Village of Hope Publishes Official Statement

Yesterday all the foster families from The Village of Hope signed this first official statement since the expulsions.

Right off the bat, they respond to the concern that I raised in an earlier post about education in Moroccan culture.

VOH has always operated with the full knowledge and agreement of the Moroccan authorities with the overt understanding that the overseas workers are Christian. It has also always been understood that the children would be raised in a Muslim/Christian environment but would also be fully immersed in their Moroccan culture in terms of love for their country, language, education and knowledge of Islam.

Later they praise the king and the international reputation of Morocco, and directly appeal to him to reunite them with their foster children:

We openly and unashamedly appeal directly to the King, as a Father himself, to act with mercy and help us reach a point of compromise and reunite the 33 children with the only parents they know.

After the official statement is posted a waiver that volunteers were required to sign. It requires volunteers to avoid proselytism but encourages them to openly identify as Christians. If every volunteer signed this statement and followed it to the letter, then The Village of Hope is absolutely in the right. The way to verify such a claim would be to talk with a number of the volunteers as well as with those who observed them during their stay and see if they can provide confirmation.

All in all, the statement is a pretty powerful refutation of the authorities' claims against them. They allege that neither they nor volunteers engaged in proselytism or defamed the King, Muhammed, or Islam. The children received an Islamic education and they were given love, expensive medical care, and material comfort.

Of course, I have never visited The Village of Hope. So I have no way of verifying any of the claims lodged against them. They very well could be true. A decade of passed inspections and good relations with the neighboring community inclines me to think otherwise, but their truth is not outside the realm of possibility.

And if they are true, then surely the authorities would be able to provide substantial proof and explanation of their aggressive actions against the families. But there has been no real public discussion or explanation of these actions. The local media marshaled Moroccan Jews and Catholics to roundly condemn proselytizing without actually knowing the details. Outside of Morocco, there has been nothing but support for the expelled foster parents.

A proper response would have involved a full discussion and debate both in the domestic and international public square as well as a full presentation of the evidence before a court where the foster parents would have had the right to defend themselves against the accusations. Then everyone involved would have been able to decide for themselves whether the government or The Village of Hope was in the right.

None of these things has happened. And if there is any tragedy in this situation that rivals the removal of children from their longtime foster parents, it is that there has been not even an inkling of due process or real debate.