Voluntourism

Written by guest blogger Miranda Kerr, currently volunteering for Chab Dai in Cambodia.

This week in Cambodia, a report was released stating that an Australian-run orphanage had been shut down in an emergency response to human trafficking and abuse (you can read the article here SISHA - Emergency Shutdown).

Before leaving this year, friends would sometimes confuse my plans of working in a school with 'Miranda's trip to an orphanage in Cambodia'. Without taking any offense that my friends didn't know my actual plans (well actually Jemma, I regularly took offense that you couldn't get it right), this little sentence made me cringe inside and I instantly felt the need to say 'no, no - I'm not working in an orphanage'. Why?

Here's why. 

Cambodia's tourism has been booming over the last few years. People are coming here to see the the stunning and ancient temples in Siem Reap, to learn more about the Khmer Rouge regime in Phnom Penh's museums and to soak up the sun and beach down south in Kep. Most come here with the best intentions and when they arrive, the poverty they face draws them to say something along the lines of 'I need to do something'. Keen to help this war-torn country, increasing numbers of tourists are now also working as volunteers.

Unfortunately, well-intentioned volunteers have helped to create a surge in the number of residential care homes (orphanages), tempting impoverished parents with promises of an education and western-style upbringing. In 'worst cases' these children are 'rented' or even 'bought' from their families because they are perceived to be of more value by earning money pretending to be a poor orphan than studying and eventually graduating from school. Parents 'willingly' send their kids to these institutions believing (through the lies they are told) it will provide their child with a better life. Unfortunately in very many cases, it won't.

Orphanages rely on donations and know that the more children they have in their care, the more 'at risk' and 'in need' they are and therefore, more likely to receive funding. Unfortunately, in many of these institutions (but not all), very little of the money donated will ever actually assist the children who will remain living in sub-standard conditions. The orphanages have also relied on the big hearts and curiosity of tourists who are invited into the facility and asked to stay and play with the children.

I get it. I once did that. 

In Hoi An, Vietnam - my friend and I visited an orphanage run by an Irish woman that we'd heard about at a local cafe. It was a warm and fuzzy sort of experience at the time. Cuddling little children and playing games with them before sharing the lychees we'd purchased as a gift before entering. We'd left a donation at the end of the day and (as 19 year olds on our first trip through South-East Asia) promised that we'd return. 

We didn't - and it's taken me 7 years now to reflect on that experience. 

The 19 year old me walked away thinking that somehow I'd made a difference in the lives of those kids. I'd put a smile on their face. I'd given them fruit. I'd given them love, hope, blah blah - who knows what I thought I gave them. 

Really - a stranger, speaking a foreign language, entered their home, took photos, gave them food, held them, waved goodbye and never returned. 

When would that ever be OK in Australia? Or anywhere?

This is SUCH a massive topic and debate for people working with vulnerable children and victims of human trafficking here in Phnom Penh, and mixed in with the heat - doesn't take much to get the blood boiling when reports like the one released by SISHA this morning come out.

Below is a little more information on orphanage tourism. Please, please, PLEASE consider these things before you embark on any journey that may lead you to visiting or volunteering in an orphanage.

Orphanage Tourism - ChildSafe Network This document seeks to assist travelers and volunteers in finding a way to contribute, yet avoid situations or actions that may lead to child exploitation. Certain 'tourist attractions' such as orphanage tours exploit children's vulnerabilities. 

ChildSafe Questions and Answers

Blog post borrowed from Miranda's personal blog, My Traffick Jam.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words

By Guest Blogger, Becky Owens Bullard

The power of an image is immeasurable, especially when it comes to promoting awareness of an issue that people don’t exactly understand.  When we want every day citizens to engage in an issue they’d rather pretend doesn’t exist, we try to pique their interest by providing a photograph or video that they can associate with the issue – an image that will be burnt in their memory and make the issue real for them. Often times, these images that we use in awareness campaigns and community education on issues of abuse are our best chance of catching someone’s attention long enough to raise awareness and promote positive social change. Unfortunately, to inform our already media-saturated public we often resort to flashy visuals that do very little to accurately portray the crimes we hope to stop.

Image found at sf-hrc.org

Example: human trafficking.  Try looking up “human trafficking” on an image search and you may see what I mean about exaggerated or inaccurate portrayals of abuse. While there are some clever images (for example,  humans with price tags representing the idea that people are still bought and sold), the photos most commonly associated with human trafficking are of people shackled or locked in a cage. Now think about the movies you’ve seen or the books that you’ve read on human trafficking.  Most have likely contained a story line about someone who was kidnapped by a large criminal operation, thrown into a brothel and “rescued” by someone from their trafficking situation. I can’t tell you how many times I spoke with individuals when I worked on the national human trafficking hotline who were outraged about human trafficking because they had just seen this type of over-the-top image or video on human trafficking.

While these images and media portrayals of human trafficking are fairly compelling and may serve to spark interest or outrage in the issue, they are also misleading. A human trafficking case where an individual is physically chained or caged is not the norm. In fact, the “chains” that keep a victim tied to a trafficker are often the things that you can’t see – fear, shame, hope and love.

So how harmful are images that portray human trafficking victims as shackled, caged and battered? While some may argue that they are just an innocuous way to grab someone’s attention, these images often promote misconceptions about the issue and make it difficult for victims and survivors to speak out about what happened to them. For example, if someone’s understanding of human trafficking is limited to images of slavery, chains and rescue missions and they sit on a jury for a human trafficking case where they hear testimony from a victim who had a cell phone or was able to go to the store alone, that person would likely think, “this isn’t human trafficking.”

And they would be wrong. Cycles of violence and various non-physical forms of abuse are extremely common in both sex and labor trafficking. The failure to clearly communicate these dynamics is damaging to the issue as a whole and is what led me to create the human trafficking power and control wheel while I worked at the national hotline to detail forms of abuse beyond physical violence that occur in trafficking situations.

Image from Identity Magazine

Example: domestic violence. Now try an image search for “domestic violence.” You will likely see images of women and children bruised and battered, being choked, silenced and slapped. Think of the movies or music videos you’ve seen about domestic violence – they are often aggressive and extremely volatile. While we’ve started to get more creative with domestic violence images and encourage people to see beyond the physical forms of abuse (see this portrayal of verbal abuse), it is still all too common that a black eye is what is associated with abuse instead of the manipulation, isolation and emotional abuse that survivors often say are the most damaging. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the phrase, “it’s not like he punched me square in the face” when I worked as a domestic violence victim advocate in court. The pervasive images of fist punching and serious bodily injury is what the general public, as well as victims themselves, associate with intimate partner and familial abuse.

So how harmful are images of domestic violence centered on black eyes and bruises? Just like with human trafficking, the flashy image of physical injury may seem completely harmless and a way to get a non-interested citizen to agree that domestic violence is a bad thing. But think of that person that is now sitting on the jury for a domestic violence case. When they hear that the defendant threatened the victim and restrained her from leaving the house, but there were no visible injuries, they just might think, “doesn’t sound like domestic violence to me.”  Again, they would be very wrong.

These narrow images paint an incomplete picture of abuse, resulting in unintentional victim blaming. Understandably, the general public may have a hard time reconciling the reality of abuse with the images that they are familiar with and wonder “why didn’t s/he leave if they weren’t chained up?” or “is it really domestic violence when s/he didn’t get hit?”

What’s worse, these images may also persuade victims to minimize their own suffering and think, “I am not a victim because I wasn’t locked away” or “I can’t be a victim because I didn’t get punched in the face.”

While the anti-violence movement has to find thoughtful ways to educate the general public about crimes that affect millions of people each day, it is important to do it the right way. Even though it is necessary to be catchy and inventive to engage individuals who would rather not hear about the prevalence of violence, resorting to exaggerated or inaccurate images that perpetuate misconceptions does nothing but harm victims and survivors while miseducating those who can help us end violence.

So let’s be true to what we know about abuse in the images we use for our education and awareness efforts – that it isn’t all big black eyes and someone chained to a wall. Abuse is complex, psychologically manipulative and incredibly difficult to end without an accurate understanding of its dynamics. It’s time for the anti-violence movement to rise above the desire to be provocative and instead, refocus on our passion of empowering others to end violence by providing images that truly reflect the crimes we seek to eliminate.

Posted with permission from author. Originally posted on Voices Against Violence Project.

Top 5 reasons you should sign up for Freedom Registry NOW!

five- This is quite literally the first project of its kind.  It is new, innovative, essential and it has huge potential.  Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that?

four-  Though we all know of amazing organizations doing great work, there are gaps.  And these gaps need our attention.  Freedom Registry brings these gaps to light.  After all, we are all working towards the same goal and we need to make sure we are doing so in the best way possible.

three- Freedom Registry goes public in one week.  That means there is still time for you to get your organization on the list before everyone has access. It is free and really simple to sign up.

two-  Signing up for Freedom Registry is a way for you to show the public that your organization is using the best possible practices.  Through the verification process, donors, volunteers, and stakeholders can trust that organizations on the Freedom Registry are using the best practices.

one- collaboration, collaboration, collaboration.  Babe Ruth said, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.” We need to make sure we are working as a TEAM to fight trafficking and CSE.  Join us on that team!

Register Here

'Shine On'

Reflections and prayers for grassroots collaboration around cross-border trafficking issues in the region: celebrations of the past, and hope for the future.

Collaboration can be challenging, and I'll admit to say so.

At times doing what I think is best,

.......Alone,.......Can seem easier.

But the regional impact I've seen in the last year through people working together

Causes me to hold to the belief that

........it's

........always

........worth

........the

........extra

........efforts.

So this is my prayer. God, remind us daily of this greater, collective impact.

Help us to act

.......Collaboratively,.............Not-competitively,....................Willing to compromise {our paths, not our vision},...........................With open hearts that strive to include others,
And help us to continually hope for unity.
Thank you God for showing me how your power can shine brighter through people united-
Like last year, when cross-border talks happened and a grassroots safety net was created for protecting Cambodian migrant women exploited in Malaysia.

........God, shine on in our partner referrals.

Like today, when I saw networks of people communicating ideas & strategies back and forth.

........God, shine on in our daily communication.

And like next week, when a collective Call to Action statement will go public and the endorsements of over 60 regional civil society organizations will shout together for Cambodian & Malaysian governments to expeditiously put mechanisms of protection in place for migrant workers!!

........God, shine on in our shouts across the region.

And like next year, well I don't know exactly, yet, but I know God that you care about migrants and victims of trafficking & exploitation. You are and will take care of them.

Through us.

God, shine on.
May our trust match your faithfulness

and your light magnify
as we join hands with others.

God restore our hearts to trust each other,

........To see together what alone we only dream is possible.

Learning,
Hoping,
And praying,........Together.

Amen.

It's not up to me... Someone else will do it

Have you ever been watching an ad by a charity on TV that asks you to donate money to starving people in Africa and thought to yourself, that is truly terrible situation they are in, but I am too busy to give money and in any case someone else will give money.

I know it sounds horrible and I’m not saying that we all assume this, however most people do. The term for this social part of human behaviour is commonly called the Bystander Effect. This theory is the phenomenon in which a large group of people are less likely to help a person in need than an individual. In my opinion this is people that are afraid to stand out fromthe everyday crowd to help someone or to aid many people. There are two major factors that come into play with the occurrence of the bystander effect: the lack of responsibility, and the need to behave in a socially correct way.

The first factor has to do with being taking responsibility as an onlooker of the situation, usually in a group. When an accident happens a lot of people usually gather round and just look at it. Instead of helping, the observer just watches and talks about what has just happened with people among the group, not feeling any sense of responsibility towards the emergency. Another factor that comes into play is that you socially behave in a correct and acceptable ways. Most people frown upon a person doing something different that does not fit in everyday society. So when people fail to attend and help the situation it influences the whole group... so in theory none of them will help. Humans are naturally like that. We are worried that if we do something different we are going to be judged -even if it’s an act of kindness.

This is where charities come in, and the people who work for them. They are not afraid to stand out and give a helping hand to those who need helping. Most people are scared of getting judged and doing something different. It just takes one person to make an improvement in this world. We cannot sit around doing nothing to help and assume that people are going to help those in poverty, sickness, and hunger. No matter how many charities there are, they cannot help everyone. We can help people have the benefits and necessities that we have in developed countries. So next time you see a person in need, don’t be afraid to reach out and give them a helping hand. You will feel fantastic.

Guest Blogger: Dan Ashworth

Guest Blogger: My name is Dan Ashworth and I have a physical challenge called Cerebral Palsy. This does not stop me from doing anything! I am from the U.K., however, I moved to Australia, then the U.S., and I'm currently living in Canada. At the age of seventeen I'm interested in subjects such as economics, business, philosophy, writing, and psychology. I find that all of these topics help me understand humans all together and how our native instincts come into play in everyday life. I feel like we are so caught up in the wave of life we forget who we are, and lose the questioning of our actions and thoughts. That's why I'm writing blogs to properly research our psyche, what we are thinking about, and the hidden secrets of our weird and wonderful minds.

Chab Dai T-Shirt

Chab Dai has just printed over 400 T-shirts highlighting our values of raising the standard of care and collaborating to end sexual abuse & trafficking.

We designed three types of shirts in red & white. On the front of each is our logo which symbolizes 'joining hands', and on the back are our Core Values written in Khmer. Down the side of the shirt is either 'Advocate' or 'Staff' or 'Member'.

During the Road Trip last week, we gave two shirts with 'Member' written on the side to each of our members across Cambodia. T-shirts are also available for sale in our Cambodia office. We have seven different sizes, three youth sizes and four adult sizes. When you wear it, it means you have joined us (& others!) to end sexual abuse & human trafficking!

Take a picture wearing the shirt, or if you see others wearing them! Send your photos to us via Cambodia@chabdai.org or post them on our Facebook or Twitter.