In previous blogs mention has already been made of gross forms of exploitation of children, it comes in the form of the orphanage-industry (as you can read HERE and HERE), illegal adoption and forced labour or begging. These things are relatively easy to recognise and condemn. However, children who live in ‘orphanages’ and other institutions tend to be exploited in more ways. And the scary thing is that those who exploit them, do not always know that that is what they are doing.
‘Orphanages’ and other institutions are forever struggling to find the money needed to fund all of their operation cost. Regardless of whether the people running the institution are skimming money off the top or whether they are diligently putting every penny into the care of the children, there is never enough money. This means that finding donors and getting more donations, is always one of the main priorities.
The problem is that often times, even in places where an institution is run with great integrity and the children’s well-being firmly is a central focal point, the need for more funds and for keeping donors happy blinds people to the cost it comes at for the children.
It seems like such a little thing, allowing a big donor to go into the children’s dorm – breaching their privacy and sense of having a place to themselves – to see how they live, while giving a tour of the place; asking one of the children to recite a poem, a prayer or to sing a song for a visitor; telling the donors about the harrowing background of the child before she came to the institution. Just ‘little things’. But they are ‘little things’ with a big impact on the child’s sense of worth and dignity. And they do not happen once, they happen day in, day out. Giving the children – not incorrectly – the impression that they are not so much at home, as they are at the disposal of any visitor for their entertainment.
Once the ‘little things’ have become part of everyday life, going almost unnoticed by the adults in charge, they can also start growing, getting further out of hand. Having the children who sing so beautifully stay home from school, so that they can perform for the VIP guests that are coming during the day. Allowing a group of visitors not only to enter a dorm, but to crowd around a child who is lying on her bed feeling miserable and stripped down to her underwear to try to cool down her high fever. Making a child show the visitors the scars from her abusive past, to go with the story of her rescue. All of this is blatant exploitation and is degrading to the children.
It may feel far-fetched, but nothing I have described here is anything I haven’t personally seen happen. And there are ways of exploitation that I can pretty much guarantee you have seen happen at some point as well. Remember a cute photo of an ‘orphan’ on social media, with either having the child say, or having the text accompany it, something to the extent of: ‘Hello, I am Tamara, please sponsor me so that I can eat and continue to go to school.’ Although this girl was not sent out into the street to hold her hand up, she is being made to beg. It may not feel exactly the same, but in essence it is.
One more reason why children need to be taken out of institutions and be raised in families: to stop their constant exploitation in order to raise funds. And if you ever find yourself in a situation where someone offers to make children perform for you, to lead you into their private spaces or to tell you their story of woe (especially when the child is right there), politely decline to take part in this. It can be done, I have done it. Do not be a part of this.
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