stardust
The Ten Americans Charged in Haiti
Posted on: 02/07/2010 12:42
I think everyone is familiar with this story of the 10 Americans being held in prison. Nobody seems to know what their real plans were for the 33 kids. However, I don't think there were any intentions to harm the kids. Being a Baptist church group I'm pretty sure they could obtain pretty good character references for themselves. I believe they shoud be set free immediately and I'm surprised the U.S. gov't isn't taking any action to help or not that I've heard about.
Read this horrendous article. It makes you wonder what's going to happen to all the child amputees and adult amputees. Larry King had an organization on that will supply lots of recycled or used artificial limbs which work perfectly they said. That's a little ray of hope. It has to be done before too much time passes re the fittings.
Quotes from the link :
In three visits to Haiti, I've been offered two boys. Neither family really knew me, though they seemed sincere in their hope-fuelled belief that I'd give their sons the means for a better life. It didn't seem to occur to them that some men are abusers, and they had no way of knowing if I was one.
But the bleak picture of Haiti's least-fortunate children has many shades of grey.
At the darkest end of the spectrum, I've met runaways who preferred the deprivation and uncertainty of street life in Port-au-Prince to the misery of life as a mistreated restavek.
Ruth Zimmerman had been horrified to find disabled children left to die in a shed behind the city's main hospital by parents who couldn't pay their medical bills. She learned that disabled children are particularly prone to abandonment.
At the other end of the orphanage spectrum is a scam I investigated in 2001 with the help of Gertrude Bien Amie, a Haitian woman who now runs Notre Maison.
I won't name this second institution, because my investigation of it was cut short by illness.
But I saw enough to turn my stomach. The back balcony was strewn with a week's worth of fly-encrusted dirty diapers, by late morning most of the kids were naked and still not fed, and, tellingly, there were no children older than six.
Gertrude told me this was a sign the people who ran the place -a couple who drove a fast car and sported lots of bling -were running a business, not a charity. It appeared to be a sort of "baby mill" where the operators would find generous foreign families to adopt the young and cute ones. And they'd send away -probably for life on the street or as a restavek -any who got too old to appeal to adoptive parents.
Gertrude was also able to determine that at least some parents who "gave" their kids to this iffy institution expected to be able to get the kids back if their circumstances improved. Instead, they weren't even allowed to visit.
This week, various reporters have tracked down families of the 33 children who were with the 10 Americans apprehended at the Dominican border. They're quoted as saying they chose to send their kids off to, they hoped, a better life.
- Login or register to post comments
- Add new comment
Comments
kjoy
I think we need to help the
Posted on: 02/08/2010 14:02
I think we need to help the children who are in the orphanages and the parents who are struggling to care for them. Walzing out of the country with children and gaining no permission to do so, whatever the intentions, is not on. While some of the missionaries might have been young and naive, there were adults in the group who surely knew better. In the midst of the chaos that is Haiti the potential for child trafficking is huge. The government is right to control who is taking children out of the country. If we want to help, then work with the orphanages to provide funds and resources.
Granton
It really is one of those
Posted on: 02/13/2010 11:30
It really is one of those situations where even the right answers seem to have some profound negatives.
It appears the Americans are being released. Of course I can't speak to their intentions. Given what must be a massive amount of confusion in Haiti though, they might have done something to trigger the concern of what is left of the government. I wonder about that. I can certainly understand Haitians' suspicions of Americans though, the history between the two is not pretty or as benevolent as the Americans would like us to believe.
I just can't imagine the desperation that produce people so willingly giving up their children. To me, that is the big telling point. And yet, from what I've learned first hand from aid workers, is that desperation can quickly turn into what some people see an opportunity to make money, selling the children. It's like paying for the freeing of slaves in Sudan, if people didn't do it, there wouldn't be a market for it. I know that sounds so harsh and cold.
Times like this is when I pray for God's mercy.
Motheroffive
Granton wrote: I just can't
Posted on: 02/17/2010 19:34
I just can't imagine the desperation that produce people so willingly giving up their children. To me, that is the big telling point.
As a woman who lost a child to adoption, I can. People don't willing give up their children so much as to try to give them necessities that they cannot provide.
And yet, from what I've learned first hand from aid workers, is that desperation can quickly turn into what some people see an opportunity to make money, selling the children.
It is complete desperation and we, in the "developed" world, including the USA and Canada, have played a significant role in the dire straits that the earthquake magnified.
It's like paying for the freeing of slaves in Sudan, if people didn't do it, there wouldn't be a market for it. I know that sounds so harsh and cold.
Unfortunately, there is a large market for trafficked children, both within Haiti and outside of it.
Times like this is when I pray for God's mercy.
May our hearts be softened so that we become the hands and feet of God in this tragedy. May we do our part in bringing about an end to oppression so that all of humanity can live life to the fullest and truly bring about heaven on earth.
K0010
Although by the news reports
Posted on: 02/19/2010 19:37
Although by the news reports the intentions of most of the staff seem good; the term "a wolf in sheeps clothing" comes to mind. The laws are there to protect the children just so that if there are any wolves hidden among the sheep hopefully the process will weed them out. They admit they did not have the proper papers and if they are sheep then they should of come forward as soon as they knew this. However, if they (meaning the leader of the group) is a wolf then that person is where they belong. Child trafficing is a huge business; even in North America and the financial gains are huge. No matter the situation from which these children come; they are not property and their biological parents should never be tricked into handing them over for "educational oportunities" or "medical attention" which end up being private adoptions. I hope and pray the right thing is done to the right people in this case and yes, the United States maybe the best place to hold a trial but a trial still needs to be held.
airclean33
Hi Stardust---I was wondering
Posted on: 02/28/2010 11:53
Hi Stardust---I was wondering does anyone know were the children are now? It was said the parents gave these children up for a better life. If you Love your children wouldn't you try and save them? Living in Haiti must be a terrible thing. I for one would not want to live there. I Love living in Canada as a Canadian.I don't what people coming here that want to change Canada . But seeing the Love these people had for there children by letting them go for a better Life. I would Love to see Canada offer them an there children a better Life in this Great country . I think we have room for them.
seeler
Cleanair - I think it would
Posted on: 02/28/2010 14:26
Cleanair - I think it would be wonderful for Canada, US, and other countries to open their doors to Haitian immigrants, but I also don't think that we can assume that they want to leave their country, their families and friends, and their culture to move somewhere else. They may just prefer to remain where they are and rebuild their country stronger and better than it was before, and they may want their children to be part of this process. Parents wanting a better life for their children does not necessarily mean wanting them taken away to a foreign country with a foreign culture and different religious practices than they are used to. And it is not necessarily good for the children to lose their family and their heritage and to live the rest of their lives without their roots.
I would think a much better practice would be to help those who want to remain to rebuild, and to help those who want to emigrate to do so as families.
airclean33
seeler wrote: Cleanair - I
Posted on: 03/01/2010 09:51
Cleanair - I think it would be wonderful for Canada, US, and other countries to open their doors to Haitian immigrants, but I also don't think that we can assume that they want to leave their country, their families and friends, and their culture to move somewhere else. They may just prefer to remain where they are and rebuild their country stronger and better than it was before, and they may want their children to be part of this process. Parents wanting a better life for their children does not necessarily mean wanting them taken away to a foreign country with a foreign culture and different religious practices than they are used to. And it is not necessarily good for the children to lose their family and their heritage and to live the rest of their lives without their roots.
I would think a much better practice would be to help those who want to remain to rebuild, and to help those who want to emigrate to do so as families.
Meredith
I agree with kjoy - the
Posted on: 03/01/2010 10:19
I agree with kjoy - the missionaries were very naive, very stupid and very arrogant. As the saying goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".