Focus Podcast: Ending Volunteering in Orphanages

It is estimated that around 80% of children and young people living in orphanages and other institutional settings, have at least one parent alive.  It is known now that institutional living is really damaging for children and young people.  They are more vulnerable to abuse and very often forced to live in situations that are detrimental to emotional, social and educational development.  Yet across the globe, people continue to travel to the global south, with the best of intentions, to volunteer in orphanages. 

Focus speaks to Gerry O Donoghue from Maintain Hope and Gemma Kelly from Tearfund Ireland about the need to change how we think about volunteering on orphanages. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:39 — 63.3MB)

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Focus Podcast is an audio project from Comhlámh, the association of returned development workers and volunteers.  Produced and hosted by Mark Malone, Focus is a mix of documentaries and and interviews. The series takes a varied look at issues and themes around global inequality and talks to people involved in different ways in challenging inequality and injustices wherever they are.

You can find the entire podcast archive feed via NearCast on NearFM below

• Focus: Green New Deal, Just Transition and Covid 19
  May 25, 2020
  Todays guests are Lorna King, Conor McCabe and Sean McCabe. What are the kinds of things we need to think about and act on to realise a New Green Deal and Just […]
• Focus: Social Justice and Radical Hope in a Global Pandemic
  May 18, 2020
  Three Comhlámh staff members, Sive Bresnihan, Caoimhe Butterly and Mark Malone asked if it were possible to have radical hope and show solidarity with social justice issues during a global pandemic, when […]
• Focus: Visiting Achill Island, global health and growing inequality
  December 2, 2019
  We headed to Achill island for the the second International Health and Development Training for Healthcare Workers. Organised for people interested in volunteering or working in healthcare in less developed countries, this […]
• Focus: The Cambodia-Ireland Changemaker Network

  November 18, 2019
  Focus dropped into Donabate-Portrane Educate Together National School (DPETNS) and PEPY  Empowering Youth during an exchange visit to speak about the work of the  Cambodia Ireland Changemaker Network. The network  has developed […]
• Focus: Eilish Dillon on rethinking the divide between community and international development
  November 4, 2019
  Focus has a chat with Dr Eilish Dillon, exploring some of the ideas, assumptions and practices underpinning much of the work of the international development sector in Ireland and elsewhere. We explore […]
• Focus: Extinction Rebellion, Civil Disobedience and Social Change
  October 21, 2019
  This episode is an edit of an panel discussion on “Civil Disobedience and Social Change” that took place in the Teacher Club in Dublin a few weeks ago.  While the discussion looks […]
• Focus: Children First, Ending Volunteering In Orphanages
  October 7, 2019
  It is estimated that around 80% of children and young people living in orphanages and other institutional settings, have at least one parent alive.  It is known now that institutional living is […]
• Focus: Ethical Living and Social Change
  September 23, 2019
  In the time of late capitalism, growing inequality and increasing awareness of causes and impacts of climate crisis, what does it mean to live ethically? Our social media is saturated with perspectives […]
• Focus: Conor McCabe talks about his book ‘Money’
  September 9, 2019
  In this episode Conor  McCabe chats to Eilish Dillon, head of The Department of International Development Maynooth to discuss latest book ‘Money’. Money exists in an opaque space, with its own language […]