I'm a midwestern girl. I grew up in the midwest, and I can honestly say that I enjoy all four seasons--yes, even winter. And while I grew up in Minnesota where the winters are even colder than in Illinois, Matt will tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with winter. I love winter. . . . I love the first snowfall, pulling out my warm sweaters, and making train tracks in the snow with my toddler and then having a cup of cocoa while watching an episode of Thomas and Friends. But sometimes I really dislike it. . . .especially when it is freezing cold outside and there is no snow. If it's going to be cold, then let there be snow! I've decided that if you live up north, you just have to embrace winters. And so what better way to embrace winter than at an indoor splash park! We took off our winter coats and put on swimsuits. Joshua loved crawling on his hands and knees in the water while Susannah sat in a Johnny Jump Up. . . .every time water splashed on her feet, she lifted them up and curled her toes. One things's for sure--it made us excited for summer. Only about three more months and then "Turtle Pool" (what JT calls West Chicago's pool)--here we come!
If you know anything about Joshua, you know that he absolutely loves trains. Making train tracks all started on Canon Beach in Oregon when we were visiting my brother and sister-in-law. Matt found a stick to draw train tracks in the sand and Joshua diligently followed them, always wanting "more". And so more he got. . . .on Canon Beach, in the sand pit at "Turtle Pool", and more recently in the snow! The nice thing about making train tracks in the snow is that you don't have to bend over. . . .you just shuffle your feet closely together so that train tracks magically appear. And he will follow me for an hour, "choo-chooing" his way along as James (because James is red). My jacket is green, and so of course that makes me Percy. Now when we were snowed in for Christmas in Nebraska, Mimi introduced snow ice-cream to Joshua. And so as he chugs along, he will make many stops to eat what he calls "snow ice-cream" that's without the sugar. It's on days like these when I think to myself, "I would never be making train tracks in the snow and eating snow ice-cream if it wasn't for this little 38 inch high boy." I'm hoping that he doesn't outgrow making train tracks--in the sand or the snow--for quite some time.
I have been asked by many of you about my personal opinion on the “Idaho Baptists” who are being charged with child trafficking in Haiti. It is no doubt an unfortunate incident, but portions of their story are much more common then you'd hope.
Good Intentions, Poor Approach First of all I would say that the individuals who were moving the children to the Dominican Republic from Haiti had every good intention–they saw a need and wanted to respond to it. In their mind, and the mind of most people in America, the best way to respond to orphans is to build an orphanage. They were acting with every good intention… just with a poor approach.
The original news story I heard said that the children were being taken to a hotel in the DR until an orphanage could be constructed. The average orphanage takes 3-5 years to build. Were they really going to put these 30 children in a hotel for 3-5 years? Additionally if you are going to build a new orphanage, why not build it in Haiti where the children already speak the native language and could potentially be reunited with their families?
Poverty is Not a Good Enough Reason Another portion of the story which the media has distorted is the fact that the children in question have living parents. The media seems very distraught over the fact that children being taken to an orphanage have living parents… and rightfully so! However they communicate that this is not the norm, and it very common. A recent study of children living in orphanages by Save the Children estimates that close to 85-95% of children in the custody of orphanages have at least one surviving parent. We should not be caring for children simply because they are poor. Poverty is not a good enough reason.
Alternatives Here are a few lessons that I would propose to individuals and organizations wanting to care for Haitian orphans:
1 – Support Existing Families Do not remove children from their families, instead work with the families to get them the resources they need. Build schools, initiate substantive farming, provide work, and complete other community-development projects.
2 – It Takes a Village When a child must be removed from the care of their biological family (to protect the child) the government must be involved. Yes, the church has a moral responsibility to care for children, but the government has a legal responsibility to care for them as well. Work together to act on behalf of children; otherwise you may be at risk for handling the situation outside of legal boundaries.
3 – Family Based Care Institutional care has been shown by various studies to be a poor substitute for family. Instead engage local communities to launch a network of family based care. Casa Viva is a good example of family based care in action.
4 – Consider Long Term Consequences of Giving When an organization or individual walks into a community and provides everything needed to accomplish one of these projects you may accidentally begin to create an entitlement mentality. Instead partner with local governments and community leaders to build structures that can be supported without an indefinite amount of international funding.
Listen for me this week on MyBridge Radio (Nebraska). I recent had a phone interview with Stan Parker and will be featured in a short spot throughout the week.
If you don't frequent MyBridge check it out, or listen to my spot online:
