INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S rights organisations have stepped up their campaign to persuade world leaders to ensure that children living outside households, without parental care, are not left behind by global development. They will target government representatives and data experts attending a major United Nations conference in South Africa to discuss ways of measuring the UN’s Sustainable …
2017 is the United Nations International year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, devoted ‘to raising awareness on the contribution of sustainable tourism to development’, mobilising all actors to cooperate ‘in making tourism a catalyst for positive change’. Tourism plays a major role in creating jobs and boosting the economies of developing countries. But ensuring that …
Sponsoring an individual child in the developing world is a popular form of charitable giving. This sometimes takes the form of regular donations to a charity that links the sponsor to the child through an exchange of letters and photos. As well as providing a reliable source of long-term funding, this form of aid can …
Continue reading “Letter Writing in Charity: A child’s burden”
Kenya is home to approximately 2.5 million orphaned and vulnerable children – most of whom live within family and community environments. Unfortunately, the number of children living in institutions like orphanages or so-called children’s homes is unknown since many institutions operate unregistered and are therefore outside of government regulation. In Kenya, communities have traditionally …
Stahili is committed to spreading awareness about the importance of responsible volunteering in schools. Check out Stahili’s recent Learning Story entitled “Responsible engagement: The challenge of helping ‘orphans’”, published by the International Baccalaureate Organization in IB World Magazine. The article is licensed material, copyright of the IB; it may not be reproduced for further use …
Continue reading “Responsible engagement: The challenge of helping ‘orphans’”
In a small village in Southeast Asia, a women approaches several poor families. She tells them about a wonderful opportunity: if their children go with her, they will have the chance to be housed and fed and to receive an education. The parents and guardians, imagining how food security and education could mean a way …
By Rebecca Mazzu Volunteering in some remote area of the world is the new cool thing to do. And why wouldn’t it be? You get pictures with cute children to post on Instagram, you get to speak about the “life changing experience” you had, and it makes for a great personal essay when applying to …
Continue reading “Second Thoughts on Volunteer Service Abroad”
When Nandi* was 15 years old, the orphanage where she was living in South Africa closed. She did not go to school and she was bored most of the time. She met John, a 25-year-old man, while walking home from church one day, and he offered her a ride in his car. Nandi and …
Continue reading “Three ways to engage with human trafficking”
Every major humanitarian crisis or social justice issue has its stereotypes of who the person in need is. Child rights has the stereotype of the hungry orphan. Child trafficking has the image of a little girl chained. Many organisations rely on photographs of poverty, abuse, and disease in order to communicate a need. Alarming images …
Continue reading ““Poverty pornography” and what you can do to confront it”