Author: MAJA ROBASZKIEWICZ

1.          Do I have the necessary skills?

An intention to help people is a beautiful thought. There are multiple options to choose from. However, you need to think if your good intentions are enough and you have good enough skills to work in this particular environment. Working in an orphanage? Doesn’t sound like something really complicated. But remember, if you have no experience in working with children, how can you know, that what you do does not cause more harm in their already broken lives? Do you know how to react when they tell you something personal and ask you to keep it as a secret? Look before you leap. Maybe there are other possibilities where you can use your talents and skills?

2.          Am I not too young?

Many organisations allow volunteers to take part in their programmes even if they are under eighteen. The only thing they need is the consent of parents’ or a guardian. Do you think that 16-year-old teenager has got enough life and work experience to take care of children who have been taken away from their homes and families? Obviously, even people who are in their 30s or 40s may be not mature enough to work as volunteers, that is why it is so important by the organisation to check the volunteer’s experience. What you can do, is to evaluate your experience and truly decide, if you are knowledgeable and mature enough to undertake such a responsible task.

3.          Do I want to work for the community or myself?

Working in an orphanage or any other institution as a volunteer, you should focus on the need of the people, whom you are about to help. Although helping can be an amazing opportunity to develop your skills, add an extra experience to your CV, it shouldn’t be the only reason why you undertake such a responsibility. Consider if the idea of working as a volunteer is not only based on your need to experience something new and exciting.

4.          Do I receive proper training before I start my work?

Your stay in an orphanage should be planned and you should be given clear requirements. Especially, when you are not qualified enough you shouldn’t be allowed to do ‘whatever you think is appropriate’. If you are not sure, even after provided training, what to do, do not be afraid to ask for help. Working as a volunteer is just a temporary job. You are in the institution just for a while, and to help with duties, which cannot be currently done by the regular staff.

5.          Does the orphanage try to reunite children with their families?

Any institution should be the last resort for any children. Based on years of studies, it is proved that living out of family has a detrimental influence on children. There are cases in which obviously children cannot live with their parents or guardians because of their safety, however, in many cases the biggest issue, why children cannot be raised by their families, is poverty. Each institution should do their best to help families to be reunited with their child and try to find the necessary support. Poverty shouldn’t be a reason why children are being kept in institutions. Whenever it is possible, family care support should be provided.

6.          Does it really deliver what it promises?

Based on the stories from Cambodia, Nepal or Haiti we have to be careful while choosing the institution which we want to help. Do the directors care about the children? Stories of dressing children up to look poorly and make volunteers and donors give more money should raise awareness among any of us. You want to help, not to fuel the problem.

7.          Does the institution work according to the law?

Children’ Rights are fundamental rights which should be taken into account while taking care of children in any institution, as well as local law. E.g. the journalists from Bayerischer Rundfunk, who went undercover to work as volunteers in Nepal were being offered accommodation in the orphanage near children, which according to the Nepalian law is illegal. And to be honest, should be banned in any country because it exposes children on the risk of abuse by people who come to potentially help in an orphanage. More examples can be given, that is why we should take into account respecting international in local law, which may help to prevent children from exploitation.

8.          Are staff qualified?

Except for volunteers helping with everyday duties, there should be staff who works with children on an everyday basis. Although volunteers do not have to be qualified to work with children, people who work with them every day should be.

9.          Does the institution ask you for your DBS clearance?

Institutions do not know who will be working with them as a volunteer. They don’t know the past of the volunteers so they can’t be sure that their helpers always have good intentions or ever been accused of any crime. Especially when your work includes direct work with children it should be first step by the organisation/institution to ask you for your DBS clearance.

10.       Has the institution got any other source of income except for time-to-time donations?

Relying of time-to-time donations is not the best option, especially when it comes to fulfilling needs of a group of children, paying the staff for their job, etc. When institution is run privately it should have a source of regular income, which can protect from being left with no money.

These are just possible questions that you should ask yourself before making a decision. There can be much more to consider but the most important is to avoid hasty decisions based on emotions. Better to postpone your possible volunteer work and gain more experience than to cause more harm than good.

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.

“It is a really big thing”; “You must be truly brave”; “I admire you”. I suppose that most of the people who decided to volunteer abroad heard some of those statements. Same happened to me, even though I did not expect my friends and family to think about volunteering abroad as a holiday trip which may help to change and develop me myself. All I wanted was to do my best in the orphanage and school in Zambia, where I and my friend were about to start our work in 2015. I was ready to work hard and do everything that I could to improve the lives of those whose lives were not that fortunate. Four years ago, I did not even think that a 20 year-old-girl from Europe with basic knowledge about working with vulnerable children but with good intentions may not be the best candidate for an orphanage volunteer position. Now I am not so sure anymore.

Just before the summer holidays, many young people look for opportunities to use their free time as efficiently as possible. Language camps, international exchanges, and internships. Next to them, for the last two decades, we can observe a remarkable growth of interest amongst young people in volunteering abroad. The most popular searched destinations are the Philippines, India, Nepal but also African countries like Uganda and Kenya. Top programs include medical volunteering, wildlife, and conservation but mainly teaching and orphanage volunteering. Some of them last for one or a few weeks, a few months or even a year. There is a great variety of possibilities when it comes to volunteering and everyone can find something for themselves. My main concern refers to volunteering with children. You may ask why? Indeed, it cannot be difficult to help children with their homework, play with them and organise free time activities. But what if they are children who experienced trauma, were abandoned or abused?

Young people doing volunteer work, do it mostly during summer holidays, or their ‘gap year’. They want to make their time meaningful so besides travelling they do their voluntary work. Intentions are mostly pure but what about organisations sending them to work in foreign countries? Many volunteering programmes offered by organizations cost a fortune – in order to start working you need to pay fees. The range differs depending on the organisation so you may pay 50$ or even 200$ per week. Obviously, fees do not include the cost of travelling and necessary vaccinations.

Moreover, while checking the necessary skills which potential volunteers should have, the answer is mostly ‘You do not need any experience/skills”. Imagine the same situation in your country. You apply for a position as a worker in any institution which requires contact with vulnerable children. Your DBS is not checked, there is no training provided, and you can do with children whatever you think is good for them. As good as your intentions may be, you may do more harm than good without any knowledge.

I do not want to discourage you. Volunteering is a beautiful thing but should be beneficial for both sides, not only to boost volunteers’ ego. Before you start working, especially with children, prepare yourself. Ask questions. Ask for training. Ask for safeguarding policy. Volunteer wisely.