”

Cambodian authorities say they will begin inspecting orphanages across the country, following concerns that many children living in the increasing number of facilities have parents.

Unicef said this week it remains concerned with the high number of reported Cambodian orphans, around 12,000, and the multiplying number of orphanages, which have more than doubled in the five years.

The UN agency said nearly three in four children at orphanages have at least one parent. The concern is whether children with parents are being used to draw funding to orphanages.

Of the estimated 269 orphanages in the country, only 21 are run by the government, according to the report.

Cambodia's orphanages target the wallets of well-meaning tourists

Research indicates most of the country's orphans have a living parent (Photo: Getty)

Friday, 25 March 2011
By Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh
The Independent

The Cambodian government has started inspecting more than 250 orphanages after it was revealed that most of the country's 12,000 orphans have at least one living parent. The government said that until the assessment is completed, it had no idea whether the children were being cared for properly.

Aid groups suspect that those running homes for children are enticing more parents to give up their children with promises of food, shelter and, crucially in Cambodia, education. In return, those running orphanages can expect larger donations from charities and Western tourists, who are encouraged to visit homes.

Richard Bridle, the country representative of the UN children's agency Unicef, said research had indicated 28 per cent of children in orphanages had lost both parents, raising the question about why thousands of others with at least one surviving parent were in institutional care. Unicef has also expressed concern at the near doubling of orphanage numbers from 153 to 269 in the last five years. Just 21 are state-run; the rest operate privately, and many of those are faith-based.

Cambodian government to investigate orphanages after UN concern

Mar 23, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government has started inspecting hundreds of orphanages after the UN children's agency UNICEF said it was worried children were at risk, in part from 'volunteer tourism.'

The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported Wednesday that a spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs had confirmed action commenced out of concern for children at orphanages.

'We are conducting the inspections because we don't know how the children are treated,' said spokesman Lim El Djurado, adding that those orphanages which fell short would be closed.

Earlier this week UNICEF said there were now 269 orphanages in Cambodia, almost double the number in 2005. The number of orphans had also risen to nearly 12,000 from 5,751 over the same period.

But nearly three-quarters of 'orphans' still had at least one surviving parent, which raised questions as to why so many children were being institutionalized.

Orphanage owner charged

Saturday, October 23, 2010
BigPondNews (Australia)

The British owner of an orphanage in Cambodia has been charged with a sex attack on a young boy in his care.

UK investigators joined dozens of police in a dawn raid on the centre where up to 100 children were rescued and moved to a safe home.

Nicholas Griffin, 52, was lead away for questioning as detectives and child protection specialists searched the orphanage, a fortress-like new building in countryside near Siem Reap.

The suspect had been under investigation by Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre for more than two years.

Welshman Griffin, who denies any wrongdoing, says he spent 'many years in social work, housing management and community work'.

He moved to Cambodia three years ago and set up several centres to help deprived and vulnerable children in what is one of the poorest countries in south-east Asia.

Griffin quickly established his Cambodia Orphan Fund, appealing for and receiving donations from the UK and elsewhere.

He was held, initially, on suspicion of flouting child labour laws and a breach of his orphanage licence.

The police interviewed the children and orphanage workers in a search for evidence that will now lead to a trial in Cambodia and a possible 10-year jail sentence.

CEOP's Andy Wells said, 'we got intelligence that this man was looking after children and he was assessed as extremely high-risk individual, so we asked a local child protection group to investigate.

'You only have to look at this new orphanage, in the middle of nowhere with a high wall around it. It looks more like a prison and you have to ask why.'

Cambodia is still emerging from the shadow of the bloody Khmer Rouge regime in which nearly two million people were killed.

Poverty, corruption and a lax legal system mean many children in the country are vulnerable to sex abuse, especially at the hands of Western paedophiles.

Griffin was being kept in custody to await a trial while his orphanage was effectively closed down.

His orphanage manager, a Cambodian man, was charged with the illegal removal of a child from its home to the orphanage.

CEOP staff are now involved in finding new accommodation for the orphans.

Briton on child sex abuse charge in Cambodia orphanage

22 October 2010
BBC News

He was originally held on suspicion of breaking child labour laws and his orphanage licence. The British founder of a Cambodian orphanage is facing prosecution for sexually assaulting a boy in his care.

Nicholas Griffin, 52, was held when police raided his isolated base in countryside near Siem Reap, in the north-west of the country.

Up to 100 children were moved to a safe house in an operation that involved British and local investigators.

Mr Griffin, originally from Wales, left Britain in 2006 before founding the Cambodia Orphan Fund, one year later.

He faces a potential 10-year jail sentence over a claim he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy.

Fortress-like building

He was originally held on suspicion of breaking child labour laws and his orphanage licence.

The orphanage manager, a Cambodian man, has been charged with the illegal removal of a child to the orphanage.

Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), said Cambodian police are now examining claims of "institutional abuse" within the orphanage, which occupies an unusual fortress-like building.

Mr Gamble added: "The UK and Cambodia may have different legal systems and law enforcement practices, but we share a clear, joint commitment: to prevent harm to children."

He said the operation demonstrated the value of the organisation's international child protection network.

An ambassador for Cambodian orphans

Giving a helping hand: Former Trayning woman Tanya Jaw (middle) with the orphans at the Chres Orphanage in Cambodia. Mrs Jaw is helping to provide hundreds of English library books and also to build an 18-bed accommodation building for the orphanage.

26 Nov, 2009
Merredin-Wheatbelt Mercury (Australia)

Tanya Jaw, who grew up in Trayning and finished high school in Wyalkatchem, says coming from the country has helped her see the world in a different way.

She has achieved many things throughout her life so far and is currently helping to provide a library and accommodation for orphans in Cambodia as part of a Self Expression and Leadership Program.

Mrs Jaw is the youngest daughter of Trayning post master Valda Knott.

Mrs Jaw has written the following account of her experience with the Chres Orphanage in Cambodia.

Growing up and gaining an education in the country doesn’t limit your possibilities. In fact, it enhances them.

Since leaving the Wheatbelt and studying communications at university, I have been a web publisher, assisting WA business development and as an employment co-ordinator for people with disability.

Today I work in the aged care industry, looking at creative ways to stimulate people with dementia, and how the organisation can improve its internal communication.

I have an active interest in people, so in March 2009 I traveled to Cambodia to learn more about the war and its people there.

Cambodia is 95 per cent rural. Poverty, disease and landmines are an everyday reality for many if its farmers.

My own rural background and sense of community resonated with the Cambodian people.

Although Cambodian farmers have a different set of troubles - land mines rather than drought, I recognised the same level of richness in their communities that I had experienced growing up in the Wheatbelt.

I came upon the Chres Village orphanage and school during a motorbike tour.

Touched by how grateful the children were to visitors and volunteers, I decided to become a registered fundraiser for Sustainable Organisation for Community Peasants, Labourers, Students Development and Orphans.

The position was approved by the Ministry of Interior and Siem Reap Governor, Cambodia, on May 23 this year.

Pong Sena, a former soldier, moved by the Chres Village’s plight during the Pol Pot regime, set up the orphanage in 2006.

Today it has become a school offering free English and health education to 500 local village children.

The orphanage and school is non-government funded, surviving off donations and the work and good will of volunteers.

The orphanage caters for 49 orphans ranging from eight to 21 years of age and is located 30 minutes out of town, so awareness of its existence is minimal, making it difficult to generate donations and funding. Without education, the children are destined to a life of poverty.

In August I approached local schools and libraries around Perth to donate unwanted books to start an English language library at the orphanage, as learning English is a vital part of the children’s education for gaining future employment in retail and tourism.

Many libraries were glad to recycle the books, which are usually discarded, and the State Library donated the rest.

A shipping agent and box manufacturer also donated their goods and services, and students from Hamilton High School packed the books for transport.

Currently the orphanage also requires urgent funding to build accommodation for 18 orphan girls, who currently use the library building as sleeping quarters.

The accommodation building will be a traditional design and will use local materials, and building it will employ up to 10 local laborers.

It will take 75 days to build, and the total amount for building including electrics will be about $30,000 Australian.

The Midland Rotary Club has offered assistance with obtaining a Charity License to enable me to pursue corporate funding and donations.

I am always looking for opportunities for the orphanage. In addition to the accommodation, funds are needed for desks and chairs.

If anyone is interested in making donations or fundraising, they may contact me on 0438 908 428 or via email at tanya@peachybooks.net

The orphanage also welcomes tourists who are interested in teaching English or just visiting, and I certainly found a visit to Cambodia to be a wonderful and eye-opening experience.

More information about the orphanage can be found at
www.cambodianorphanage.org.uk

Clare [Cambodian-Australian] pharmacist to volunteer in Cambodia

Clare pharmacist Tim Siv will spend six weeks in Cambodia, packing his suitcase with items such as tooth brushes and tooth paste which he will donate to local families overseas.

17/12/2008
Northern Argus (Australia)

Clare pharmacist Tim Siv will spend six weeks in Cambodia working in orphanages and schools during the Christmas holidays.

Mr Siv, whose parents fled Cambodia when he was three years old, will return to the town of his birth to give back to his former community where he also plans to build a playground for local children.

And he won’t be travelling light - planning to pack his suitcases with toothbrushes, tooth paste, tennis balls and other useful items which are normally in short supply in that country.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do (return to Cambodia) in terms of giving back,” Mr Siv said.

This is where my heritage is and it will be a big experience for me. The house I was born in is still there,” Mr Siv said.

Although this will be a personal visit for Mr Siv he will participating in local aid work, teaching English and undertaking other community work.

“I just hope to make an impact on someone’s life while I am over there,” he said.

Sacrava Cartoon: Geraldine Cox, an Angel from Down Under

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Hands-on Aussie Geraldine Cox cares for hundreds of Cambodian orphans

Geraldine Cox and her Cambodian orphan children (Photo: Carry for Kids)

October 25, 2008
Cheryl Critchely
Herald Sun (Australia)

GERALDINE Cox reckons she'd be arrested if she ran her orphanages in Australia.

Ms Cox, 63, who runs Sunrise Children's Villages in Cambodia, loves hugging and kissing the kids.

"With all the political correctness . . . I'd be in prison in a week," she laughs. "I'm kissing, touching, fondling, napping with . . . the kids all the time.

"My kids need to be touched, they need to be caressed and I think it's a great sadness the way the world is going now that you can't be loving towards children."

Unable to have biological children, Ms Cox, who was born in Adelaide, gave up a life of diplomatic and corporate hedonism in the mid-1990s to establish her homes.

The feisty redhead, now called Mum by hundreds of children, is back in Australia for her annual fundraising pilgrimage.

She needs $80,000 a month to run two orphanages, so she headlines functions such as Melbourne's Business Chicks fundraising breakfast.

A third orphanage is being built thanks to $500,000 from Australian company Computershare, which also donated a bus. Another $600,000 is needed for the new home, which will house 200 orphans.

On this trip Ms Cox has the added worry of the global finance crisis.

"We hold our money here in Australia and it's sent up in US dollars," she says. "I've got to raise about twice as much . . . to meet the falling dollar."

Ms Cox prides herself on the fact that Sunrise, which has no government funding, spends just 10 cents in the dollar on administration.

A $40 monthly sponsorship covers a child's food. Each child needs six $40 sponsors to cover food, clothing, education, medical care, English, computer lessons and maintenance.

Many of Ms Cox's charges now have good jobs and some have won tertiary scholarships in Australia.

Other cases she sees and hears about are horrific.

"I get kids that come to me through abandonment, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, cruelty; they've been trafficked into prostitution and slave labour," she says. "And two of my girls have been victims of acid burn attacks.

"In one case the mother was having an affair and the wife found out and she poured battery acid all over the mother and her sleeping daughter."

Geraldine Cox will speak at a Business Chicks Breakfast on Thursday, October 30, from 7-9am at Peninsula, Shed 14 Central Pier, 161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands. Tickets: Guests $81, Members $70, Table of 10: $700.

8-year-old Austin Zappia tries to raise $1,200 for Cambodian orphans by selling lemonade

Local kid raises money for Cambodian orphans

May 2, 2008
By Scott Leamon
WSLS10 Reporter (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)

Spurred by a goal to raise $1,200 for Cambodian orphans by the end of the year, 8 year old Austin Zappia set out to meet his mark one cup of lemonade at a time.

Austin will be selling lemonade and ginger ale for $1 at Claire V. near downtown Roanoke.

He will set up shop Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM.

The Wasena Elementary School student recently returned from visiting a Cambodian orphanage with his mother last week.

“I made a lot of friends,” Austin said Friday afternoon from his lemonade stand at Claire V., 309 Campbell Avenue.

Austin’s mother, Kelly, started raising money after making business trips to Cambodia with several Claire V. colleagues.

“I really hope that Austin will take away a greater sense of what our world as a whole is like,” Kelly Zappia said.

Many of the kids at the orphanage once scavenged through a city dump, Kelly Zappia said.

The orphans would make items out of recyclables to sell at city markets, Austin Zappia said.

Austin hopes his $1,200 will fund three orphans into the program, the Center For Children’s Happiness.

Austin and his mother plan to go back to Cambodia this October.

For more information, click on the “related links” section above.