Posted on 02/04/2010 12:05:11 PM PST by OldDeckHand
Well she went way out on a limb and said it was "unfortunate".
Way to fight for Americans!
Huh? Source, please? What orphanage in the DR? Run by whom? And what destroyed orphanage in Haiti? Run by whom?
Why are you so eager to defend this woman, when you clearly haven't bothered to read any of the readily available information about this incident and her sketchy past?
No, at least 20 of the 33 children (and possibly all of them) had NOT been in orphanages. They were taken directly from their parents' homes or post-earthquake tents. Silsby initially *claimed* they all came from an orphanage, but mountains of evidence has since come out to show otherwise. She also claimed they were actually orphans, and when confronted -- after her arrest -- with evidence to the contrary, she said "I didn't know that".
As for her claims that she was taking to them to another orphanage, that doesn't hold up either. She first claimed to have already purchased land where a new orphanage would be built (her website, which has been taken down, also said the new facility would include "seaside villas" for prospective adopters to stay in), and was going to rent a hotel to take the children to in the meantime. She hasn't been able/willing to pay her bills in any of her previous endeavors -- what's the chance she'd have been able/willing to pay the hotel bill? What happens to the children when she doesn't pay the hotel bill? Then the mayor of the town where she'd claimed to have bought land came forward to say she'd approached him a while back about the possibility of such a purchase and future orphanage, but that the discussions had fallen through due to legal problems.
She's right where she belongs, and there was no reason for US personnel in Haiti to waste their precious time attending this hearing, when there are so many more pressing priorities in Haiti right now.
When they were arrested, their phones were confiscated, and the only way we even know about this is that a couple of them got out phone calls before their phones were taken away.
Gimme a break. They've been visited three times by US Embassy personnel and have been allowed to have countless interviews with the media while in jail. Yesterday when a CNN reporter asked Silsby a question she didn't feel like answering, she just started singing hymns. Prior to that (in all her media interviews), nearly every time she answered a question, her answer conflicted with something she'd previously claimed.
It’ll be interesting when it finally comes out how much money Silsby raked in from naive donors. Certainly enough to give *much* better lives to all these children *and* their parents, together, in Haiti, in homes of their own. But instead it’s all been spent on Silsby and her cronies.
..or will you continue in character assassination, even while these 10 rot in a Hatian jail, given up by their own country to rot.
They relish dragging Christian through the muck.
I have posted many links exposing the lies she’s been telling and her sketchy past (which is now best sumamrized in the Idaho Stateman article that someone else posted a link to on this thread). I haven’t posted a link to her now-defunct website for the “New Life Children’s Refuge”, because it was taken down before I got to it. But surf around and you’ll find screen shots circulating. It claimed to have federal non-profit status. Per multiple mainstream media sources which have checked, it does not have such status. Yet she was using the claim to solicit donations.
I’m overjoyed to have her rotting in a Haitian jail. There’s reason to believe that some or all of the others in the group knew that, at best, the motive behind all this was personal profit. It’s certain that they made no serious effort to find out whether it was legitimate before joining up to help with it. The two teenagers who are each there with a parent are likely the only ones who can be considered completely innocent (and possibly they aren’t, but I think in all likelihood they just got dragged into it by their parents, and reasonably assumed their parents had made sure it was legitimate); they’re likely to be out of the jail and back in the US soon, having learned some important lessons. If US officials try to intervene in any way, it will likely be on behalf of the two teenagers.
You got their number, way to go!
Wow you hit the nail on the head. I know some people who have spent upwards of $30k to adopt kids in China, and where does all that money go? One family adopted a Korean orphan with a cleft palate, they get to pay for all the surgery. These poor orphans are big money for these countries.
..according to Topfile, it's her Christianity that has you in this self-absorbed dither.
Perhaps you should read the “flimsy ammo” from the Idaho Stateman. Or do you also consider that an anti-Christian media outlet?
Try the press release from the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, which notably omits any defense whatsoever of the 10, or any suggestion that it was inappropriate to arrest them, and gently suggests that SBC member churches should avoid getting tangled up in this sort of mess by following SBC advice to coordinate mission activities with their state conventions and the SBC’s national mission boards. http://www.sbc.net/PresidentsPage/JohnnyHunt/PressRelease-02-02-10Hunt.asp
There are lots of wonderful Christians, including Southern Baptists, helping in Haiti right now, as there were before the earthquake. These 10 are not among them.
_____________________________________>P>
You understand wrong.
Silsby (the leader of the group) has stated that they had no paperwork, that they didn't know if all the kids were actually orphans (some were not) and that they were going to keep the kids.
She also said that the Dominican authorites gave her permission (they say nope) and that she was bringing them to a 'resort' orphanage that, guess what, nobody can find.
These kids were not being rescued, they were being kidnapped.
"We lift up in prayer the ten volunteers from Baptist churches detained by the Haitian government"
What an attack form the SBC. I see your point....not!
Hey missy, what happened to those 450,000 Haitians you kept raving were being shipped to Florida so Obama could steal the 2012 election?
Because she is exploiting desperately ppor children and their parents and scamming well-intentioned donors into giving the limited amount of money they can spare to her scam, thus diverting it away from legitimate charitable and missionary groups that would actually use it to help those in need. And because it’s really alarming how many FReepers don’t see through her scam, and in fact are forcefully ramming their heads into the sand to avoid seeing.
Perhaps this director of a Christian school in Haiti should also be called a “Christian hater” because he’s speaking out against Silsby:
“Steve Hersey, director of the Quisqueya Christian School in Port-au-Prince, said by email that he told Ms. Silsby’s group that their plan was “unconscionable” when they approached the school looking for help. He added, “It was clear they had little understanding of Haiti law and customs.” “ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043691704446642.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop
“Steve Hersey, director of Quisqueya Christian School (QCS) in Port-au-Prince, said Silsby’s group approached the QCS gate the night before they attempted to cross the border, looking for ways to get out of Haiti. Hersey said he refused to help, and warned the group that their plan was “unconscionable.” Hersey added that he urged the Americans to not move the children and advised them to connect with reputable organizations that have experience dealing with displaced children. “It was clear they had little understanding of Haiti law and customs,” Hersey said in an email on Thursday.”
http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/16392
They lift everybody up in prayer — murderers, prostitutes, drug addicts — but they don’t defend their activities or demand they be spared arrest and jail time. They’re not defending the activities of Silsby’s group either, or even suggesting that anyone pray for their release. And they’re strongly suggesting that it’s unwise for member churches to support missions that operate the way this one has.
Hey sissy - how do we know it is not happening.
How about send em to your town so you can pay for them?
Haiti has 300,000 “orphans.” The USA is broke - we do not need anymore third world expenses. Let these church folk build houses in Haiti so I don’t have to pay for them.
From an extensive story with video.....
“While she acknowledged that the group did not have documentation that the children were orphans or permission to remove them from the country, Ms Silsby said, after she and the others were arrested, that they had planned to return to the capital to complete the paperwork.
Ms Silsby said that in the midst of the crisis they did not think they needed the documents. She said the group did not intend to offer the children for adoption.
Patricia Vargas, regional director of the SOS Children’s Village, where the children are being cared for, said officials at the Haitian Institute of Social Welfare told her ‘’most of the kids have family’’.
According to Ms Vargas’ conversation with some children of the group, some of the youngsters ‘’say their parents are alive, and some of them gave us an address and phone numbers’’.
A. No documentation or permission to take the kids.
B. They were going to keep the kids (no adoption.)
C. The kids have families.
the source
Look under your bed, bet you find a bogey man.
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