Sharable link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CSfJppZF1K8TGGxSyyYIVWFpTpEw8qJc

Tourists and volunteers have always been deeply touched by the plight of orphans in Nepal. The orphanage business has experienced exponential growth since the 2015 earthquake, which devastated Nepal. However, recent findings point to illegal trade in some of the orphanages in which many Australians unknowingly fund. Australia has now launched an enquiry with an aim to establish a Modern Slavery Act. Jessica Cortis reports.

“We never spoke about how much we missed our parents with people from the orphanage. They [the carers] scolded us and threatened to beat us so we were afraid to ask about them,” says Alisha, 12.

Softly spoken and shy in nature, Alisha says she thought about her parents all the time. She is among hundreds of orphans in Nepal who have been taken into the care of Forget Me Not.

Established in 2005, Forget Me Not is a non- government organisation in Australia that has helped fund and run an orphanage in Nepal. It was founded by Australian volunteer Andrea Nave, who realised through her own volunteering experience that raising orphans like Alisha with the help of volunteers was unethical. These orphans needed continuous care, leading her to employ local Nepalese carers who could ensure a culturally appropriate upbringing for the children. By 2011, the number of orphans in the care of Forget Me Not grew to 21.

Back home in Australia, people were excited to undertake the new responsibility of sponsoring Forget Me Not’s orphans. From paying educational expenses, living costs, the up keep of caregivers and medical care, Australian sponsors thought they were doing these orphans a world of good.

FORTY Australians, including the owners of a Bundaberg McDonalds, have been deceived into contributing more than $480,000 to a charity scam that pushed children into a fake orphanage.

The Australians were fooled into thinking they were supporting Nepalese orphans when, in fact, the kids were not orphans at all.

The Nepalese charity responsible had actually likewise deceived Australian charity Forget Me Not into supporting the trigger by wrongly declaring the kids had actually lost both of their parents. The Nepalese charity even falsified the parents’ death certificates to reveal to the Australian operation these were genuine orphans.

Hervey Bay businesswoman Mel Manley with some of the ladies. Contributed

The non-government organisation, Malai Na Birisu Bal Griha, employed child traffickers who controlled illiterate moms and dads in poor areas of Nepal and took their girls away from them to reside in a Kathmandu orphanage funded completely by Australian donations.

FORGET Me Not Children's Home founder Lars Olsen was still in awe yesterday at what his latest charity ball had raised for the orphanage project in Nepal.

“We realised that things were tight in the business community, but to have raised $171,000 was an overwhelming response,” Lars said.

“Our goal was to hopefully make $100,000 so we could start stage one of the eco village we are creating at Rani Rauwa on the outskirts of Nepal. Now we have enough to finish that stage and also to move forward on stage two.”

The Forget Me Not orphanage looks after 60 young children and recently expanded by purchasing five acres of land.

The land which is now cleared will see a visitors quarters for 10 volunteers built in the next few months and a two-storey administration centre with medical centre and training rooms started shortly after.

IT started with a trip meeting wealthy kids around the United States and Canada.

After a year there, Lars Olsen decided he wanted to experience “the opposite”.

He chose Nepal.

The decision to volunteer for five months in 2004 set him on the unexpected path to the 2008 Suncorp Young Queensland of the Year.

“I witnessed a lot of corruption while I was over there and I wanted to do something,” he said.

Aussies have revealed their “shock and sadness” after handing $480,000 to a charity that’s now been exposed as a shocking scam.

Forty Australians have been duped into donating more than $480,000 to a charity scam that coerced children into a fake orphanage.

The Australians were fooled into thinking they were supporting Nepalese orphans when, in fact, the children were not orphans at all.

The Nepalese charity responsible had also deceived Australian charity Forget Me Not into supporting the cause by falsely claiming the kids had lost both of their parents. The Nepalese charity even falsified the parents’ death certificates to show to the Australian operation these were legitimate orphans.

The non-government organisation, Malai Na Birisu Bal Griha, hired child traffickers who manipulated illiterate parents in poor areas of Nepal and stole their girls away from them to live in a Kathmandu orphanage funded entirely by Australian donations.

The orphanage co-founder

Kate van Doore, 29

Day job: Lawyer in Hervey Bay, Qld

Five years ago, van Doore's friend Lars Olsen asked her to help him set up an orphanage in Nepal. Six months later they opened the Forget Me Not Children's Home in Kathmandu, with van Doore as the Australian-based president.

"My friend witnessed terrible corruption and abuse in Nepal, and returned wanting to set up his own charity. He came to me because I was just out of law school," she says. "I did all the legals, which would otherwise have cost us thousands.

Charity details

ABN:

36620862508

Address:

96 Lynne Grove Ave

About This Project

Our Story

Rethink Orphanages Network: better solutions for children is a cross-sector network that aims to prevent the unnecessary institutionalisation of children by shifting the way Australia engages with overseas aid and development.

ReThink Orphanages was set up to address Australia's role in the unnecessary institutionalisation of children overseas. We recognised that as a major sending country of people, money and resources to orphanages overseas, Australians (with the best of intentions) were actually driving the separation of children from their families.

Our Project

U on Sunday Feature: The lost children

September 17, 2011 5:50am

Kay DibbenThe Sunday Mail (Qld)

WHEN three young people decided to set up a charity to help orphans in Nepal, little did they know they'd also be saving lives and reuniting families from around the globe in Uganda.

Thirty-nine children - filthy, hungry, skinny - walk listlessly through the dirt yard of their Ugandan orphanage.