Feb 07 2010
The Boise missionaries in Haiti
I’ve been watching this saga unfold. 10 missionaries from Boise tried to take 33 Haitian children over the border to the Dominican Republic, where they were supposed to be cared for.
The Haitian border guards stopped and arrested them because they had no papers at all. As far as the Haitian government was concerned, the missionaries could have kidnapped the kids for child slavery.
My first thought was ‘Only in Idaho.’ Only in Idaho would a congregation, who, I’m sure, has only the best intentions and has strong faith, would send 10 of their members off on a rescue mission without knowing a damn thing about the necessary paperwork that would be needed beforehand.
Only in Idaho would one of that group, who is diabetic, would enter a situation
where it was known that all meds were in critically short supply. She went into insulin shock after the arrest.
That person, a woman, concerned her family enough that her husband and one child went with her. So who’s paying the bills at home? Are their younger children? Who is watching them?
The congregation trusted Laura Silsby, the leader, because “she was a mother, a good Christian, and owned a business”. None ever thought to check on how Laura’s business, a net shopping outfit, was actually doing. As it turns out, not well. Laura has a reputation for not following up on details, and her biz is in the dumps as a result. Her employees went without pay until they finally quit and are now suing her. Her home is about to be repo’d. She is a single mother. Who is caring for her kids?
Laura, or anyone else in the effort, didn’t attempt to find a French speaker to go with them. Their lawyer speaks only French, as does the judge and most of the legal system. All the kids speak only French, and the border guards, too. So now, they are in jail, and don’t have any reliable translator for them.
In a brief interview, Laura said that she trusts in God, and God would work it out. That one knocked me back- my first thought was how arrogant the comment was- Laura was certain God was on her side alone. She was sure God would rule in her favor. She never considered the possibility that God may have worked it out when they were stopped at the border, for the kids, not the missionaries.
And, shortly after the arrests, it was discovered that none of the kids were orphans. They all had families who sent the kids with them in hopes for better lives for their children. Now that it’s all messed up, the parents want their kids back.
All this reeks of naiveté, but worse, terminal ignorance, arrogance, and lack of planning so severe it could be criminal in another situation. The missionaries could be in jail awaiting trial for a very long time, as Haiti is one big pile of rubble that will take a long time to restore. The Haitian government is not going to take them at their word that their motives were pure and Godly, and they shouldn’t… Americans wouldn’t put up with a similar event,at all.
They may go to prison for 5 years or more, once they finally go before the bar. Who is going to pay for their defense and upkeep while all this transpires?
This is a very hard, but good lesson for all the congregations who have the desire to just fly in and try to help, but only under their terms and plans. All this could have been avoided if only one person had the wits to say “Hold On! We need to do some homework first!”
11 responses so far
What a terrible story, all around! You have captured the essence of why it is so absurd, too. I especially like this quote of yours:
“She never considered the possibility that God may have worked it out when they were stopped at the border, for the kids, not the missionaries.”
It is a common conceit that people assume God is on THEIR side only.
Throw the book at them and see how much of their sentences God commutes.
Hi, Doc…
I don’t think real bad ends will come to the missionaries. Haiti needs American help too much, including the help of other missionary efforts and private individuals who simply want to help out of human kindness. And I’m sure that the Boise group had much real sympathy, kindness, and an urge to do good. I’ll bet they will be released without ever suffering the penalties that they could have faced.
Really, it’s a cautionary tale to me. The group were Baptists. If someone from the group had thought to contact the local LDS leadership, they would have certainly found a French speaking interpreter, right there in Boise. Some LDS missionaries can speak French very well. It may have been possible, if they had done it, that they could have mounted a joint Baptist/LDS effort. Such an effort may have gone far in easing Idaho’s LDS-Baptist tensions, too.
This affair is something that should be discussed in our churches, I think.
Boomer, do you think they would have seriously joined forces in this? A lot of my LDS friends tell me about their church’s involvement in the relief effort, but it’s not a local thing, it’s an HQ thing.
I think you’re right, not much will happen to them after all is said and done, due to the Haitians not wanting to bite the hand that is feeding them.
Hi, Liz…
I don’t know if the Baptists and LDS would have joined efforts or not. I tend to doubt that either group is willing to step over their differences long enough to actually help each other become real strong bunch of Idaho Christians, all working together for the same purpose.
Like I said, it probably never crossed the Baptist’s minds to ask, and never crossed the LDS minds to volunteer to help them out. While I think that both faith’s efforts to help are very worthy in principle, both could use a little more Christian charity towards each other to get it done really well. The apostle Paul spoke about this problem often, all through his life as one of Christ’s disciples.
Great article, and I think this brings up how sheltered a lot of us in Idaho are. How many people here have never even been to another country (I don’t think Canada counts)? Many of us are not “worldly” and have no idea how other countries work.
A little education on how other people live would be a great thing for all of us.
For sure, Alice.
Even Canada, which is the country most like us, is a different country with it’s own traditions, laws, and ways of doing things.
There is not a nation on the planet who will take any foreigner’s word for granted as to the purity of their intentions, period. The English language is still far from becoming universal speech. The presumption that the rest of the world wants to live like our culture, and wants what we want, is completely wrong as well.
Unfortunately, none of this is taught in schools until a person is at college level. It’s one of America’s biggest failures.
The only reason that I mentioned Canada was because it’s the only other country I’ve been to, and then it was a quick 15 minute drive, in and out, from Niagra Falls.
Sadly, the view from the window of the car was the extent of my “worldliness”.
Someday I hope to remedy that
hahaha! We should all be so worldly! Ugly American was a great book, and right on the money about how we think we are the center of the known universe in the United States.
Reuters is saying that a judicial source in Haiti tells them the missionaries will be released. Do you think they will have learned any humility from this experience?
Hard to say, Doc.
I think the only lesson they may have learned is to make sure all the paperwork is done. Possibly, they may have learned that ‘orphans’ need to be true orphans, not kids with parents.
Past that, I’m not so sure. I think they may have been sobered from this, but humbled? Dunno. For sure, Sister Laura must be very happy she got off light. I thought she would end up with 6 months in a Haitian jail.
A recent photo of her showed me all over again just how unprepared she was… she was wearing cut-offs and sandals on her way to court. It hit me that, if I was going to Haiti, the first thing I would think of would be to buy a pair of heavy boots and some heavy britches- there are lots of rusty nails sticking up all over the place, and a scratch in Haiti could turn into blood poisoning in a day right now.