After continued visits to the Son of God Orphanage in Carrefour,
Haiti, six charitable organizations (Adventures in Missions, Bridgeway
Church, Timberline Church, Children’s HopeChest, Journey Community
Church, and Respire Haiti) have challenged the global community to force
the hands of international leaders in the closure and investigation of
the facility.
According to eye-witness accounts, the children at SOG have
suffered some of the most heinous human rights abuses at the hands of
the director of the orphanage, Maccene (Max) Hyppolite and his family.
Despite consistent delivery of relief for each child, including
food, clothes, and medicine, the children have continued to suffer from
malnourishment, curable diseases and parasites, as well as complete
neglect of acute medical conditions.
A recent account included a one-year old baby who was severely burned and not treated until almost two weeks later.
Police conducted a successful sting operation after numerous
individuals had been solicited by Hyppolite to purchase children. In
July of 2011, Max Hyppolite was arrested while attempting to sell one of
the orphans and he is currently in prison for child trafficking in Port
au Prince.
Continued accounts from as recent as October 13th, 2011 indicate
that the situation has only become worse, and to date there are 53
children who have disappeared and are unaccounted for.
The orphanage is currently being run by Hyppolite’s wife, Marie,
who not only continues to say she does not know the whereabouts of the
children, but has also threatened the lives of the relief workers who
have sought assistance in from the Haitian government organization,
IBESR (Institut du Bien Etre et de Recherches).
Given the sharing of information from IBESR to the Hyppolite
family, cause for speculation has arisen regarding the government’s
involvement in the trafficking of the children.
The six aforementioned organizations have worked together with
Change.org
to bring this issue to light. They have asked the global community to
give these children the voice that has been stolen from them in hopes
of world leaders recognizing the human rights violations occurring and
the immediate call for the closure and investigation of the Son of God
Orphanage in Haiti.
Ways to get involved:
