But it does.
There are a lot of awful things in this fallen world. Pain, abuse, and corruption can seem so common that we grow numb to them. How many stories do we hear a week about such things? Too many.
I am often saddened but hardly ever shocked anymore. But Monday morning I was shocked. I've heard people talk of being so horrified by something they were sick to their stomachs, but this was the first time I've felt that. A wave of nausea swept in with the heartache as I read an email from a friend:
Dear Friends,
Most of you know of our involvement in Haiti and our desire to adopt two children from an orphanage there. Over the past year of working with the orphanage we, along with several other organizations and church groups, have seen more and more disturbing things. It started by realizing that after months of the orphanage receiving food and supplies, the conditions continued to get worse, the kids were still naked and continued to play in filth and excrement, they still ran out of food, and the stuff we donated disappeared. We began to realize that the family in charge of the orphanage sold the food and clothes we donated so they could make money and the kids would continue to suffer.
We then began to realize that there were much deeper problems. The kids received very little love and attention. The only caregivers for the babies were other 12 and 13 year old orphans. The family that runs it had no interest in loving or caring for the children. On several occasions we found kids sick to point of being near death, yet they were left alone by themselves in a dark room, often lying on a concrete floor. When we asked the directors if we could take the kids to get medical attention, they refused saying would do it themselves. Of course, they never took the kids to get medical attention. Right now, we are very concerned about a 5 year old girl named Katia. Last week when we were there, she weighed only 11 pounds and was near death due to infection and malnutrition. Again, they refused to let us get her care so we informed some officials who went to find her and she was not there. At this point we don’t know where she is, but fear the worst. Here is another story:
We have also received reports from the children of both physical and sexual abuse and between August, 2010 and March 2011 more than 50 children have gone missing. When we questioned the directors about the whereabouts of the kids we were told they went back with family in the countryside. Of course we were concerned for the children and the thought of child trafficking crossed our minds but we didn’t have any hard evidence and didn’t think we were dealing with anything that bad. We were wrong.
In July, the director of the orphanage was arrested after being set up in sting where he sold a child to an American. We figured the orphanage would immediately be closed down at that point and the kids moved to safe locations. Instead the orphanage remained open under the leadership of his family and we began working to get it closed by talking with police, social services, and the judicial system. The police and judicial system have authorized it to be closed yet It remains open and kids are getting skinnier.
Last Monday I went down to Haiti for a meeting at Social Services with large organizations like UNICEF, Save The Children, International Rescue Committee, International Organization for Migration, World Vision, and more. Everyone was on our side and we thought the meeting was going well until we got some major pushback from 2 individuals within Social Services. We were suspicious of these two before based on previous interactions related to the orphanage but we found it very strange that everyone wanted to help us except them.
That night we returned to the house where we were staying feeling discouraged that we didn’t have more success. Then before long the directors wife from the orphanage showed up at our house with a couple thugs and began threatening us saying if we ever come back to take the kids we better be fully prepared. After reporting the threats we got a police escort to a safe location. The only way they would have known about our meeting to shut down the orphanage was if someone in Social Services called them.
Since then our allies in Haiti have done more investigating and have evidence that the 2 individuals in Social Services that gave us problems have been involved with the orphanage director in a large child and organ trafficking ring. In fact, they have actually traced children and internal organs that have been trafficked to the United States back to this orphanage. It is the deepest, darkest evil I can imagine.
We knew Haiti was a corrupt country, but the investigators are saying we “have hit the jackpot of corruption.” Now the only reason the orphanage is still in existence and the children are still in danger of malnutrition, starvation, infection, and trafficking is because of these 2 people in Social Services. Unfortunately, the way the Haitian government is structured is that every governmental organization is on the same level and the only person with more authority is the President.
We are now doing anything we can to expose this corruption and get President Martelly to end it. A petition has been started to have CNN run a story. The fact that American citizens have been threatened and kids have been trafficked to the US should be enough to get the US media and politicians to do something about it. Please sign the petition below and share this story with everyone you can. PLEASE HELP!!!
Thank you for caring and fighting for the least of these.
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It's terrible to think about children being mistreated like that...it's worse when you've met them. It's much worse when you've played with them, and laughed with them, and held them and know their faces.
That's what I realized as I read: I know their faces.
Many of you have heard me talk about my brief time in Haiti last year after the earthquake. It was overwhelming, heartbreaking, and still oddly encouraging. I still keep in touch with a few Haitian friends.
While reading this email, the name of the orphanage played in my mind. Hadn't I been there? But then, we had been so many places in those couple of weeks and much was fogged by dehydration, heat exhaustion, and sheer fatigue. Yet, I had a sinking feeling that I had been to this place, been around these people responsible for so much evil, and seen the faces of these children. I clicked through my facebook albums from Haiti. There they were:
Pictures of the day we delivered trucks full of mattresses to the Son of God orphanage. They were so thrilled that they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor any more! We danced and played with the kids.
They joked around and hammed it up for the camera.
We held precious babies and hugged adorable children.
But we didn't know.
I'd like to think that maybe it wasn't going on back then. Maybe there was nothing to know. Because if I think that then I don't have to wonder how I missed it, or if there was something I could have done.
Realistically I know that there wasn't anything I could have done. I was only there for a few minutes one evening. I was just tagging along for a donation delivery determined by someone else.
But I still feel guilty.
We thought we were helping.
And now I can't help but look at their faces and wonder where they are now, hope that their lives have been spared, and pray for a swift resolution for the situation.
A place that bears a name of Jesus, the Son of God, has become the embodiment of everything Christ is not. The Bible says in Psalm 68:5,
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."
Maybe it's just a coincidence that these photos were found in an album I had titled "God is good..." from the common practice of the speaker/congregation statement and response, "God is good..." "...All the time!" that they used quite a bit in Haiti. To a cynical observer it could almost be ironic.
God is good.
God is good?
Is God good?
Sexual abuse, neglect, starvation, organ harvesting, and child trafficking.
And God is good?
All the time?
Yes.
God is good. ALL the time. In the face of inexplicable evil, God is still good.
"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will hear, for I am compassionate." - Exodus 22:22-24
This story can also raise debates about unintended consequences of aid, Haiti's nation of NGOs, social justice, etc. And I'd be interested in discussing all of those things at another time. But today it's just about these kids trapped in a deadly situation and those trying to do something about it. Please be in prayer for this situation! Intercede for these children, for the individuals involved in trying to end it, and for the government officials that need to act. Pray for miraculous intervention for these precious lives. And remember that this is just one small example of what takes place around the world every day.
"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more."
-Psalm 10:17-18
**Please keep Brittany, me, and our coworkers in your prayers as we travel to Argentina tomorrow for work.
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