“Since the civil war in Nepal, traffickers have preyed on vulnerable families in rural areas, offering their children safety and an education in boarding schools or children\u2019s homes in Kathmandu.\u00a0 In practice the children have been used as poverty commodities to raise money from well-meaning but na\u00efve donors and volunteers who support these \u2018orphanages\u2019 in the misplaced belief they are helping genuine orphans, or at least children who have no other choice than to be there.\u00a0 We are now deeply concerned that the earthquake will accelerate this trend beyond our worst nightmares.\u00a0 Aid money is flooding in to the country, children\u2019s homes are offering hundreds of more places for children, and not enough is being done in the rural areas to stop the flow of children away from their families into profit making orphanages. \u00a0Next Generation Nepal is doing what it can to try and establish our own \u201cgate-keeping project\u201d in the worst affected district of Sindhupalchowk \u2013 this will warn families about the dangers of trafficking, and reunify displaced children.\u00a0 But the odds are stacked against us.\u00a0 We would ask people to consider carefully before volunteering or donating funds to a post-earthquake Nepali children\u2019s homes in Kathmandu.\u00a0 Without realizing it, such support may be indirectly harming children.\u00a0 If people want to help the Nepal relief effort, they should donate funds to reputable relief and development agencies which rebuild damaged rural communities and economies, and keep children and families together.”<\/p>\n
![\"UNICEF](\"http:\/\/friends-international.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/unicef-nepal.png\")
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