This nugget slipped through my fingers earlier this week. As far as I know, no one has picked up on the significance I think it has.Haiti judge quizzes US missionaries over child case was published February 3, 2010 by the BBC. The article includes an interview with Hal Nungester, director of HIS Home for Children which underwent a babylift I wrote about earlier. (You need to see the video from the link above. The full length article that you click on at the bottom of the video has a greatly edited version that excludes Nungester as does the article.)
BBC: The director of this orphanage was contacted by the American missionaries but was suspicious.
Nungester: We're very cautious about anything that could even appear like traffiicking--child trafficking--and it just smelled like child trafficking to me.
The same day CBS News correspondent Bill Whittaker also interviewed Nungester:
CBS News has learned the Americans contacted at least two orphanages in Port-au-Prince after the quake. The director of this one turned them away and warned what they were doing was wrong.
"They were looking for 100 orphans to take to the DR, the Dominican Republic," Hal Nungester, with the H.I.S. Home for Children told CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. "They had no paperwork. They had no authorization from the U.S. government, from the Haitian government, or from anyone involved. They were just taking kids. That fits right in with what I would classify as child trafficking."
We have heard stories that the team went orphanage to orphanage looking for children to collect for their mismanaged, ill-thought social experiment, but unless I missed it, this is the first time I've seen an American orphanage director and fellow missionary come forward publicly with his suspicions. I'm sure the interviews were longer than this, and I'd love to see them.
Also note in the opening of the video, Laura Silsby, when asked if she believed she owed the government of Haiti an apology, she says, she doesn't and goes on to say things are working out with God's help. This was before the was were remanded back to the slammer.
I am currently working on two new blogs, but am stuck with some fact checking. I hope to have one or both up soon.
Also note in the opening of the video, Laura Silsby, when asked if she believed she owed the government of Haiti an apology, she says, she doesn't and goes on to say things are working out with God's help. This was before the was were remanded back to the slammer.
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I am currently working on two new blogs, but am stuck with some fact checking. I hope to have one or both up soon.
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Just a general comment (not specifically on this post). It is concerning that your blog could persuade idiots to believe that ALL adoptions from Haiti are fraudulent, freakishly Christian, and inherently bad on principle. This Silsby lady IS a criminal, child trafficking, crazy holy-roller who deserves any punishment that she gets. Why, if good intentions were the case, didn't she just help the FAMILIES with her resources so that the bio parents could care for the children in the village from which Silsby stole the children. But, this situation is not a norm in Haiti. Many (even Christian) orphanages are, and have been for years, taking care of orphaned and abandoned children who were proven to be such BEFORE the earthquake and would be much better served by a loving (anti-racist culturally sensitive) family anywhere than an overcrowded institution. Unfortunately, adoptions in Haiti by Haitians are uncommon, while taking a child to use as a household slave and servant is a norm (we know, our Haitian son's birthmother grew up in that life). Children as young as toddlers are street children, starving and in danger of abuse or becoming slaves. This is real. There are birthparents is Haiti, such as my son's, that make an adoption plan (much like American mothers who choose to give their child for adoption) for their child that includes wanting them to come to the US. My son's birthmother went to court appointments and advocated for him to be here, she met with the US embassy for his visa appointment (they DNA test to confirm she is his mother) to say that she truly wanted him to come here, and understood that his adoption would be permanent and final. Since we adopted we have had constant communication with her through letters, pictures, DVD's, etc. and planned to visit soon, which has been delayed due to the earthquake. We are tearfully awaiting word from our friends in Haiti each day, that they may have located her alive. We are so worried for her, and for our little boy who may have just lost his "first Mom". We know SHE chose this life for him before we even came to decide to adopt. We also know that, wherever she is right now, if she is alive, she is ELATED that our little boy, her little boy, is safe, sleeping in his bed with his Kung Fu Panda blanket and his Webkins instead of trapped under a pile of rubble. Our son is Haitian, and American, and will know and be proud of and part of both cultures, always. We love him more than anything, and with that comes a love for his first family and country, and the Mama that gave him life and gave us the greatest gift as well. Please do not assume and project that all adoptive parents are insensitive, fraudulent, crazily evangelical to a fault, etc. Most of us have done things the right way, and agree that new adoptions in Haiti should be halted indefinitely due to the earthquake, family reunifications should be the primary focus, etc. during the time being (next few years even). But, adoptions prior to the earthquake should not be given a bad rap just because a bunch of evangelical crazies committed a crime. They did not and do not represent adoptive parents, they are just criminals. We are big supporters of humanitarian support, SOS children's villages (adoption as a last option), etc.
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