Help Educate/Learn about Ethical Volunteering

Merry Christmas greetings from the Rok Kern team! We hope this end of year report find you well and getting into the spirit of the season. 

As the year draws to a close, we at Rok Kern just wanted to say thank you for your support through out this year 2022. Thanks for your enthusiasm and generosity and for being with us through this journey. With your help, we were able to run 5 children belong in families workshops, 1 workshop in "Ethical Communication," 4 courses that were contextualized into the local context and language, and other marketing materials have been developed.  

Beside that, we were able to build a wider network through ACCI, Better Care Network, and the CAFO alliance. We distributed the resources we created not only to the networks mentioned above, but also to other local NGOs such as the Chabdai-Learng Forum and GHR grantees. As 2023 approaches, please continue to pray for us and join the movement to shift from orphanage care to family-based care advocacy. 

As we see a need for both locals and visitors to learn more about how to create "ethical short-term trips and volunteering," as well as raise awareness about the harms of institutional care for vulnerable children and the benefits of family-based care, Rok Kern would like you to join us on this journey, pray for us, and share the Rok Kern learning hub with your networks, as our Rok Kern Workshop participants would.

A quote from Rok Kern participant! 

"Children Belong In Families" is an awareness and advocacy lesson designed to help people learn more about the harms of institutional care for children. It consists of evidence, research, and practices of care. So this course needs to train the local authorities, church leaders, university students, and even social workers. "It needs to be shared in a global context so that we can create system-level change to protect vulnerable children and families." 

The Rok Kern Team has been inspired by the way people react to and interact with our course and enjoy learning a new perspective that has changed the community.

We are truly grateful for your support and walk along side us! 

We are looking forward to catching up in 2023!

Best Regards!

Rok Kern Team!

Since the border is being opened, we are seeing an increase in the number of tourists flying into Cambodia for a variety of reasons, such as cultural experiences, holidays, or volunteering in orphanage as they want to give back to the community while spending time in the country. As we noticed, the number of tourists are returning to volunteer in orphanages here in the country is increasing lately after Covid-19. 

Jumping into orphanages to volunteer is good, but don't you know that there are children being separated from their family members and communities due to illness, financial pressures, the economic crisis, or migration, and part of that was due to orphanage tourism?

There are organizations that are working on the ground to promote alternatives to orphanages' care for vulnerable children and try to prevent family separation and break the chains of putting children in orphanages. We are glad that Rok Kern is part of this system level change as well.  Please help us join the force to keep children in families!

Trying to help vulnerable children by placing them in orphanages with good intention is well-meaning and generous, but failing to understand the underlying causes can result in serious harm to their development, including social, emotional, physical, and cognitive delays. If so, what is the best way you can help?

The Rok Kern Team would like to encourage you to: 

• Before going overseas to volunteer or entering orphanages to help, educate yourself further.
• Asking someone you know about the country you are planning to visit,
• Looking for child-safe organizations with which to volunteer and learn,
• Create your ethical guidelines for social media and  short-term trips. Then ask the locals for their input if you can find,
• Contact our Rok Kern Team or Children In Families if you are not sure or for help planning your trip.
• Share with friends, family members, or talk to your teachers about orphanages' crisis or orphanage trafficking. 

Our Rok Kern Team is available onsite and offsite to support you and help you avoid the pitfall of short-term trips.

We, at Rok Kern, thank you so much for your support and generosity towards our work, which enables us to educate both outsiders and locals here in Phnom Penh.

In this quarter, Rok Kern was invited to run a full "Children Belong In Families" workshop at the Chabdai Learning Forum. We are delighted to see how people's perspectives changed after the workshop. 95% of participants would like to see children placed in families in their communities, as they believe that "family is the best" option to care for vulnerable children. Furthermore, 84 percent of 15 organizations discourage people from donating to orphanages but encourage them to donate to family. 

Rok Kern also attended the ACCI regional conference in Phuket, Thailand, for networking and spreading the Rok Kern Learning Academy. Rok Kern also finished the "Good Aid and Development Presentation" in Khmer, which we are hoping to run and share with our partners as well.

The Rok Kern Team is encouraging you to continue your journey with us by either financially supporting our work, sharing our online learning resources with friends or family members, or joining our campaign to raise awareness around the crisis of orphanages or orphanage trafficking.

Again, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you and thank you for your generous donation; without you, this work would be impossible. 

Sincerely thank you!

Rok Kern Team,