"It smelled like trafficking to me" -- US Orphanage Director on Silsby & Gang

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.

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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.

"Important Blog: Adoption Kids Out of Satan's Haiti..."

Baby Love Child has published stunning blog today: Adopting Kids Out of Satan's Haiti for the Glory of His Kids & The Slowing of Child Export Flights. It is separate from her ongoing Hatian series.This is by far the best piece I have seen anywhere (and I've downloaded lots of stories and blogs) about babylifting, it's impetus and purpose. This is a long piece that will turn the stomach of anyone concerned about the ethics and purpose of adoption. This is a small excerpt:

This from the “religion” section of their page on Haiti:

“Mission work in Haiti faces enemy onslaught as this is a country that is yearly dedicated to Satan in a contractual form. There are voodoo practices and worship of the dark.”

While some may find that statement rather stunning, it is sadly a more common attitude within the evangelical and “missions” subculture than many would care to think. Pat Robertson’s comments along these lines were merely a reflection of a commonly held belief across numbers of people within his subculture.

An historic explanation of the role of Voudou symbolism, language, and drumming is beyond the scope of this post, suffice it to say, all played a role in Haiti’s revolution, a fact that was not lost on slave owners in the United States and elsewhere.

The deliberate suppression of Voudou thus became important politically and culturally to as a means of maintaining control. After centuries of “demonizing” indigenous African religious practices brought to the west, few should be surprised when people in for example, Texas begin using such as a basis for “saving” children from countries and culture they are religiously unwilling to coexist with.

The flight of For His Glory’s kids out of Haiti must be understood within this missionary context- they are not merely removing children from Haiti and placing them with American would-be-adopters, they view their adoption ministry work as removing children from a “Satanic” and “dark” land.

BLC's blog also gives sickening details on the two babylifting "orphan ministries" I've written about in my last two entries: Maison de Enfants de Dieu ala For His Glory and HIS Home for Children.

As some of you know, one of my big interests outside of adoption is theocracy and theonomy and the emergence in the US of a theocratic state doctrine. Adoption theology plays a huge role in the evangelical promotion of that ideal state. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to articulate without a lot of Biblical and cultural context, both of which BLC puts into this piece.

This information needs to go out!

Addenda: Earlier today I signed up for the Maison de Enfants de Dieu email list. I to got my first mailing this evening. Kim Harmon, president of For His Glory Outreach calling for a nationwide day of prayer and fasting on January 28, to release the orphans of Haiti from the clutches of the evil Haitian goverment and UNICEF:

Unfortunately, there now seems to be a mountain standing between the orphans who remain in Haiti and the safe and loving homes of their adoptive families. That mountain is the Haitian Government's new, and still undefined, exit process for children with foreign adoptive parents. With limited resources available to Haitian orphanages, this process has stopped the departure of orphans with humanitarian parole status and directly affects our ability to care for those children orphaned since the earthquake...

The press release is also published on the For His Glory website.

Snapshot: Disaster Evangelism in Haiti--"God Brings Something Good from a Horrible Situation"

I wasn't going to post anything today until I ran across this article from today's Toledo Blade a few minutes ago: Quake in Haiti hastens long awaited adoptions.

It's about Seth and Amber Newlove who find a silver lining (see yesterday's entry on disaster silver liningism) in the destruction of a country and its people. The earthquake, see, is an awesome example of how God works in mysterious ways. Why, without the earthquake, she and Mr. Newlove would still be waiting to bring Snyder home to Arlington, Ohio from H.I.S. Home for Children, a Lima, Ohio-based orphanage and non-denominational ministry in Port au Prince. According to Wiki, Arlington has a population of about 1350; 99.48% of which is white. We're with ya, Snyder!

It's just a good example of how God can bring something good from such a horrible situation," Mrs. Newlove said.

Then we have the Wassinks from Lima, Joe and Michele, waiting for delivery of Alin who they've been trying to adopt since 2008. Mrs. Wassink's brother, Hal Nungester and his wife Chris, just happen to run H.I.S. and his mother is secretary of the board. Other board members are "Christian leaders" from west central Ohio and northeast New York.

The H.I.S. webpage tells us that the orphanage has around 125 kids between the ages of birth to 13 and three fulltime staff. (right--pre-quake mealtime) Many are "orphans" while others have been abandoned there by "a single parent who is unable to provide for them due to extreme poverty." We have no idea if abandonees up for grabs--or if anyone at H.I.S. thought to help those mothers.

School is held in the on-sight classroom for children 5 and older. Our Christian teacher conducts the classes in both English and Creole with older students learning French. The 3 and 4 year olds began attending pre-school classes off-site at Quisqueya Chapel in September, 2005 with a volunteer Christian teacher. On Sunday mornings Sunday School classes are taught at HIS Home for our children, and children from another community orphanage as an outreach ministry to share the the gospel of Jesus with the children of the community. Following Sunday School, the children attend worship services at Quisqueya Chapel.

We are pretty sure those "Christian" teachers aren't Catholic.

The Blade reported that 56 children from H.I.S. had been released to travel to the US and the Nungesters were working on getting another 22 released. Since the quake, the whole entourage--listed as 114 kids by the Blade-- has been living in the US Embassy. Because the orphanage has substantial structural damage, Hal Nungester is looking for a rental mansion for them.

H.I.S. posted an update on their orphan movement status at 12:33 PM today:

Last night 67 children arrived in Orlando and are traveling today to Miami to be united with their families Hal remains in in Haiti with 59 other children, 12 of whom are waiting for visas. The remaining 47 will remain with him in Haiti.

There is no explanation in the discrepancy between the 114 in the Embassy and the 126 listed in the update.

Continued from the Blade:

Like the Newloves, Mrs. Wassink said she and her husband, who is associate pastor at Grace Community Church in Lima, feel the Haitian adoptions' hastening was a bright light that came from the devastation.

"One of the first things my husband brought to my attention was Isaiah 61:3: 'The Lord will bring beauty out of the ashes,'" Mrs. Wassink said. "We will never see all the purposes He has in this, but the ones we do see, we can celebrate and know He is doing wondrous deeds."

It all makes sense now. Those adoptions in Haiti were just too damned slow, so God knocked the country off its foundations so a few hundred "orphans" could slip into middle christian America where they belong. Or conversely, maybe Pat Robertson was right. God is punishing Haiti by sending its children to the US for evangelical indoctrination.

Ultimately, as I wrote yesterday, it's all about adoption. It's all about us.