In practice I settle down to write my column after I've finished my day job - you'd be surprised how many people think this column is my day job - on a Monday night.

Quite often there are stories I'd like to write about which are topical and interesting, but which may change between Monday and Friday.

I've been caught out that way a couple of times. A kind and helpful Inverness Courier editorial team has sometimes made changes I've requested on a Tuesday or Wednesday to reflect the shifting sands of ongoing events. Thanks guys!

This week is a case in point. The story of the American Baptist group accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian "orphans" has caught my interest and attention. But the story is still evolving.

Deals are being done. The Haitian government appears to accept that the Baptists were naive rather than criminal.

It may be that the group's members face trial in Haiti. It may be that they're sent home to the States.

But that's not really the point.

There is a wider issue here which is about the rights and welfare of children who have already experienced the sort of trauma most of us can't even begin to imagine.

Disasters such as the Haitian earthquake attract those who are prepared to give up their time and often their money to help the victims in any way they can.

But they also attract people who have far less laudable aims.

Already there are stories of people-trafficking with gangs preying on the poor and dispossessed, mainly women and children, with a view to selling them into prostitution or domestic slavery.

And there's a third group - those who seek to further their own religious objectives by bagging "rescued orphans" and taking them into the care of their own particular churches.

The example of the Idaho Baptists is not an isolated one. Haitian children have already been sent to Baptist facilities in Florida and elsewhere in the States. It was just the Idaho Baptists that got caught.

Their intention had been to take the children to a holiday complex they'd commandeered in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, with one of the buildings to be used as a Baptist Church. The resort's accommodation, bar and restaurant facilities could then be used by Baptists coming from the States to view and adopt the children. It is unclear how much the Baptist Churches involved intended to charge for this service.

As the executive director of a Baptist convention centre in Florida that will house a hundred children "rescued" from Haiti said: "The influx of refugees will present a unique ministry opportunity for Baptists in south Florida."

The earthquake, it seems, has been a God-sent opportunity to convert hundreds of traumatised children to the Baptist cause.

Even if the children had been Baptists to start off with, the entire exercise, apparently supported by several US State governments, is open to serious question.

But the children are unlikely to have been Baptists prior to their untimely rescue. Some 80 per cent of Haitians are Roman Catholics. Only 16 per cent are Protestants and Baptists don't figure prominently amongst those. If my memory serves me well, Roman Catholics and Baptists don't exactly see eye to eye. The faiths certainly aren't interchangeable.

In the chaos and devastation left in the wake of the earthquake there is no way of telling whether the children are actually orphans or not.

Reputable agencies with vast experience working with children after such events say that identifying relatives can take as much as two years and children should not be removed until it is certain there are no surviving relatives. It is clear that several of the children on the Baptist Bus were not orphans at all and, amid the chaos, were being spirited away from loving families.

Have you given to the earthquake appeal? If you gave to the Disasters Emergency Committee, your money's safe and will be used for genuine humanitarian work of the highest standard.

If you've given to anyone else, start worrying. You never know what it's going to fund.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---