| A group of ten Americans, most of who hail from Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, have been arrested and detained in quake-ravaged Haiti after illegally transporting 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic, according to CNN, FOX and several other national news outlets. The group was recently released from their cells for brief interviews with reporters. Group leader Laura Silsby, 40, told CNN, “We believe we’ve been charged very falsely with trafficking […]. We literally all gave up everything we had and used our own funds to come here and help these children.” “God is the one who called us to come here,” said group member Carla Thompson, “and we just really believed this was his purpose.” The group was arrested by Haitian officials last Saturday after it was discovered that they did not have the proper documentation to transport the alleged orphans out of the country. The children ranged in age from two months to 12 years. Subsequent investigations revealed that at least ten of the children have at least one surviving parent. Silsby told the Associated Press that their group received the children from Haitian Pastor Jean Sanbil of Sharing Jesus Ministries. Prior to the group’s arrest, Sharing Jesus reported that they planned to drive a bus from Santa-Domingo, Haiti into Port-au-Prince and “gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the Dominican Republic,” according to Christian Today News. The children would then be placed in a 45-room hotel located in Cabarete while it underwent a conversion into an orphanage. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told the Associated Press on Sunday that he was angered and outraged by the group’s “illegal trafficking of children” in a country that has long been pestered by meddlesome foreigners. According to FOX News, Central Valley Baptist’s Revered Clint Henry has denied the allegations of child trafficking brought against his members and even told his worried congregation to pray that God would “help them as they seek to resist the accusations of Satan and the lies that he would want them to believe and the fears that he would want to plant into their heart.” “The intention was simply to go down and try to be an aid in ministering to children that had been orphaned in the quake,” said Henry. “It was our intention to be part of a new orphanage. The decision was made that we could house those children in the temporary sites.” Prime Minister Bellerive, however, disagrees and told CNN, “From what I know until now, this is a kidnapping case. Who is doing it, I don’t know. What are the real objectives or activities, I don’t know. But that is kidnapping, and it is more serious because it’s involving children.” Bellerive also added, “The children certainly were not fully willing to go, because in some cases, from what I heard, they were asking for their parents, they wanted to return to their parents.” Even Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin was quoted by the Times as terming the group’s action “an abduction, not an adoption.” The Baptist group of five men and five women received a visit from U.S. Embassy officials over the weekend, who reported that the Americans were receiving fair treatment and were holding tight to their faith. U.S. officials did note, however, that the Americans had been detained for “alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration.” The group was informed that government approval is required before any Haitian child can leave the country and/or be transported to another location outside Haitian borders. Members of the Baptist group also confessed that none of the 33 children had passports or identification paperwork of any kind. Currently, the Haitian government has halted all adoptions for fear that children may be more vulnerable to being seized and sold. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Underground To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Posted via email from The Underground-- Not Your Average Christian Mag
No comments:
Post a Comment