My time in Haiti was filled with many difficult learning experiences. This is a post about one such experience from Seth Barnes. I was directly involved with this orphanage and the director of the orphanage while I was in Haiti. Myself and others on our team knew something wasn’t right about the orphanage but it wasn’t until later that the truth was uncovered:
I have some news that I need yourhelp in distributing:
in Carrefour/Port-au-Prince, Haiti has been trafficking its orphans.
We’ve not been ready to go to the media until we had the facts.
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.”
by corrupt government officials. Our goal is to get this information to
media outlets in order to put pressure on the government to protect the
kids.
The situation at the orphanage is an EMERGENCY right now as kids
are sick and dying and still disappearing. We’re trying to mobilize any
connections in politics and media to expose the corruption and put an
end to it. The lead investigator, said we “hit the jackpot of
corruption.”What we’ve discovered:• Food gets donated to SOG orphanage, but disappears very
quickly, while children remain malnourished.• Reports by the children of physical abuse by orphanage
workers.• Reports by the children of sexual abuse by orphanage workers.• Clothing when donated, instead of going to orphans, gets sold.
• Dozens of children have disappeared.
One five year-old girl, Katia was in the worst condition I have
seen of any of the kids. A couple of months ago she had mumps from head
to toe; a month later she was in a body cast that covered her from her
waist to her feet. When he found her on Saturday she had an extremely
high fever and like all of the other children – horrible skin
conditions. She was lying on a bench and someone moved a bench towards
her but she didn’t have the energy to move out of the way. She has lost
most of her weight and she couldn’t even lift her head. After pleading
with the “caretakers” of the orphanage, they released her to let us take
her to a local medical clinic.The doctor at the clinic examined her and determined that the infections
are destroying her; she is nearing death. She only weighed 14 pounds.
He told us that if she doesn’t get proper care right away she will die
of infections and malnutrition. He gave us a prescription and orders to
give her a high protein drink and medicine three times a day for the
next two weeks.Recent reports indicate Katia now weighs a mere 11 pounds.
now. I have the complete file and can email it to you if you’ll contact me by email.
Please distribute this blog by twitter. Use these hashtags: #cnnfreedom, #endslavery,
#not_for_sale
petitioning CNN to bring their international media voice and passion for
ending slavery into the Son of God Orphanage. Please urge CNN to expose
the corruption within the Haitian government, and allow international
organizations to secure the children from the child traffickers who are
now controlling the orphanage.
