I was struck by the irony of it all – abandoned and orphaned children being delivered to another orphanage by apparently well meaning Americans – while the government of Haiti cannot deliver even the most basic essentials to its people. They cannot take so much as water to their own but they presume American missionaries are trafficking in children. Sick. That is the single word to describe their miserable failure. And these missionaries who have traveled from thousands of miles away and were simply taking helpless children to another orphanage are – by the government of Haiti – presumed to be criminals. Here is how it was reported:
"But the prime minister said some legal system needs to determine whether the Americans were acting in good faith – as they claim – or are child traffickers in a nation that has struggled to fight exploitation of children."
I will not presume the guilt of Americans who spent their own money to go to the aid of children, and neither would our judicial system. Not in our country. Not in America. And that is just one of the important differences between the greatest justice system in the world and every other. We do not presume guilt, we require proof. And no criminal defendant in this country has to prove innocence. We presume you are innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. Yes – people are arrested and held before trial, but they are not used by the government to shift focus away from their own failings.
America. Filled with people who would give up their money for others and travel to tragedy to try and save children. We do not have to apologize here. And maybe the government of Haiti should spend a little more time trying to save its own children.