Do-gooders ; “Saving” the Haitian children

When I first heard about the ten American “missionaries” ,who were arrested (Sat Jan 31st) as they tried to improperly remove 33 Haitian “orphans” from the country. My first reaction was to shake my head, geez the arrogance of these people…

The misplaced missionary impulse to save the heathen children and impart “civilization” by loading a bunch of Haitian kids in a bus and heading for a resort with a swimming pool, to share the “good news” and be adopted, is simply ludicrous. No reputable missions organization works that way.

My second though was ,well perhaps, but… their intentions were  good.  A sentiment ,in all likelihood,shared  by many others.

Still, despite the group’s irresponsible and crude behavior, I suspect that many in America thought that the missionaries would be on a transport home by now.

But upon reflection and further reading etc I believe these people must be held to account,  in Haiti not in America.

Stupidity, well meaning or otherwise is not an excuse…

To let these people off or try them in America would be to add insult to injury,indeed just another slap to the face of the Haitian people. God knows the Haitian people have been slapped down enough by the supposed well-meaning “developed/western” world.

If altruism is an attempt to grab a busload of kids by showing them pictures of a luxury hotel with a pool, I’ve got some swampland to sell the SBC. All I have to say to Mr. Chapman is, 19th-century Baptist missionary Lottie Moon would have known better. She lived among the people she served, and did not offer them hotel and a pool in exchange for Jesus.

The real crux of the issue is this: these ten do-gooders walked into the trap many well-meaning white evangelical Christians fall into: those poor brown/black/yellow/red people need My help. Jesus wants Me to help them. To much of white American Evangelical Christianity, the We often means Me. It’s what God Called Me to do. It’s what God would want Me to do. The problem with the Me mentality of much of conservative Evangelical Christianity is that they often can’t see the We—the people of Haiti—who love their kids so much they’re willing to let some white people who claim to be “Christians” take them away to what they promise will be “a better life.”

The focus on Me takes away from the real ways that people in disasters can be helped without the insertion of well-meaning, clueless interlopers into their story. The New Life group is now finding out what living in an impoverished and earthquake-ravaged country is like. Perhaps now they will begin to understand what it means to live alongside the poor, as opposed to swooping into a disaster for a quick “feel-good Christian moment” designed to make them feel better about themselves. Hopefully, other groups will rally to do the real work that is still so urgently needed, and make a long-term commitment to bring life and stability to Haiti and its children who are in desperate need of it.

Read ;  Missionary Imposition:Idaho Baptists Charged with Kidnapping 33 Haitian Children

Walk 4 Justice

On May 29 a group of aboriginal women set out on a 28 day Walk 4 Justice to Prince Rupert B.C  from Vancouver’s DTES(downtown east-side) a distance of 1,502 km/ 933 miles,the women are demanding a public inquiry into  the  cases of  3000+missing and murdered women & children that have taken place & gone unsolved over the  past ten years,80% of whom are aboriginal.

The walk will also raise more public awareness of the infamous 722km/449 mile stretch of highway 16 between Prince George & the port city of Prince Rupert(my home town),often referred to as the Highway of Tears due to the number of women who were murdered or have gone missing since 1988 in the vicinity of the highway. At least 32 of these women were aboriginal.

As the result of a symposium held in Prince George in March 2006, aboriginal Canadians along the route are advocating better rural bus service that would help reduce the number of young native women hitchhiking. In addition, spurred on by native leaders, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is officially investigating the unsolved murder or disappearance of nine women between the ages of 14 and 25 since 1974, most of whom were hitchhiking along Highway 16…@

The walk is of particular interest to me,as one of my closest friend’s mom is participating in the walk and my having personally known a couple of the girls who have gone missing or were murdered in the DTES,may they rest in peace.

Also read ;Walk 4 Justice demands answers to missing women cases