Laura Silsby & Her 9 Missionaries Charged in Haiti With Abduction

Photo via Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesMinutes after filing our post Laura Silsby | The Art of Doing God’s Work in Haiti, the government charged the 10 Americans trying to take 33 Haitian children across the border to the Dominican Republic with abduction and criminal association. via the NYTimes

Before the hearing, Laura Silsby, who had helped organize the group’s mission to Haiti, sounded a hopeful note as she waited to be taken into court, saying, “We’re just trusting God for a positive outcome.”

Edwin Coq, a lawyer for the Baptists, had said that 9 of his 10 clients were “completely innocent,” but that, in an apparent reference to Ms. Silsby, “if the judiciary were to keep one, it could be the leader of the group.”

Comments

[Don Thieme]

These are great posts you have done on this story. I think that Laura and her team of missionaries are being used as scapegoats as the Haitian government attempts to reestablish their sovereignty. There is no way that any of them will serve significant prison terms as long as our government works effectively for their release.

[Anne]

Thanks Don. I agree with you about nine. Laura is another matter.

I cover a select group of celebrity philanthropists because I truly believe that people with money must get out their wallets, supporting solutions that actually work. Celebs can set the pace, leading by example.

The amount of anti-celeb 'furor' over sham charities is high. Because I do have respect among religious people as well, they are really unhappy seeing legitimate charities and people with only the best intentions be ridiculed and 'demonized' by anyone trading on religious values.

I've taken considerable heat for supporting Madonna, as an example. Her tax papers in Malawi weren't filed two months ago, and they should be.

Laura's parents are standing behind her as a talented woman with great intentions in a bad economy. Outsiders looking at Laura driving a blue Lexus convertible while her biz is collapsing, with a her dog named Bentley at her side, get a different vision of Laura Silsby.

For the moment only God knows the true story of what happened in Haiti, but the issues here represent a classic American drama, and we will follow the story to its completion.

Thanks again for contributing. Anne

As for Haiti itself -- oh what a complex story!!! Haiti is a global drama with all the elements of the first international historical soap opera.