Rowling Disapproves of Voluntourism at Orphanages

A charity touched a nerve with J.K. Rowling and she responded with a string of tweets about why voluntourism is bad for orphanages.

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Recently on Twitter, someone asked J.K. Rowling to retweet about voluntourism for another charity that promotes orphanage voluntourism in poor countries. Since Rowling’s charity work with Lumos is so renowned, this isn’t the first time she’s been approached for such promotion. But Rowling’s ire was peaked at the request, as this is one kind of experience that J.K. Rowling and Lumos does not support.

Voluntourism itself is just what it sounds like. Tourists participate in charity or other volunteer work while they travel, but the pursuit isn’t as noble as it may sound. Academics, travel professionals, and volunteers alike have discussed its problematic nature at length. Ultimately, voluntourism serves as more of an ego boost for the volunteers than any actual help to those in need, and as such it does more damage than anything else. The volunteers won’t feel the brunt of that harm when they go back home, so the practice goes unexamined by those practicing it.

This is a subject that Rowling is truly passionate about, and she explained why in a series of tweets:

Voluntourism treats charity work as a business, which is an oft-voiced critique of such volunteer work, and the children in need are caught in that crossfire. Although it may be unintentional, volunteers treat these children as more commodity than people, which is far and away from what they need. Voluntourism shifts the focus entirely onto the volunteer, and as such it represents a special kind of privilege. Westerners use these opportunities to look good while largely ignoring what this volunteer work should do, which is first and foremost to help. Since voluntourism is something of a selfish pursuit, it’s no wonder that this sort of travel does more harm than good, and it’s this that Lumos works to repair.

Here’s the scoop from the Lumos website, which further elucidates Rowling’s point:

"“Sixty years of research demonstrates that institutionalisation seriously harms the health, development and future life chances of children. Studies consistently demonstrate that young people raised in institutions have much poorer outcomes than their peers raised in families. They are at a much greater risk of unemployment and homelessness, sexual exploitation and trafficking and even suicide.”"

Lumos works with partners to address the complex issues driving families apart. Of the 8 million children in orphanages, 80% are not orphans, so Lumos seeks to replace institutions with “community based services that provide children with access to health, education, and social care tailored to their individual needs.”

In 2004, an article in The Sunday Times about children in cage beds at institutions caught Rowling’s attention and compelled her to address what she saw as a terrible problem. The article planted the seed for change in her mind, and so Rowling founded the organization that became Lumos:

"“I looked at that photograph of the boy in his cage bed and felt he has absolutely no voice. This touched me as nothing else has because I can think of nobody more powerless than a child, perhaps with a mental or a physical disability, locked away from their family. It was a very shocking realisation to me and that’s where the whole thing started.”"

Next: Lumos’ Final Round of Cursed Child Auction Tickets

The charity first focused on Central and Eastern Europe, but has since expanded efforts globally.