A Government that Keeps the Children Poor!

It has become abundantly clear that there are government officials in high power in Liberia that do not want Liberian children to thrive. They do not want to see children educated, well at least not certain children! And for many children, they don't even want to see them fed evidently! One of the largest road blocks in adoptions right now is the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. They change their minds every time they get a whim in order to slow the adoption process down. Yet the Deputy Minister from this ministery that put a hold on our kids' visas in January had to leave Liberia a month ago to go to his son's graduation in AMERICA!!! Yep, you read right. His wife and children are in America. It is ok for them to come to America, but not children from the interior of Liberia.

As I have walked around the city this trip, I have visited with many people just on the street. I love the people of this country...the common folk, that is! They always asks what brings me to Liberia and I tell them. They usually starts a discussion about adoption and government. I never hesitate to share the issues we are having with the government! On many occasions this week, the response has been, "we have people in our government that do not want us to be educated...they want to be the only ones with those priviledges...to send their kids to America and come back and take their place, but no one else should be able to do that." The other sentiment I have heard over and over is that everyone in Liberian government thinks they have the same power as the President. And that is what I am seeing. Every Minister in the different Ministeries thinks he/she has the power to usurp authority over any situation he/she sees fit and no one stops them from doing it! It is truly amazing!

I met with two people in the BIN (Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization) who were absolutely horrific to me! Rude does not even begin to describe it! I can't imagine why a government official talking to a law abiding NGO worker would be so rude! Why would a government official treat anyone who is trying to help his country like that? I just want to say, "Do you see the office you are in?! It isn't exactly nice!!! And your whole country is this way!!!! I wouldn't turn down assistance if I were you!"

So as I thought about all that I have hear and seen...I thought of the little children at the grass hut village where I bought my shrimp trap (which by the way, our Liberian social workers have teased me endlessly for carrying back....they keep asking me if I have water where I live to catch fish! They can't imagine carrying something like that with no use to me back in my suitcase!). I know many of you reading this have children from Liberia or are considering adopting from Liberia. So I have this to ask you.....if a government intentionally blocks adoption when their children are starving on the streets, does this become a human rights issue? Not the blocking of adoptions, but the inability to care for the children and not accepting help from families who are? When the allegations of child trafficking and adoption are made, not one example can be given of a case against any individual or agency that has trafficked children by the legal definition! Yet they impose these new regulations each week to slow the process!

I sat in a congressional hearing today at the Liberian capital and heard debate over a proposed bill for children. It was a crazy bill as none of what they proposed can their government enforce...such as mandatory education. Well before you say a child HAS to go to school, you have to have a school for them to go to! Liberia has NO government schools....no free schools! Save the Children was there, UNICEF was there.....all of them have been there for years yet by UNICEFS own report, there has been no change in the stats of Liberian children for as long as 16 years! Give me a break! I felt like I was sitting in a pit of evil! All these people in their finery talking about the starving children.....one of the congressmen helping us says that UNICEF takes 90% of donations for administrative costs! While my little organization doesn't even have an ofice in the US except the desk in my sunroom! Yet, I am the one they want to run out! It is just not fair! We need to pray for the people in Liberia that are truly fighting for their children and it is NOT Save the Children or Unicef! If that is all they can do, then they should accept help from ANY organization, including adoption service providers, who are agreeing to help in any way because they are sorely missing the mark!

So leave your comments....is this a human rights issue? They are stopping children from having the basic human rights of food and shelter! I believe it is! And if it is, then do we need to call attention to this to the US government who sends millions (maybe even billions) of dollars over there every year? What are they doing with it? They sure aren't making it better for their children!!!!!

Let me know your thoughts.......