Monday, February 01, 2010

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? Or Child Trafficking?

I have been viewing with interest the news reports about the American Baptists accused of child trafficking in Haiti.

The news reports and many people familiar with these kinds of situations who are writing online have been warning that groups may try to exploit the situation with the children in Haiti.

News reports state that the parents of some of the children "gave" the kids to the Baptists. That they agreed for them to take the children to the Dominican Republic for a "better life." Reports say that many of the older children didn't want to go, and that they cried and objected loudly. What child wants to leave their family?

Allahu Alim.

While some of us may think it horrid that a parent would agree to "give" a child away, in some cases that action may be a loving and unselfish one. News reports from Haiti claim that many children have been "given away" by their parents, and not always to a good situation. Some children live with people who use them as domestic servants without a care to their welfare. In other cases, parents give away children with good intentions, and the kids end up in bad hands.

When I was in Puerto Rico, it was not uncommon to know of numerous related and unrelated people living together and defining themselves as "family." I personally knew of one woman who "gave" her child to a relative, and the relative referred to the child as her daughter. The mother couldn't support the child.

A nightmare for the public assistance folks, lol.

Who knows?

I am not sticking up for the Baptists, but I think it's important to let this legally play out before we jump to conclusions.

Is this case one of "confusion" about procedure as the Baptists claim? Were they just trying to do good, and help?

Can you already hear that blogosphere blowing up with posts from people who vehemently object to white people adopting black or other non-white children?

Or better yet, are the Baptists being made an example and warning for would-be child traffickers from America or elsewhere?

If they are guilty, screw them, and let the full force of the law be upon them. But if they are not, let us not judge them harshly, as we Muslims have had others judge our intentions without the full facts.

What do you think?

1 comment:

Debora said...

I think the Baptists had good intentions. I really do. Or at least they thought they had good intentions... and, as they say, the road to hell is paved w/ 'em. (Intentions, not Baptists.)

You just don't take children that don't belong to you.

Good intentions just cannot justify the evil acts done for them. I think that when a person contemplates doing a bad thing for a good reason, it's a spiritual trap. One's good intent (a good deed) is negated by the intent to do the evil (a bad deed). Allahu alim.

May Allah protect us (and especially me) from those tricky traps and slippery slopes.