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Haiti: When Words Can Not Be Allowed to Fail

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Often attributed to Edmund Burke, the sentence above has been running through my mind as frequently as I think of Haiti. In the past 24 hours, between bouts of intense agony and anger, it has been at the top of my mind. I must speak because this evil can not triumph. But, I’m ahead of myself.

Last winter I travelled to Haiti [see my posts about that trip here] to serve the people of Port-au-Prince as they struggled to recover from the earthquake of January 12, 2010. Among the locations at which we ministered to children was an orphanage called Son of God. I sensed something was wrong there, more than just poverty, very quickly after our arrival. The children were more than just eager for attention, they were desperate for it. They held on so tightly, as though to say, “Don’t leave me here.”  They were sick, malnourished, improperly clothed, and the glimpses of their sleeping areas were frightening. Children I’d seen in friends’ photos of the same place were not present. This was more than post-quake situational poverty. My second visit confirmed that my sense of the place was not simply initial shock. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t back it up.

Yesterday I read a blog post in which Seth Barnes of Adventures in Missions requested help in spreading the word about the dire situation existing at the Son of God Orphanage in Carrefour, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The same orphanage our group visited. The information Seth shared is the culmination of a year-long investigation regarding the orphanage, the welfare of the children there, and those charged with their care. From Seth’s post:

Backed by corrupt government officials, an orphanage we work with in Carrefour/Port-au-Prince, Haiti has been trafficking its orphans.

Suspecting foul play, we’ve been investigating for the last year. We’ve not been ready to go to the media until we had the facts.

As a result, the orphanage director is now in jail, but the 75 children left in the orphanage are still in danger. A worker said, “The kids are in terrible condition – the doctor gave them some prescriptions, but we doubt that the medicine will ever be administered to the children. Instead, the medicine will probably be sold.”

Please click here to read the facts revealed on Seth’s blog.  The information requires us to act; 75 children are in imminent danger and many are complicit in their circumstances. Read it and then consider to whom you will tell this story. “No one” is not an option. Thus far, I have emailed several reporters, my senators and congressman. I have told the story to many at my church and a wider audience via my social media accounts. I will not stop telling their story and I dare you to tell it too. These children have no voice of their own and they are desperate for you to lend them yours. 

This situation is an extraordinarily painful one, especially for Americans. We can not throw money at this problem because money will not fix the corruption of the human hearts at whose sinful inclination these children have been starved, left ill and improperly clothed, educated or loved. To stop the crimes of humanity, humanity must intervene.

Speak.

Speak now.

I do not exaggerate when I say their very lives depend upon our voices.

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pattigibbons@churchleaders.com'
Patti Gibbons is a veteran of more than 20 years of youth ministry in many contexts with a desire to equip students and leaders to make a Kingdom impact in their environments. She currently volunteers with an urban neighborhood outreach ministry, facilitates an anti-bullying and suicide prevention seminar, speaks to students and adults at retreats, camps and conferences, and earns her keep as a freelance writer and content editor on youth ministry topics.