Photographs From a Corrupt Nepalese Orphanage

California-based photographer Joshua Olley recently travelled to Nepal to work as a volunteer at an orphanage. What he expected to find upon arrival was a place of empathy and love, yet quickly realised the reality was far from that. Considering that Nepal is a country plagued by political instability and human trafficking, I guess that makes sense.

During his time there, Joshua took some beautiful photographs of the children, which I believe capture life at the facility through their own unsuspecting eyes. It's them who are affected the most by the country's social and political insecurities. I caught up with him to talk about what he saw – on and off camera.

VICE: So how did you hear about that orphanage?

Joshua Olley: I initially heard about it through a good friend of mine from back home, who had already spent some time at the same place. He was later moved to another facility in Chitwan, which is in the southern region of Nepal.

Joshua (to the right) and another volunteer with the children at the orphanage.

Did the orphanage ask anything from you before you got there?

They asked for a brief personal statement and then a charge based on how long you were planning on staying, which was supposed to go directly to the children. Our daily routine varied from chores like fetching water for the house, walking the kids to school, helping with homework or just playing with them.

Do you know how much money was actually going to the children?

Not much money went the children at all. Every volunteer pays a decent amount of money for his or her time at the orphanage and I didn't see any real sign of that money reaching the children directly. Even simple things like having vegetables or meat with meals weren't a given. Many of the children had skin rashes from the lack of nutrients or proteins.

On top of that, the manager who ran a few different orphanages in the area was covered in gold rings and had an iPhone. Considering how cheap life is in Nepal, even if a bit of the money went towards the children, the conditions would have been way better.

What were those living conditions exactly?

The kids slept in small girls' or boys' rooms, where they each had their own bed and a small chest for their belongings. For breakfast and dinner they had a slightly blander version of dal, which was made solely of rice and potatoes. You could tell the children were malnourished. There was also a giant lice problem within the orphanage and no one was being treated for that either.

Do you know if this is a bigger problem within Nepal?

Yes, apparently it's a huge problem in Nepal. I befriended this pair of brothers who helped me out while I was over there, and both of them brought up this specific problem of corrupt orphanages. I guess because of what the Chinese are doing in Tibet, there are a lot of children refugees whose parents send them over the border for a safer life. Through this they target mostly Westerners who want to help. The brothers told me that not all of them were corrupt, but that it has become a popular illegitimate business.

Do they all tend to draw in a lot of Westerners? How many more volunteers were there other than you?

I believe it's heavily targeted towards Westerners. There were about 30 volunteers working with this specific organisation and all but one were Westerners.

You mentioned earlier that your friend had moved to another orphanage down South. Was the same thing happening there?

He had been transferred to a village out in the provinces and from what he and others told me, the problem there is not as severe as it is in the cities.

Do you know if the orphanage was getting any sort of help from the Nepalese government or if they were running solely on donations?

I am not sure what other sources they collected money from. But there are programmes, such as Umbrella, which have been established to help fight these issues.

Thanks, Josh. 

See more of Josh's work here.

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