Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images, Telegraph UK
*UPDATE*
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/04/haiti.arrests/index.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7127824/Mistrust-in-the-eyes-of-rescued-Haitian-orphans.html
http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews/20100201/haiti_r
Gee, what a great idea eh? Seriously, can anyone truly be that stupid? "Misguided" is a ridiculous word for what these "missionaries" tried to do. Besides stupid it is autocratic, presumptuous, arrogant and typical "big brother with a big stick/bible" behaviour. The level of arrogance displayed by these people is criminal!
There are lessons to be learned, most have learned them by reviewing the history of the past hundreds of years of Imperialistic attitudes and behaviours! I say, throw them in jail, make them read the history of the country of Haiti, USA, Canada, England, France... every large and largely European settled country on the face of this earth and see what was done in the name of "God, betterment, civilization and helpfulness!"
"God is the one who called us to come here and we just really believed that this was his purpose," said Carla Thompson, another member of the group, which called itself the New Life Children's Refuge.
"One (9-year-old) girl was crying, and saying, 'I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.' And she thought she was going on a summer camp or a boarding school or something like that," said George Willeit, a spokesman for the SOS Children's Village.
The children were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children's Villages, where spokesman George Willeit said they arrived "very hungry, very thirsty." A 2- to 3-month-old baby was dehydrated and had to be hospitalized, he said. Workers were searching for their families or close relatives.
"There are many who come here with religious ideas that belong more in the time of the inquisition," said Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti's Voodoo Priest's Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses. "These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves. We need compassion, not proselytizing now, and we need aid - not just aid going to people of the Christian faith."
"The majority of these children have families. Some of the older ones said their parents are alive, and some gave an address and phone numbers," said Vargas, a Costa Rican who is in charge of SOS Children's operations in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
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