O RPHANAGE LICE WORKS - N EGOTIATING CARE

In Nepalese orphanages, most of the children have lice. The orphanage visited by our first author was no exception. Lice are predominantly spread by the children at the orphanage, who play close to one another, sharing hats and other cloth items and generally do not pay much attention to lice contagion. One of the first things noticed by [first author] was the prominent role played by the lice in carrying out a very central part of the activity as a volunteer, the caretaking of the children. In her research diary, she describes this already during the very first week of her stay, long before the lice entered into focus a possible research object: “My biggest concern is how I can avoid getting lice while playing with the kids”. (Research, Diary)

During interviews and through informal conversations all times of the day, it soon showed that also other volunteers shared similar concerns. Having to deal with lice was an unexpected and unpleasant thing for newcomers. As lice had not been mentioned in volunteer tourism marketing and being a somewhat uncommon concern for young western adults, the lice were reiterated as something unexpected and to be avoided, relating to the western stigma of lice related to poor hygiene. However, lice proximity could not be entirely avoided.

Since the product purchased by the volunteer tourists was predominantly contact with and proximity to the orphan children, distance would entail separating oneself from the ‘consumption’ of the purchased product.

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The caretaking duties delegated to volunteers most often comprise of teaching, playing with, bathing and dressing the children. As most of the children, especially the youngest of 3-7 years of age, speak no or very little English, the easiest and most common way to enable these caretaking duties is through body language and play, which often entails getting physically close to the children. During interviews and conversations, ‘getting lice’ (or not) was talked about as an encapsulation of a complex relationship of negotiating hygiene and care as the lice had unexpectedly impeded the central activity, which volunteers had signed up to be part of. Also, not being together with the children would entail a missed opportunity to fully emerging oneself into the volunteer experience.

Photo 2: Charlotte changing the bandage of one child whil another kid is playing with her

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During fieldwork, volunteers shared thoughts of how close proximity to and long stretches of time spent with the children was a crucial and valuable part of the good experience. As described by Alison:

Charlotte and I were trying to be with kids every single moment. Get up at six and we would be with them from six, do homework with them and walk with them to school every day. And we get the little ones and big ones, we hang out with them, we play with them. We were with them all during homework time from five to whenever was eating time (Alison).

The local lice practices, which were introduced earlier on, encompassed exactly such forms of sociality and caring that many of the volunteers craved or sought after: long stretches of close proximity, even intimacy and certainly relief. Yet, tasks of checking for lice were never delegated from the orphanage management and staff to the volunteers, well aware as they were that many of the volunteers felt uncomfortable with lice. Strategies and maneuvers were made from management and staff to reduce the presence of lice, such as shaving the youngest children, but also to distance this ongoing work from volunteers. In that process of seaming managerial consideration however, the ability to ‘live the experience’ and to appropriate a desired volunteer subjectivity through close proximity to the children was hindered.

Still, other tasks were delegated by the orphanage management which volunteers saw as part of ‘proper’ caretaking and which constituted meaningful chores as part of a good volunteer experience. These often also entailed being close to and physically interacting with the children. At the orphanage, recommendations and advice were shared amongst volunteers on how to avoid lice while still offering care. One strategy would entail wearing hats or scarfs during the day. The meticulous hiding of the hair display how taking care of the children, and hence living up to external and own expectations of care, without getting lice still connected to a stigma from home, entailed a careful

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maneuvering between closeness and proximity, between patterns of absences and presences.

An example of a radical strategy to avoid lice was a hair shave performed by Alison, a young female volunteer on herself as displayed in photo 3. As previously mentioned shaving was a used strategy to reduce lice infections among children, but among volunteers, especially female, they were rarer. By conspicuously cutting her hair, Alison shortcuts the negotiations and tensions of proximity and closeness in care created by the controversial actor of the louse.

By doing it with a big smile on her face and by posting a picture of her act online, the act becomes one of ritual, of transition and of identity creation as part of a memorable and life-changing experience. As Alison adds to the pictures on her blog: “Really, everyone should do this once in their lifetime.”

Photo 3: Volunteer lice practice. (Alison, Blog)

The orphanage lice work is composed around complex and shifting patterns of absences and presences. As fire objects, the lice manifest themselves sometimes in destructive, sometimes creative ways, challenging the volunteer

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identity, but also sparking it into being. While the fear of lice impacts on the interaction with the children and raises some difficult issues for volunteers about their ability to perform volunteering in a satisfactory way, it also confirms and sometimes reinforces the ‘will to care’. The lice is therefore more than a prop, a backdrop or an inconvenient fact to ‘get over’, but also an instigator of self-inspection, raising concerns and negotiation about personal limits, contagion and immersion.