By Miriam Karmali, Freedom United 

“We’re trained in western countries to think a certain way about developing countries and one of those ways is that orphanages are a great way of caring for children who otherwise would be living in poverty – this drives the separation of children from their families.”

Alisha, real name Jikten, was rescued from an orphanage in Nepal and reunited with her family. Today, she reflects on the harms of orphanage trafficking:

“I’m seeing that lots of children are still living in orphanages – even if they have a family. I feel terrible when I encounter them because I’ve been through that.”[3]

During this time of decreased travel, volunteer tour operators have a chance to rethink how they work with institutions and how they can plan to responsibly move away from working with orphanages after the worst of this crisis is over.

Over 100,000 supporters have already added their names. Let's keep up the pressure – ask volunteer tour operators today to stop offering orphanage placements and rethink how they operate after COVID-19.

In solidarity,

Miriam and the Freedom United team

[1] https://www.wearelumos.org/news-and-media/2020/03/20/covid-19-considerations-vulnerable-children/
[2] https://www.wearelumos.org/news-and-media/2018/04/16/bogus-orphan-trade-fuelled-voluntourism/
[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2020/05/nepal-fake-orphans-200507134521247.html

To sign petition go to: https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/orphanages/?trk_msg=E05CCJ3RCK5KP6TPR9O0MO7ERS&trk_contact=037FSGUJ91I19DOFIHRSCHO86K&trk_sid=SF7AQL3STNPMT5K7GUC8U7QD14&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Sign+the+petition&utm_campaign=FU-EN-MAY19-2020-ORPHANAGES-NAT-active&utm_content=FU-EN-MAY19-2020-ORPHANAGES-NAT-active