"In Cambodia, as in other parts of the globe, orphanages are a booming business trading on guilt," writes Ian Birrell in this article for the Guardian that discusses the harms of orphanage tourism. The article calls attention to a new study on short-term volunteer projects and other voluntourism. Among the findings, the study revealed that "wealthy tourists prevent local workers from getting much-needed jobs, especially when they pay to volunteer; hard-pressed institutions waste time looking after them and money upgrading facilities; and abused or abandoned children form emotional attachments to the visitors, who increase their trauma by disappearing back home," according to the article. "Many orphanages let tourists work with children. But what would we say if unchecked foreigners went into our children's homes to cuddle and care for the kids? We would be shocked, so why should standards be lowered in the developing world? Yes, resources might be in short supply, but just as here, experts want children in the family environment or fostered in loving homes, not in the exploding number of substandard institutions."
