Human Predators Stalk Haiti's Vulnerable Kids

[PorcineGranny]

This is going to be VERY unpopular. First off I have complete sympathy for the people of Haita and the tragedy they are living through. Why was there no national birth control policy? The country is poor, they cannot support themselves, yet half the population are children. Why? Why are these people having children they cannot feed, house, take care of? Why are these children then forced to become slaves or wander the streets only to be taken by sexual pervs?

Miimaa, they are a country that is Catholic, hence no birth control. I don't know what an answer is to their problems, I don't think it is bringing them to the USA. Money is not the answer, it has been tried before. The Haitins themselves deforested their country and I don't know how a different mentality can be imposed so that they could climb out of this pit they are living in. Just a sad situation.

 

[Melly53]

I can't find anyone anywhere named Jean Sanbil, much less a well known pastor in Haiti, named that.
I can't find any listing for Sharing Jesus Ministries in Haiti.
And, the Sharing Jesus Ministries I have found in the U.S. all seem to be associated with nursing homes, not orphanages.
I can't find an IRS listing for Central Valley Baptist Church of Meridian, Idaho, regarding charitable stuff.

I found an article which said these 10 people were from the New Life Children's Rescue based in Idaho.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/31/haiti.border.arrests/index.html?hpt=T1

I found this link to them through google regarding their organization:

http://www.esbctwinfalls.com/clientimages/24453/pdffiles/haiti/nlcrhaitianorphanrescuemission.pdf

Purpose: Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals or from
collapsed orphanages in Port au Prince and surrounding areas, and bring them to New Life
Children’s Refuge in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.

Under The Plan it says: Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port au Prince, Haiti and gather 100
orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the DR

Perfect example of good intentions gone wrong IMO. Seems this group does not actually have an up and running orphanage, only plans to build one in the future. Makes me wonder if anyone in this group even has any experience at running an orphanage in a foreign country, much less with a group of children who will obviously be very traumatized mentally and emotionally. They were planning on leasing a 45 room hotel in the DR to act as their temporary orphanage.

This is a perfect example of what the Haitian government and various aid agencies have been worried about and are trying to guard against in having children taken out of Haiti with no conformation of who they are, or if they are really orphans or not.

 

[not_my_kids]

Restaveks are not seen as people in the traditional sense of the word. They are always young and typically they and their families are naive or just desperate. Restaveks, child and adult are what some of us would think of as a harem without the marriage. Their families send them to wealthy individuals, sometimes believing that they will be sent to the U.S. or given schooling. They sometimes believe that by sending their kids to these rich families that they are giving them the world or at least guaranteeing they will be fed and educated.
The reality of the situation is that most times these children and young adults are then turned into domestic or sex slaves for the person that bought them. In other cases they are turned into prostitutes. They don't go to school and they receive the minimum standard of care in both food and medical care. In essence, they are right back where they started, the only difference is that now they are property, not people.
This happens in many cases where the restavek is bought or taken in by extended members of their own families who abuse and treat them as slaves. There is no working child welfare system in Haiti and so no one can do anything when a child disappears. It is unlikely that anyone would report or investigate if they had the reseurces.

This is also overlooking the other issue involving slavery and Haiti, and that is forced migrant labor, which likely will increase over the next few years. It has already been happening for many many years, people snatched off the streets to work in the fields. Haiti is an underdeveloped country with little need to hide their slavery, and I think that is why many of us have a hard time understanding the prevalence of it. We don't see it, when we do see it here, it's shameful. That makes it hard to understand a society that sees it as commonplace.

 

[Melly53]

[ame="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35168622#35170385"]msnbc.com Video Player[/ame]

Interesting video about the 33 children taken from this New Life Children's Rescue group and placed with the SOS Orphanage Haiti.

 

[i.b.nora]

I found an article which said these 10 people were from the New Life Children's Rescue based in Idaho.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/31/haiti.border.arrests/index.html?hpt=T1

I found this link to them through google regarding their organization:

http://www.esbctwinfalls.com/clientimages/24453/pdffiles/haiti/nlcrhaitianorphanrescuemission.pdf

Purpose: Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals or from
collapsed orphanages in Port au Prince and surrounding areas, and bring them to New Life
Children’s Refuge in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.

Under The Plan it says: Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port au Prince, Haiti and gather 100
orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the DR

Perfect example of good intentions gone wrong IMO. Seems this group does not actually have an up and running orphanage, only plans to build one in the future. Makes me wonder if anyone in this group even has any experience at running an orphanage in a foreign country, much less with a group of children who will obviously be very traumatized mentally and emotionally. They were planning on leasing a 45 room hotel in the DR to act as their temporary orphanage.

This is a perfect example of what the Haitian government and various aid agencies have been worried about and are trying to guard against in having children taken out of Haiti with no conformation of who they are, or if they are really orphans or not.

Yes, I am aware of their claim about New Life Children's Refuge (not Rescue). But, it is NOT a tax deductible charity, it was only started in October or so of 2009. It has a domain name, registered in October of 2009, but if you follow it to the web address, there is nothing there. They are using a section of the Central Valley Baptist Church website for their Haiti scam (my perception). There is NO record of any of the people involved as having any experience at all with running an orphanage much less anything else. They were asking that "tax deductible donations be made to them through the Central Valley Baptist Church" (supposedly in Meridian, Idaho) or directly to the New Life Children's Refuge Wells Fargo Bank Account. You don't send money directly to the bank account of someone who is NOT a registered charity and expect to be able to deduct it from your taxes, nor do you send it to (for instance) the Central Valley Baptist Church, who doesn't seem to be registered as a charity with the I.R.S.
The request for money includes a Not for Profit EIN # 27‐1394022, but I haven't been able to find out what organization that number belongs to.

And then we have:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5710024/Laura-Silsby-Founder-and-CEO.html

Laura Silsby, founder and CEO of PersonalShopper.com, was named the '2006 International Businesswoman of the Year' by eWomenNetwork, the fastest growing international, membership-based women's business network of more than 15,000 women. This honor came as a result of other businesswomen nominating Silsby for her visionary leadership, impressive accomplishments, and strong commitment to helping others. Blah, Blah, Blah.

Remember, the above is from PRWire. Nothing, and I do mean nothing that appears via PRWire should be construed as or quoted as the truth about anything.

Also, her PersonalShopper website, while it looks very professional and all that, I noticed that none of the background material there has been updated in at least three years. The employment opportunities page only lists jobs available in 2006. What's up with that?

Anyhow, on and on and on. I don't like her, I don't trust her, and I think she is running a scam.

 

[Melly53]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35162046/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/


Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn't consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. "By no means are we any part of that. That's exactly what we are trying to combat," she said. She said she hadn't been following news reports while in Haiti.

Surely she could not have been that naive if the group was really on the up and up!! :innocent: Did they not have any contact with anyone back home that could have apprised them of the new requirements set in place by the Haitian government regarding orphans? Did any member of their group speak Creole or French? The report of the one child that said she had living parents and thought they were just offering her a vacation is part of what makes me very suspicious of this group.

 

[Missizzy]

This is getting curiouser:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3RyYWZmaWNraW5ncA--

The group of Baptist child "rescuers" are now complaining of no A/C and poor living conditions. What did they expect going into Haiti to scoop up children? It's not Boise!!
I was raised Baptist and I fully understand the desire to help but I've never seen anything so poorly thought out. Can these people really be that ill-informed or are there darker reasons for the taking of the children? I'm torn between thinking they are elitist American do-gooders (save the children and to heck with the laws) or that something more sinister is driving them. I wonder how they got the money to rent a hotel in the Dominican Republic? How did they plan to gather these children's necessary paperwork for adoption. Do they not have a clue about international adoption and the Hague Convention rules on intercountry adoption? How about approval from the US State Dept? International adoption is not like adopting a puppy from the shelter. My Lord, stupidity makes me tired sometimes.


"Haitian and U.S. officials are considering a trial in the United States for 10 Americans who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without documents or permission.

The aborted Baptist "rescue mission" has become a major distraction for a crippled government trying to provide basic life support to millions of earthquake survivors. Haiti's courts and justice ministry were destroyed in the disaster, which also killed many judicial officials.

But the government insisted Monday that the Americans — however well-intentioned — must be prosecuted to send a strong message against child trafficking."


I also found an article on a Topeka, Kansas firefighter who's involved:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/l...Detained-in-Haiti/A5rnWkXXDECwiaoFcMmudA.cspx

"TOPEKA, Kan. - A firefighter and youth minister from Topeka is one of 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries who were being held in the Haitian capital after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti.

The group, including 34-year-old Drew Culberth, said they were trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. But officials said they lacked the proper documents."

Is it just me or is there something marginally creepy here?

 

[Texas Mist]

This is getting curiouser:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3RyYWZmaWNraW5ncA--

The group of Baptist child "rescuers" are now complaining of no A/C and poor living conditions. What did they expect going into Haiti to scoop up children? It's not Boise!!
I was raised Baptist and I fully understand the desire to help but I've never seen anything so poorly thought out. Can these people really be that ill-informed or are there darker reasons for the taking of the children? I'm torn between thinking they are elitist American do-gooders (save the children and to heck with the laws) or that something more sinister is driving them. I wonder how they got the money to rent a hotel in the Dominican Republic? How did they plan to gather these children's necessary paperwork for adoption. Do they not have a clue about international adoption and the Hague Convention rules on intercountry adoption? How about approval from the US State Dept? International adoption is not like adopting a puppy from the shelter. My Lord, stupidity makes me tired sometimes.


"Haitian and U.S. officials are considering a trial in the United States for 10 Americans who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without documents or permission.

The aborted Baptist "rescue mission" has become a major distraction for a crippled government trying to provide basic life support to millions of earthquake survivors. Haiti's courts and justice ministry were destroyed in the disaster, which also killed many judicial officials.

But the government insisted Monday that the Americans — however well-intentioned — must be prosecuted to send a strong message against child trafficking."


I also found an article on a Topeka, Kansas firefighter who's involved:

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/l...Detained-in-Haiti/A5rnWkXXDECwiaoFcMmudA.cspx

"TOPEKA, Kan. - A firefighter and youth minister from Topeka is one of 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries who were being held in the Haitian capital after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti.

The group, including 34-year-old Drew Culberth, said they were trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. But officials said they lacked the proper documents."

Is it just me or is there something marginally creepy here?

I'm creeped out, but then, I'm always majorly suspicious of "nice people" w/ really lame excuses for breaking the law.

I can't wrap my mind around these people's thinking!! WTH did they think was gonna happen -- going to a foreign country, & loading up a bus-full of kids w/o documentation??....It's just ludicrous!!

 

[Missizzy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100201...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2hhaXRpcG11c2JhcA--

Haiti PM: US Baptists knew removing kids was wrong

"Haiti's prime minister says it's clear to him that the 10 U.S. Baptists who tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the quake-ravaged country "knew what they were doing was wrong."

Prime Minister Max Bellerive also tells The Associated Press his country is open to having the Americans tried in the United States.

Bellerive says some of the children have parents who are alive. The government is attempting to locate them.

He says a judicial system needs to determine whether the Americans were acting in good faith — as they claim — or are child traffickers."


As if the Haitian Prime Minister needs to be dealing with this right now. Doesn't he have enough on his plate? I hope that if they are returned to the US, they will be dealt with harshly. This was far more than naive. This was stupid, dangerous, and illegal as all get out. I'm actually very pleased that the press is not minimizing this crime. They are calling it just what it is--human trafficking.

And, of course they knew what they were doing was wrong!!

 

[i.b.nora]

Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say

And, that story of the 'famous or well known pastor' is now:

"A representative of an Austrian charity that is now looking after the 33 children the Baptist team tried to remove from the country told CNN that an initial investigation showed that at least 10 of them are not orphans. According to Karl Penahul of CNN, the team’s leader, Ms. Silsby, said that a Haitian pastor her group had met by chance after they arrived in the country the week before had helped them gather the children, “and we felt it was a very God-appointed meeting.”"

I hope these people end up in one of our Federal Prisons only because the prison/s in Haiti have collapsed.

 

[i.b.nora]

Imagine if, for example, a bunch of Canadians had descended on New Orleans within a week or so of the hurricane and started taking young people off the streets in the 9th Quarter with the intent of taking them to Canada to 'save' them. Imagine that.

 

[Wise Old Owl]

Road From Haiti Was Paved With Good Intentions, American Baptists Say

And, that story of the 'famous or well known pastor' is now:

"A representative of an Austrian charity that is now looking after the 33 children the Baptist team tried to remove from the country told CNN that an initial investigation showed that at least 10 of them are not orphans. According to Karl Penahul of CNN, the team’s leader, Ms. Silsby, said that a Haitian pastor her group had met by chance after they arrived in the country the week before had helped them gather the children, “and we felt it was a very God-appointed meeting.”"

I hope these people end up in one of our Federal Prisons only because the prison/s in Haiti have collapsed.

Yep, what we are hearing locally about "this group" is not good. The children (and I've heard ALL of them) were not orphans - but children that either lost one or both of their parents but still have gradnparents and/or aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. A lot of them had relatives that lived in the "out country" - fields (where they are now building tent cities). The government is trying to figure out a way to reunite these children with their relatives but it is slow going and very hard to do - especially for the very little ones that don't know their names or their relatives names or where they lived.

I think the story we are hearing was completely fabricated. I've heard they were gong to get $10K for each child. But that is rumor - so far.

 

[Missizzy]

I wonder if a single person on this "mission" has given any thought to how they would react if a group of Muslims from the middle east or Buddhists from Japan flew into the US following a devastating hurricane or earthquake, loaded up a rag-tag group of traumatized kids and drove over the border into Mexico with them with the plan of setting up an orphanage so Middle Eastern or Japanese families could come and "fall in love with the children" and adopt them? Hmmmm.

I think some people need their heads' examined. I don't want this group to come back to the states and just on about their lives in Boise and Topeka. They've committed a serious crime and need to answer for it. The one silver lining in this is that they've single-handedly caused the world to sit up and look human trafficking, in all its many guises, right in the eye. The human trafficker is not always the slimy looking pimp on the corner. Sometimes, it's a nicely dressed Baptist church lady.

And I'm tired of reading discussion about whether they trafficked. It's clear that they did. We don't know their motives yet but they did the crime. The moment they put those kids on the bus, they trafficked. Remember another word for trafficking is kidnap.

I don't think God likes kidnapping, plain and simple IMO.

 

[Missizzy]

i.b.nora--I have to laugh. We had exactly the same thought. Yeah, I don't think it would play well here either. Or anywhere, for that matter.

 

[Missizzy]

Well, the figure of 10K per child is interesting as it costs about $12-20K for a legal adoption from Haiti. All countries approved by the Hague Adoption Convention have to follow all sorts of regulations. Children cannot be sold. Best practice must be followed and children must be offered for adoption in their own countries prior to be allowed a placement in the US. Only agencies prepared to provide a paper trail of funding are allowed to operate legally. Would we want it any other way?

So, if this group thought that they were going to "place" the children for adoption for the price of 10K, I'd like to know how they thought these kids were going to get visas to travel to the US. Agencies not playing by the rules can be shut down in a heartbeat for their illegal actions. And groups of people affiliated with a certain church does not an adoption agency make!!

I'm hoping that these people weren't planning on trafficking the children to people already in Haiti or the Dominican Republic for 10K. Thousands have beat them to the punch on that smarmy crime.

What was their motive? Who was behind this horribly botched plan? Sanvil is just an afterthought, I'm afraid. I wish Interpol would take an interest in this. We have Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Austria, and the US involved now. As if this energy and money couldn't be used for far more helpful purposes.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

I just hope that this isn't some kind of a setup too. There's a group of naive "Baptists' who have a central contact person (one woman?) in Haiti who helped them round up the children. What was she paid?

Now, this group is being held up as the example for all of the ills that have been around in Haiti for hundreds of years. Something seemed to be brewing a couple of days ago when all of the adoptions in progress came to a sudden hault. You mean to tell me it was all because of this group? (sounds like it)

I agree something is hinky here especially when I watch the lead woman on TV with that grin on her face (egg on her face look). The others look like they understand that they are in serious doo-doo but may have been semi duped.

My fear is that, despite the aid that the US and other countries give to help poor countries, this will become the prominent story. The story of the opportunist Americans who stole Haiti's children.

Leave the children in Haiti and bring the group back to the US to sort it out and let's move on. There are always spoilers who end up taking the attention away from those who are doing good.

 

[Missizzy]

Drew Culbirth is the Youth Pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Topeka, KS as well as a firefighter. I posted a link earlier about his detainment in Haiti. He's listed as one of the "missionaries" who are being held. First off, a Youth Pastor is not technically a missionary in the Baptist Church.

Here's a link to his church's website:

http://www.bbctopeka.org/2009/04/missions-at-bethel.html

You'll notice that not one missionary is connected with Haiti on this page. So, it's not as if this church had well-established connections within the country. I realize that the last time this website was updated was the actual date of the earthquake, Jan. 12th. I would think, though, that if the church was mounting some sort of mission, they would have updated the website and mentioned raising funds for the trip. I'm sure they could have raised a large amount of money. FWIW, the church seems quite well organized and very mainstream.

There's a comment in the news article:

"Friend Joel Culberson says a relative who leads a church in Iowa had asked Culberth to go on the trip. Culberson has concerns, but he says he knows "God is in control of the situation."



Culberson is listed on the Bethel Baptist Church's Missionary page:

Joel & Veronica Culberson - Awana missionaries serving in Kansas and Missouri.



So, just how did a Youth Pastor in Kansas hook up with a group from Boise? I'm also wondering what they told the authorities they were planning on doing when they got there. My husband is considering going for Burners Without Borders and you have to have quite a bit of paperwork put together and backers. A regular citizen can't just say, "I'll think I'll go help out for a bit (and steal a few kids while I'm at it.) I'm afraid this group grossly misrepresented their mission (if there even was a planned mission).



Here's a link to just what it takes to prepare for a "mission" to Haiti right now:

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/news-announcements/relief-workers-haiti.aspx

Not a walk in the park.

 

[Missizzy]

Just to be clear--all adoptions have not halted. Many have, though. There have been some well known agencies who got permission from the Haitian government and our state dept. to transport children already in the "adoption pipeline" to the US and other receiving countries. Americans are notorious for thinking we are the only ones who adopt internationally.

If families had all their paperwork finished, they got their children quickly. No doubt some things were expedited. But remember, home studies cannot be circumvented. And home studies include all background checks and full histories on the families. If not, the children were placed in certified private foster homes (from what I understand, privately paid, NOT state funded) while their new families finish the necessary paperwork.

This makes sense to me. There's always a reason for common sense exceptions. Note, though, that these are well established agencies (like Holt International) and they got all governmental permission for their actions.

 

[i.b.nora]

Haiti says 10 Baptists may be tried in U.S.

"Since their arrest Friday near the border, the church group has been held inside two small concrete rooms in the same judicial police headquarters building where ministers have makeshift offices and give disaster response briefings. They have not yet been charged.

One of their lawyers said they were being treated poorly: "There is no air conditioning, no electricity. It is very disturbing," Attorney Jorge Puello told the AP by phone from the Dominican Republic, where the Baptists hoped to shelter the children in a rented beach hotel.

One of the Americans, Charisa Coulter of Boise, was being treated Monday at the University of Miami's field hospital near the capital's international airport. Looking pale and speaking with difficulty from a green Army cot, the 24-year-old Coulter said she had either severe dehydration or the flu. A diabetic, she initially thought her insulin had gone bad in the heat.

Two Haitian police officers stood besides the cot, guarding her.

"They're treating me pretty good," she said, adding that Haitian police didn't bring her group any food or water, but that U.S. officials have delivered water and MREs to eat. "I'm not concerned. I'm pretty confident that it will all work out," she said."

This is from a longer article, but the above portion struck me in particular. They are being held at the same place as the government officials are currently operating from. And yet, their Dominican Republic lawyer is complaining that there is no air conditioning and no electricity.

Now, I have never been to Haiti, nor do I plan to ever go there. But, I do have a friend or two from there and have friends that go there once a year, for the last 12 years. In fact, they are there now, on a trip that had been previously planned. Their airplane reservations had to be changed to go via the Domincan Republic. So, over the years I have heard quite a bit about what Haiti is actually like during normal times. In short, it is not an island paradise, and during regular times, many people are lucky if they have electricity 4 hours a day. Those would be the lucky people who live in the cement block buildings that collapsed. The people who normally live in the cardboard and tin roof houses don't have electricity at all ever. At least, their houses didn't collapse.

So, for me, its a little hard to feel sorry for these Baptists having to bear under the same conditions as everyone else during these abnormal times.
As for the young diabetic woman, lying on a cot and being guarded by two policemen. Had these people not tried to kidnap those 33 kids, she wouldn't be taking up valuable space in a University of Miami field hospital, lying on a U.S. Army cot, and being guarded by TWO Haitian policemen who probably have better things to do. Oh, and having to be fed by U.S. government officials with supplies meant for other people.
Under normal circumstances, no American or any foreigner should EVER drink the water in Haiti. Not to mention a host of other things they should normally look out for. (Missizzy linked to the US Govt info about this)

These people really really bother me.

 

[Missizzy]

ITA i.b.nora--I'm ticked. Maybe it's because I was raised Baptist and have many family members still active within the church. Maybe it's because our family DID mount a personal "mission" to Biloxi (I should add, though, that we had a written invitation from a doctor in Biloxi and signed and notarized letters from our mayor and the mayor of Biloxi). We knew we were going into a disaster zone. We went as a convoy with tractors, industrial cranes, motor homes, and multiple trucks. We were prepared to be self supporting for a month. Just an aside, we didn't expect nor receive A/C. We lived in tents just like the victims. Or maybe it's because I have been to Haiti to adopt and I know what the country is like. The people are delightful but the country is perpetually on the verge of collapse--and that was before the earthquake. This country is reeling from one of the most awful natural disasters and a bunch of Baptists have rowed themselves out into the middle of the lake (with a bunch of kids they have no right to have), lost their oars, and want to be saved. And, to top it all off, they're whining. I'm ticked.

I think this story has legs. Haiti is showing the world that, while they have very few resources and they are currently cut off at the knees, they do care about people stealing their children. I hope it stays on the front page as it's a story which needs to be told.

I never do well when Christians are caught lying...or stealing kids. And these people have lied...and stolen kids.

OK, done with rant (for now). I've been researching some of the names which have come up. Joel Culberson is said to be a friend of the firefighter/youth pastor, Drew Culbirth, who is detained in Haiti. Joel and his wife are from Iowa and are shown to be "visiting" missionaries at the Topeka Bethel Church where Drew works. Joel is involved in Awana Club--a well respected Christian club. I found this:

http://www.williamsonministries.org/

You'll note that Joel Culberson's name is at the very bottom of this page. Why does this creep me out? What doesn't seem right? Am I nuts?