Controversies

No major news story is without its controversies. So I’ll speak shortly to the ones that came up surrounding Haiti.

First, there was the Pat Robertson incident. On the CBN show, the 700 Club, he referenced a story about how Haiti made a pact with the Devil 200 years ago in order to beat the French. He then suggested that Haiti’s past poverty and present earthquake might have been parts of the resulting curse.

Voodoo has been a major part of Haitian society throughout its history, so this story isn’t impossible. But even if it’s true, it’s foolish to bring it up now. Referencing this rumored story is essentially blaming the victim. It was totally inappropriate. Haiti needs help, not a scolding from an old, white guy.

Then there was the incident with the Baptist volunteers from Idaho who got themselves arrested. They had taken children under false pretenses and were trying to smuggle them across the border.

This bothered me for two reasons.

One, there is absolutely no need to smuggle kids out of Haiti. The real orphanages in Port-au-Prince have done an amazing job taking care of orphaned Haitians. While in Port-au-Prince, we found lodging at one of these orphanages. They had space for us because, within two weeks of the earthquake, 80% of their kids had been adopted and moved out of the country. It was all completely efficient and completely legit. This group of imposters just hurt the kids they were trying to help.

And two, the coverage of these arrested "missionaries" took attention away from where it really belonged - with the suffering Haitians and how we can help them.