I went to Nepal, had the adventure of a lifetime that I hoped to have when I first wrote this article. But I’m so glad I did my research beforehand and learned that orphanages in Nepal, like many places in the world, isn’t always what as it appears. Consider these issues and make ethical volunteering decisions!
(2018) On January 31st it was official. I was accepted. I’m going to Nepal.
There have understandably been a lot of questions. Why? What are you going to do there? Why Nepal? When? Why Nepal? How did you find this? Why Nepal? Did I mention why?
Why Nepal itself, versus the other 194 countries, will come in the next post. For now let’s tackle the rest.
In December of this year (2018) I will travel to Kathmandu to volunteer for two weeks with Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN). While VIN has many projects, I will be aiding the Women’s Empowerment Project, working with women to help support literacy, life skills education, legal rights, and economic health. That’s the scholarly breakdown. What this actually means is that I hope I will be supporting women, and ultimately families, to be more financially powerful and educated. Because this is what ultimately decreases human trafficking in Nepal. Stronger homes are less vulnerable to the cons.
Crash Course on Nepal
Nepal is a rectangular Asian country sandwiched between India and Chinese Tibet. Its northern border is the backbone of the world, the Himalayas, with Everest and 7 of the other 14 mountains in the world over 8000km (promise I won’t mountain geek again.) The center stripe of the country includes the valleys, terraces, and “hills”, as well as the capital Kathmandu which has over 1 million residents. The southern border is the Terai, the jungle that abuts India both geographically and culturally. Hinduism and Buddhism are the primary religions. A third of the families in Nepal subsist on $14USD a year.
Trafficking in Nepal
When most of us think about trafficking we think about sex trafficking. Nepal, like the US, unfortunately, doesn’t escape this. Girls and women, particularly at risk in the Terai near India, are sold or smuggled across the open Indian border. Daughters as well as wives that can’t bear children, for some, are expenses that can’t be justified. Sold to Indian traffickers, they work in homes or markets before they’re eventually released to return home. Once home, they’re in the bottom caste and ignored by everyone they knew. Nepalese advocates are battling to shut the border with India. This isn’t the work I’ll be doing.
But, there is another risk of trafficking, affecting particularly the people in the hills, and many Western volunteers unknowingly support it.
People like kids. They want to help kids. Volunteering in foreign orphanages is appealing to many who wish to give back to the world they love to travel. Unfortunately in Nepal, many of the orphans aren’t orphans. UNICEF estimates that 85% of the orphans in “orphanages” in Nepal have at least one living parent.
The Orphanage Con
Picture this: a well-dressed, affluent person comes to your village and promises to take your children, who you can barely afford, into loving care in the capital. The man reassures you your child will be well cared for and educated. Life will be better for your child. You in turn scrape up huge fees, all that you have, to pay these people to take your child and provide this. It is heart-breaking but it is the best choice. But then you start to hear stories, that some of these places are abusive, corrupt, and you don’t even know where to start to get your child back. Or worse, you never know this is going on, and think your child is really leading a better life.
Or maybe you are straight-up conned, told your child will go to school or get medical treatment in Kathmandu and will then come home. Yet despite promises and the fees you paid, they don’t return. There are many stories of parents searching, making a long journey on their minimal income, only to be turned away at the “orphanages” and not allowed to see their children. Families with children with special health needs are particularly targeted.
Why? Because these “orphanages” then charge Westerners several hundreds to $1000 to come spend time with the children. Even worse, many of these volunteers raise thousands of dollars to donate to orphanages in Nepal. It’s a profit business. It supports inconsistent attachment and conditions children to please passing adult figures for trinkets and favors. Political turbulence and the then the massive earthquakes in 2015 worsened the problem, displacing many and causing issues with reuniting.
What We Can Do Instead
As with so many things in our world, if efforts went to preventing the financial desperation and creating infrastructure, versus “intervening” to send children away, these families and children would not go through this. Now it’s also true that in Nepal, just as in the US, children are abused and thrown out of their homes and legal and legitimate orphanages in Nepal are needed and do exist. Strengthening families is key.
This is a patriarchal society. Men are often not immediately involved in the day-to-day life of the home. Many are even absent, working tourist treks or in the tourist areas. Women work hard in the fields. Children do chores and watch other children. As the women have gained education and financial means, the men have positively responded. They all just need more options.
(I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Nepalese men are also trafficked. They too are swindled with fake “agreements” for work abroad and ultimately become indentured servants with no release. They, and other southeast Asian men, have built the opulence of Dubai and the mega-construction of China. The irony does not escape me that both of those countries are the airline gateways to Kathmandu.)
Volunteers Initiative Nepal
So, VIN. I’m sure it is not perfect, but I chose them because they center around the goal of eventually not needing any of us. Nepalese people run it and coordinate with the appropriate partner NGOs in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, etc. They run multiple projects and target their projects to communities that need the service. For instance, the Women’s program sets up in multiple communities that show interest in starting a women’s group. Their goal is for these programs to become sustainable by the citizens of the community themselves.
And they do become sustainable. VIN was able to answer the tough questions. Their fee was reasonable to fund the basics and not more. They had clear expectations of what they expect from me in each component, and what I can expect from them in each component, asking me for my expectations in return.
They chose me because they want me to teach life skill curriculums. Stress management, self-esteem, critical thinking, assertive communication, decision making, and healthy behaviors. That’s my jam.
I will be in Kavresthali, 8 km northwest of Kathmandu, working with their women’s group to create healthier women and healthier families. In a very different way, it’s back to my family preservation roots in my early career.
Only in the shadows of the highest mountains on Earth instead of the wheat fields of Hutchinson and Newton, Kansas.
Want More Info?
Want to learn more about the orphanage situation in Nepal? I highly recommend Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan.
Next Generation Nepal is an American NGO that partners with the Nepal government. They rescue children from fraudulent and abusive orphanages, find safe “transit” homes, and reunite them with their families. Although it has taken up to 3 years to find some children’s families, the organization has a 100% reunite rate.
ABC NEWS: The Dark Side of Orphanage “Voluntourism” in Nepal That’s Putting Children at Risk.
Make sure you ask these important questions when you consider voluntourism.
So very proud of you. And so lucky to call you friend.