Writing yesterday about the planning stages of our up-coming trip to Cambodia ... even though we haven't yet established exactly how up-coming it will be ... I mentioned the fact that we'll be spending at least a couple of days at AOA, the orphanage that cared for my kids before they came home.

We'll do what we can to contribute to the kids living there, hoping to provide not only some concrete improvements to conditions, but also a bit of fun. Our motivations are complex, as we not only want to bring something to the children of AOA, but also take something away from the place for our own kids.

Sam and Cj's shared roots of AOA beginings tie them to each other ... and therefore graft them even more tightly to our family tree ... giving a common background that goes deeper than having been born in the same country, so fostering good memories of the first home they had is important. Not only did they both start out sleeping in the same room, they were more than likely born in the village that surrounds th orphanage, and it would not be impossible that they have siblings resident now.

As a family, we're connected to the Asian Orphans Association Home, and that's why we'll be spening time an orphanage while on holiday in Cambodia. Others, apparently, have a different agenda.

Seems there's a new and growing phenomenon in the country, one the Phnom Penh Post calls, "orphanage tourism", and it's irritating the heck out of some folks who are trying to establish some semblance of normal life for the children living in the institutions.

Tourists are showing up by the dozens with treats and parties, requests for performances of dance or whatever, and offers of taking kids to water parks or on other short ventures.

Although this may all seem like a hoot to kids normally not treated to much of anything, routines are being disrupted and school is missed. On an even more serious note, there's concern about pedophiles taking advantage of the situation and posing as compassionate, caring orphanage tourists simply interested in the circumstances of the children and wanting to help out.

Even in the cases of visitors with no sinister motives, orphanage directors are hard pressed to forego offers of donations in favor of keeping to schedules. Some may even be courting the intrusions to soliciting contributions from the tourists.

This all comes as surprising news to me. With adoption so very effectively out of the picture for many of the tourists on visits to Cambodia, I would never have guessed that the number of visitors to orphanages would be going up. The idea of orphans as an attraction is downright repellant to me, and the thought of loads of Westerners traipsing through AOA, gawking at the kids and tempting them to put on some sort of show disturbs me.

While I encourage everyone to educate themselves, then support causes they feel are worthy ... and Cambodian orphans are most certainly worthy ... how much of that education needs to happen firsthand with the orphans doing the teaching should not be open to the interpretation of bored lookie-loos who've seen enough of temples.