In the latest in our series of posts by former voluntourists, Catherine Cottam reflects on her experience six years ago volunteering in an orphanage in Kenya, and tells us what drives her today to support families, not orphanages, as a Stahili advocate. In 2012, I was in graduate school working on my Master’s Degree in …
Last year in ‘In Focus’, Dillon Hooker described her trip to Malawi to volunteer with children as part of a school trip. Here she reflects further on her experience and what motivates her to be a Stahili Ambassador. Six years ago I travelled to Malawi for three weeks to volunteer in my school’s annual summer …
Continue reading “What I learned about volunteering from my trip to Malawi”
The problem of orphanages has received growing judicial attention in India, a country where large numbers of children live in residential care institutions, many of them unregistered and privately run. Now, in a new and significant development, the Supreme Court of India has spoken again on behalf of India’s children, this time on the subject …
Continue reading “Supreme Court of India highlights the problem of orphanage trafficking”
As a new year begins, we look back on some of the events and movements of 2017 which inspired us in our work to see a world in which all children grow up in families not orphanages. Governments take action for children There were hopeful signs around the world that governments are heeding the call …
Continue reading “Seven reasons why 2017 gave us hope for families, not orphanages”
In the latest in our series of accounts by former volunteers who have worked in orphanages, Carmen Paping describes her experience in Nepal. Full of good intentions, but without any relevant education or experience, I went to Nepal at the age of 18, just after completing high school, to spend six months volunteering with children …
Continue reading “It was like the children were there for me, instead of me being there for them”
Families are at the heart of Kenyan life and all children in Kenya have the right to family. Unfortunately, many Kenyan children grow up in institutions without the benefits of family life, and are denied the stability of attachments that only a family can provide. The Kenyan government is taking significant steps towards changing this …
Continue reading “Kenya Takes Significant Steps to Support #FamiliesNotOrphanages”
We are proud to have as part of the growing Stahili team more than 30 Ambassadors made up of young people from 16 countries across four continents who want to see a world where children live in families, not orphanages. Stahili Ambassadors are proactive volunteers spreading the word about sustainable development and ethical volunteering, acting …
There is growing awareness that orphanages are bad for children and harmful to their development. We are, however, witnessing shifts in policy to end the institutionalisation of children and bring children home to families. Some countries, notably Rwanda, have already started to reform their care systems and systematically close orphanages in favour of family-based care. …
Achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda in Kenya by 2030 is important in order to ensure that children have a life that they deserve. But in order to meet the SDG targets, all vulnerable children in Kenya need to be included. In official surveys, children living outside of households are often …
Continue reading “All Children in Kenya Count but not all Children in Kenya are Counted”
At Stahili we are often asked about orphanages and why we believe that children should grow up in families instead. Here are ten things that you should know. Every child has a right to a family. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to be with their …