NEW YORK, June 18 — In Cambodia, less than a quarter of children in orphanages are actual orphans.
This was highlighted after the fall from grace of one of Cambodia’s most prominent social activists, Somaly Mam, and aid workers say there is widespread embellishment and in some cases outright deception in fund-raising, especially among the country’s orphanages.
Activists say Mam’s story is part of a larger tale of deception meant to attract foreign money into impoverished Cambodia. Such duplicity, they say, has drawn some foreign donors into unwittingly perpetuating a system that keeps thousands of poor children with parents in orphanages for years. — New York Times
