Not everything is black and white, especially when it comes to money. Where people try to do good, you can also find those who don’t care about the other’s needs when they realise that ‘helping’ can make them richer.

 

Orphanages seem like places, which potentially cannot, or rather shouldn’t do any harm to children. It should be a place, where vulnerable children can find their shelter from neglect, abuse, and violence. However, organisations such as Lumos and ReThink Orphanages have identified a link between orphanage trafficking and modern-day slavery. You may think, that it is impossible in the 21st century, but it is not difficult to use children as your income source.

 

Haiti, 2010 – An earthquake left thousands of families without electricity, water, and homes. People came to help to restore the island after a horrific disaster. During these tough times, many orphanages were established, and children were placed in the institutions by their parents, who lost everything due to the earthquake. The orphanages’ directors offered accommodation, food, education – all that parents couldn’t do for their children at the time. Being promised that the future of their children is safe in an orphanage, parents decided to give their children away. Although some of the orphanages are being run with a pure interest in children’s good, only about 15% of them were officially registered. Moreover, privately run orphanages are funded mostly by foreign benefactors which cannot assure the institution with a regular income. Before the earthquake in 2010, there were about 300 orphanages in Haiti. According to government reassessments, the number raised to 732 in 2013. The orphans’ crisis thus led to the neglect of many of the most vulnerable children and abuse of parents’ trust in their children’s better future.

 

The examples of Haitian orphanage businesses are not the only ones. Despite the promises of a better future, ‘orphanages’ use children to raise money for their benefits, leaving children in terrible conditions. In an interview for Guardian Australia, one of the children living in an institution in Cambodia, describes her experience of being starved and raped, dressed up to look poorly in order to make donors feel pity for the children and give more money. In response to this, Australia became the first country to recognise orphanage trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery. This recognition of the problem of as human trafficking  should change the global perspective on the issue and lead other countries to consider orphanage trafficking as a serious issue.

 

Financial support, as well as personal help, is very important for institutions, especially orphanages. However, some people have realised that they can make a business out of vulnerable children. Before you help, do the research, contact the institution or people who know the place better than you. I encourage you to do good, however, check twice if you don’t cause more harm. What we can do, is to raise awareness among our families and friends, that the problem of orphanage trafficking is real and we mustn’t make light of it.