Voluntourism - The Realities behind short term mission trips
Intro:
Voluntourism to orphanages in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is harmful to the children involved and inadvertently leads to the trafficking of children. The estimated $1.3 million dollars per day is spent by volunteers to come to Haiti to do a service projects can be rerouted into foster care, social program, and job creation bringing a sustainable long term solution to the orphan crisis in Port-au-Prince.
Volun..what?
In recent years voluntourism has become a new trend. Some describe it as the perfect blend of adventure and good-will. Travel companies are celebrating the new trend by offering international volunteers a chance at “helping” developing countries through service projects such as building houses, or digging a well. Although this may seem to be an innocent and well intentioned act, studies are beginning to show that it can be very harmful to the receiving country and promote paternalism.
The most highly criticized trend in of international volunteering is orphan tourism. A general trip of this nature consists of an American traveling to a third world country, like Haiti, for one to two weeks and visiting an orphanage. The voluntourists spend their days playing with children, holding babies and delivery donations brought from America. The majority of travelers believe that going to orphanages will help to solve the problem of the orphan crisis, but these short visits tend to perpetuate the misconceptions of poverty and increase the feeling of superiority of the foreigner (Greenfield, 2007). Even more, these visits directly harm the ones they are trying to help. Visiting orphanages unintentionally exploits children by supporting trafficking of children to fill the orphanages that people are paying to visit.
The Devastating Truth
Although orphanages may provide shelter, that is about all they provide. World-renowned psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby states that “children thrive better in bad homes than good institutions” (Bowlby, 1995). He goes on to explain what other mental health professionals have been advocating for years, children without the opportunity to develop an attachment to a mother figure, grow up to have attachment disorders and psychopathic character. The long-term effects of being removed from a parent and placed into an institution, restructures a child’s brain in ways that may be irreversible. These effects include developmental delays, mental health difficulties, involvement in criminal behavior and high suicide rates (Mulheir G., & Cavanagh M., 2016). Bowlby’s report changed the way America and other developing countries respond to child welfare. For the rest of the developing world, like Haiti, things are far behind.
With over 760 orphanages in Haiti, only 15% are legally registered (Mulheir G., & Cavanagh M., 2016). The epidemic of these institutions is quite the phenomenon. The theory of why there is a large number is due in part to the involvement of the American voluntourist. Haiti has a struggling economy and money is hard to come by. Throughout the years foreigners and short-term missionaries have traveled to Haiti to help in the plight of the orphan. This usually translates into simply visiting orphanages over a week course to play with, hold, and feed kids. Many times donations of supplies and even money is given directly to the orphanage director in hopes of providing for the daily needs of the institution. The surrounding community sees these interactions happening and views it as an opportunity for creating income. People then start their own “orphanage”. This can simply mean renting a house and collecting kids. This idea of orphanages being a safe place for children is perpetuated by the constant arrival of short-term voluntourists and the funding they bring. It is as though we, as Americans, are saying that orphanages are not good enough for our kids in the states, but they are ok for those who are poor.
The issue of the undocumented orphanages goes even further as the children are also many times undocumented. It is as simple as supply and demand. The undocumented orphanages need kids to fill them. Many times families bring their children in hopes of providing for their most basic needs. Other times “child-finders” are sent out to pay parents for their children. These children are then used as an emotional ploy to receive excessive funding from foreigners (Mulheir G., & Cavanagh M., 2016). Many times the foreigners are not aware of these actions. Other times, the foreigners are not familiar with the law and the child protection acts in Haiti and the orphanage is not held accountable for its actions. These frequent actions create a pattern of unintentional support of human trafficking.
$100 Million Dollars
$100 million dollars. That is a conservative estimate of the annual support given to orphanages in Haiti. This number becomes even more shocking when compared to the 80% of children living in orphanages who are not true orphans, meaning they have at least one parent still alive. So why are they in an orphanage? The complex circumstances of poverty, corrupt systems and lack of education have lead to what Lumos calls not the “orphan crisis”, but the “orphanage crisis” (Vernaelde J. & Guillaume E. (2017). This is the product of the misinterpretation, by voluntourists, of what a true orphan is. Many have tried throwing money at orphanages in hopes of a solution for the orphan crisis, but that is not the answer.
After the devastating earthquake of 2010, many organizations panicked and reacted to the immediate needs of vulnerable children and with good intentions placed them in orphanages. There was a 150% increase in the amount of orphanages and has continued to grow to this day (Vernaelde J. & Guillaume E., 2017). The rapid increase of orphanages influenced the local and international public with the idea that placing children in institutions was the quickest, easiest and best solution for children. Many Haitian parents have been the victim of misinformation regarding orphanages, and see them as a safe place for their child to go when they can no longer care for them. The hope they have is to provide simple food, shelter and education to the child through the resources of the orphanage.
Now What?
The important element to remember is that the primary reason for families relinquishing their children to orphanages is the lack or resources and miseducation on the consequences of institutionalization. These are the elements that must be addresses in order to solve the orphan crisis of Haiti. An average two week voluntourism trip to Haiti is about $1500 including airfare. Haiti averages about 900 voluntourists landing in Haiti each day. This is a total of $1.3 million dollars per day is spent by volunteers to come to Haiti to do a service project. Annually that is almost a half of a billion dollars. This is a stark contrast when compared to the 59% of Haitians living under the national poverty line of US$ 2.42 per day (The World Bank, 2017). With these funds directed in helpful directions, changes in the benefit of the children can be achieved.
The first step in the right direction is through educating the voluntourists. Unicef and Friends International, are global child protection agencies, who are currently working to spread the word about the realities of orphanage tourism. They offer advice “The best way for tourists and travelers to support vulnerable children and their families is to support vocational training and community based initiatives, rather than visiting an orphanage directly.” Visiting orphanages is a violation of a child’s right to privacy, protected under international law (Unicef, 2015). When the voluntarist is informed of the seriousness of visiting orphanages, chances are, they will make the decision not to.
The next step is to keep the momentum of wanting to help the orphans, by helping their families. Many have tried to help children by building more orphanages. The truth is, funding orphanages is much more costly than helping a child stay with their family. Funding an orphanage is not sustainable long term and continues to allow for the misuse of funds due to lack of documentation and accountability. The funding being used currently to support orphanages could instead be used to help fund local organizations and government agencies to bring reunification of families. With professional supervision, the children living in the orphanages can go back to living with their families. LUMOS estimates this costs about $680 per child. Organizations in Haiti such as IBESR, UNICEF, and LUMOS, are working hard to bring families back together and end the orphan crisis.
In 2012 Haiti’s Ministry of Tourism invested 36 million dollars the Caribbean island for tourism (Banerjee, Cicowiez, & Gachot, 2015) Haitian government has identified tourism as a priority in improving Haiti’s economy, advocating that the economy will benefit with foreign exchange earnings and a rise in employment. Voluntourism may be complex, but leisure tourism may be just what Haiti needs. Strides are being made in prioritizing the tourism sector, seeing it as the solution to economic stability and poverty alleviation. Compared to the average annual wage of $600, those currently working in the tourism industry make an estimated $2,090 per year (Kolbe A., Brookes K., & Muggah R., 2013). This plan could provide jobs throughout Haiti, which would create a sustainable income for parents, and in turn, remove the financial burden that drives them to place their children in orphanages.
Possibly the most effective solution to end the orphan crisis, is to prevent it from ever happening. The vast majority of children in orphanages are poverty orphans. Their parents do not have the income to care for them. Growing the economy in Haiti, has a direct positive impact on vulnerable children. Buying ethically made Haitian products enables parents to be employed. Companies like GoEx, Haiti Made, and Peace Cycle, use local and recycled materials to create goods that can be sold in the global market. Not only does this create jobs, it also opens the doors to the global market, allowing the marginalized education, opportunity, and the stability to keep their family together.
Conclusion
Through my personal experience of being a former voluntourist, I had the chance to visit numerous orphanages throughout Haiti. I have met thousands of children. Some who had lost both of their parents to AIDS. Some who had AIDS themselves, and had been ostracized by their community and placed in an orphanage due to fear. Some children had a mother and father who were desperately poor and place them in an orphanage as the last resort for a chance at life. Although these children came from different backgrounds, they were all the same in one way. Every time I asked a child what their hope was, they would reply “I wish I could be with my family.” The systems we have set in place to care for children in Haiti are not good enough. The lack of accountability through voluntourism is not in the best interest of the child. Before traveling to Haiti, we must think about the effect we will have on those we intend to help. We must advocate for the orphan and educate those of influence. We must put into action the power we have to change the lives of Haitians for generations to come. We have the choice to stop exploitation through voluntourism, and start creating empowerment.
References
Banerjee, Cicowiez, & Gachot. (2015). A quantitative framework for assessing public investment in tourism – An application to Haiti. Tourism Management, 51, 157-173.
Bowlby, John (1995) [1951]. Maternal Care and Mental Health. Master Work Series. 2 (Softcover ed.). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. ISBN 1-56821-757-9.
Greenfield C., 2007. Urban halo. UK. Authentic
Kolbe A., Brookes K., & Muggah R. (2013). Is tourism Haiti’s magic bullet? An empirical treatment of Haiti’s tourism potential. IGARPE Institute.
Mulheir G., & Cavanagh M. (2016). Orphanage entrepreneurs: The trafficking of Haiti’s invisible children. LUMOS.
Vernaelde J. & Guillaume E. (2017) Funding Haitian orphanages at the cost of children’s rights. LUMOS.
The World Bank (2017) http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview