Abstract Literature on orphanage tourism considers the motives of Western volunteers and the problematic nature of their compulsion to ‘help’ vulnerable children in the Global South. Orphanage tourism is also increasingly adopted into ‘rescue ideologies’ ( Howard, 2016 ) and anti-trafficking/‘modern slavery’ campaigns. The perspectives of children involved, however, are missing from these discourses. This article draws on original empirical data to explore the narratives of young Nepali adults who lived in Kathmandu orphanages as children. Through these narratives, the article explores the diverse complexities of the residents' experiences of volunteer tourism and NGO ‘rescue’, and the shortcomings of recent ‘neoabolitionist’ frameworks. The article argues that such framings are routinely oversimplified and that a more nuanced and contextualised empirical exploration is urgently needed.

中文翻译：

---

“我的黑暗天堂”：孤儿院旅游中隐藏的声音

摘要 关于孤儿院旅游的文献考虑了西方志愿者的动机以及他们强迫“帮助”全球南方弱势儿童的问题性质。孤儿院旅游也越来越多地被纳入“救援意识形态”（霍华德，2016 年）和反人口贩运/“现代奴隶制”运动。然而，这些话语中没有涉及儿童的观点。本文利用原始经验数据来探索童年生活在加德满都孤儿院的尼泊尔年轻人的故事。通过这些叙述，本文探讨了居民在志愿者旅游和非政府组织“救援”方面的经历的各种复杂性，以及最近“新废奴主义”框架的缺点。