Orphanages ARE bad. I don't have a lot of experience with them as a general rule, but the orphanages in Eastern Europe are notoriously horrible. I have met with kids from an orphanage in Bulgaria and they were awful because they get no positive influence from anyone. About 95% of them, by my estimate, are Roma and subject to the most egregious discrimination and racism that I have ever seen. It doesn't matter that these are just children, non-Roma aren't going to give a shit because why waste your effort on the dirty gypsies?
It is disgusting and I'll stop here.
Oh, except to add that almost all of the kids in the orphanages in Bulgaria are NOT orphans. They're kids whose families have given them up because they can't afford to take care of them or have been taken away from them for some reason.
Anyway. The orphanages are terrible, but it's hard to come up with other, feasible solutions. A lot of the time, it's much easier to offer immediate aid to orphanages because it helps NOW than to overhaul the entire system because it's morally wrong in some way.
So, my masters degree is in public policy. And a lot of policy is offering solutions. I do think it is helpful and useful to consider the ethics of situations and I think it helps us form policy when we criticize orphanages for perpetuating poverty and discrimination. BUT it doesn't help to ONLY do that. In the here and now, there are children who don't have food/clothes/people who will care for them - what are you going to do? Are you just going to stand back and say "I think orphanages are wrong"? What the hell solution is that? I have limited patience with people who criticize without offering an alternate solution that's actually FEASIBLE. Provide concrete ideas. You don't think Misha should donate to orphanages? Awesome. He should do needs assessment? SUPER AWESOME. Needs assessment is absolutely vital to development work. You cannot have sustainable economic development without it. Who is going to do it? How long should it take? What percentage of the funds should go for it? Can you show me a cost-benefit analysis comparing helping the orphanages versus your personal solution? Does it take into consideration that Haiti is still in a dire emergency situation?
Like I said, I think the orphanages are terrible. There needs to be another situation found. But I'm tired of people criticizing them on ethical grounds without offering a viable alternative that is more than purely theoretical. I would love to create an alternative to the orphanages, but imho, at the moment in Haiti, the orphanage infrastructure already exists and it is best to maintain it in the short term. In a year or two, when things are a little better, maybe an overhaul of the system can be arrived at.
BAHHHHHH. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. BUT IT IS COMPLICATED. LET'S CONSIDER IT LIKE THE COMPLEX SITUATION IT IS INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE THERE'S AN EASY RESOLUTION.
I agree wholeheartedly. And I'll even throw in that the orphanages in the US are terrible (and yes, I do still consider them orphanages, even with all those fancy names we have for them). I've never lived in one myself, but most of my best friends from childhood spent time in one sort of "group home" or another, and they were all awful. The lack of love and stability was just the beginning. And this was with the government and/or big-name charity organizations running things.
I would never say that orphanages are good, because I've seen too many good kids destroyed by that system, right here in my own backyard. I honestly can't even imagine how bad it must be after a disaster on the scale of Haiti. But I just really can't understand people who would say that it's better to let the kids in them starve than donate money to support them just because they're bad.
I know it's complicated in the grand scheme of things, but on the basic level, to me anyway, it's really not. Between "don't support orphanages at all" and "feed, clothe and educate children," guess which one wins?
I haven't quite figured out what they're all about yet, myself. I mean, are they anti-SJ? Or anti-anti-SJ? Or... anti-whateverhappenstopissthemoffthatday?
It is disgusting and I'll stop here.
Oh, except to add that almost all of the kids in the orphanages in Bulgaria are NOT orphans. They're kids whose families have given them up because they can't afford to take care of them or have been taken away from them for some reason.
Anyway. The orphanages are terrible, but it's hard to come up with other, feasible solutions. A lot of the time, it's much easier to offer immediate aid to orphanages because it helps NOW than to overhaul the entire system because it's morally wrong in some way.
So, my masters degree is in public policy. And a lot of policy is offering solutions. I do think it is helpful and useful to consider the ethics of situations and I think it helps us form policy when we criticize orphanages for perpetuating poverty and discrimination. BUT it doesn't help to ONLY do that. In the here and now, there are children who don't have food/clothes/people who will care for them - what are you going to do? Are you just going to stand back and say "I think orphanages are wrong"? What the hell solution is that? I have limited patience with people who criticize without offering an alternate solution that's actually FEASIBLE. Provide concrete ideas. You don't think Misha should donate to orphanages? Awesome. He should do needs assessment? SUPER AWESOME. Needs assessment is absolutely vital to development work. You cannot have sustainable economic development without it. Who is going to do it? How long should it take? What percentage of the funds should go for it? Can you show me a cost-benefit analysis comparing helping the orphanages versus your personal solution? Does it take into consideration that Haiti is still in a dire emergency situation?
Like I said, I think the orphanages are terrible. There needs to be another situation found. But I'm tired of people criticizing them on ethical grounds without offering a viable alternative that is more than purely theoretical. I would love to create an alternative to the orphanages, but imho, at the moment in Haiti, the orphanage infrastructure already exists and it is best to maintain it in the short term. In a year or two, when things are a little better, maybe an overhaul of the system can be arrived at.
BAHHHHHH. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. BUT IT IS COMPLICATED. LET'S CONSIDER IT LIKE THE COMPLEX SITUATION IT IS INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE THERE'S AN EASY RESOLUTION.
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I would never say that orphanages are good, because I've seen too many good kids destroyed by that system, right here in my own backyard. I honestly can't even imagine how bad it must be after a disaster on the scale of Haiti. But I just really can't understand people who would say that it's better to let the kids in them starve than donate money to support them just because they're bad.
I know it's complicated in the grand scheme of things, but on the basic level, to me anyway, it's really not. Between "don't support orphanages at all" and "feed, clothe and educate children," guess which one wins?
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(No, not really, that was sarcasm.)
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