What some might think is merely benign curiosity can easily turn into a sick perversion. There is a lot of this unhealthy curiosity or rather, “Christian voyeurism” here in Cambodia. There are certain types of ministries that people find “sexy”. Ministries dealing with issues such as destitute poverty, human trafficking, prostitution, and AIDS are particularly attractive. There is something disturbingly fascinating about desperately needy people and lives of pain.
Visitors line up to see these ministries, meet the folks, and take pictures with them as if it is part of a tour package. They walk through the slums just to see how the destitute live. The residents are degraded into mere zoo animals while the tourists get an arousal.
People often ask us if they can take a tour of the Sunrise hospice. They do not realize that when you are close to death, and your body is literally just skin and bones, you really do not want a bunch of strangers to gawk at you, shake their heads in pity, then proceed to take your picture. The purpose of the hospice is to provide a place where these patients can die with dignity. It is not a tourist attraction.
We have had requests to post pictures of the poor and sick people we talk about. People comment, “In all the pictures, everyone seems happy and healthy to me”. I suspect that the same people would be upset and offended if I took their picture when they have the flu or just woke up in the morning. Why should it be any different for a Cambodian?
I hope visitors to Cambodia will see that people are people, not show items.
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The same kind of thing happens with some social service agencies in the US. When I worked at the Women’s Lunch Place I always respected that they have a policy not allowing visitors (and we got quite a few requests) or even one time volunteers. Also, so many people wanted to come and volunteer only during Christmas and feel good about themselves and I liked how WLP was clear about how holidays are for family and friends and only people who’ve committed to volunteering regularly and have gotten to know the guests could come help on holidays.
Yeah, when I worked in confidential emergency shelters in the States, people would want to volunteer in the shelter but not the main office. They were just curious about the shelter location and wanted to meet the women and children staying there. The folks that wanted to help out in any way, even doing menial work in the office, were the ones who really cared about the cause and volunteered for years.
heh heh, you always had interesting titles for your articulations. “emotional fornication”, now this :) i like your thoughts on this–it really resonates for me, but most of church ministry seems to run on christian voyeurism–makes me wonder if i’m wrong. but haven’t heard any good logical reasons for it yet–examples of the bad ones are like (1) need to show reality to get funding, (2) can raise awareness, (3) can help everyone to know what god’s doing.
Mike,
Thanks for your comment. I am not totally against people wanting to visit ministries and “seeing what God is doing”. What I am weary of is when people use it as an excuse to just feed their sick curiosity. When we have visitors that truly care and respect the people here at Sunrise, they can tell and gladly welcome them.
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