Right and wrong ways to do ‘voluntourism’
While vacation travelers and missionaries may be tempted to add an orphanage stop to itineraries, showing needy children empathy requires discretion
For various reasons, millions of children worldwide - some of whom are true orphans - are cared for institutionally. While vacation travelers and missionaries may be tempted to add an orphanage stop to itineraries, showing needy children empathy requires discretion.
Hopeandhome.org describes “orphanage tourism,” part of what is referred to as so-called voluntourism, as children in orphanages exploited as “attractions” for tourists and “projects” for volunteers.
Dorothy Pearce of Jacksonville, Florida, took a 12-year hiatus from her work as a paralegal to direct a home for special-needs children in Haiti. She recalls unannounced visitors walk...