Rosa and Chita will survive. They will get
over this latest human rights abuse inflicted by Citipointe church, but it will take
time.
Before recounting the events of the last
few days, I would like to acknowledge the important role played by the ABC. A couple
of months ago Lateline’s Steve Cunnane ran a story that was seen by many more
people than read my blog, giving the story ‘legs’.
One of those who viewed Lateline was Mr
Michael Johnson, a Brisbane based barrister and former member of parliament. He
offered to act pro bono on behalf of Chanti and Chhork and wrote to the church.
(See below if interested) Michael’s letter set in motion a sequence of events
that led to the bitter-sweet conclusion of two days ago.
Without the ABC, without ‘Lateline’ and
‘Four Corners’ and other such programs unafraid to ask difficult questions and
hold people in positions of power accountable, our democracy would be greatly
diminished. The ABC is a national treasure. And without lawyers with a pro bono
passion to see justice done, the poor and powerless are all too easily screwed
by the rich and powerful. Thank you ABC. Thank you Michael Johnson.
The release of Rosa and Chita back into their
family two days ago should have been an occasion for unalloyed joy and celebration.
It has not turned out that way. Rosa and
Chita are both in shock. The church gave
the girls no notice that they were about to be torn away from their ‘SHE Rescue
Home’ friends, their school mates and teachers, their familiar surroundings and
daily routines. The only world they have known for the past six years was
destroyed by Citipointe’s lack of empathy (and perhaps even concern) for the
impact this would have on an 11 and a 12 year old girl - both unceremoniously delivered
back to their family, unannounced, in a materially poor village in which there
are none of the first world amenities Rosa and Chita had become accustomed to, living
in a Christian institution.
The re-integration of children back into
their families after a long absence is a process that must happen slowly, step
by step, with the emotional and psychological well-being of the children always
foremost in the minds of the adults in control of re-integration. The lack of
such a process here has resulted in Chita spending much of the past 2 days in
tears. She misses her friends. She refuses to speak with anyone, has withdrawn
into herself and appears to be very depressed. Rosa is coping better but only
just. If Citipointe had set out to make the re-integration process as painful
as possible for the girls, the church could not have chosen a better way to do
so. It seems that Citipointe, in a panic that the church might be sued by
Micharl Johnson for the illegal 2008 removal of the girls, chose to get rid of
them poste haste – hoping that in so doing questions surrounding the legality
of the church’s removal and detention would simply disappear. The church has
put self-interest above the emotional needs of the girls during what Pastors
Leigh Ramsey and Brian Mulheran knew in advance would be a difficult
transition.
The re-integration process, after six years
of institutional living, should have occurred slowly and in accordance with a
well thought out plan. Rosa and Chita should have been allowed weekend visits
to their family for a few months to give them a chance to become accustomed to
the radical changes that were to occur in their lives. They should be allowed,
now, to maintain contact with the friends they have grown to love within the
‘SHE Rescue Home’ this past six years. They should have been given the
opportunity to finish one school term in their Citipointe school and start a
new term in their new school. As it has turned out, I was two hours away from
flying back to Australia when I learnt that Citipointe had delivered the girls back
to their family two days ago – the parents, Chanti and Chhork instructed to
place their thumb prints on a document (which they could not read) that
absolves the church of any wrong-doing (read below is such details are of
interest).
I had to cancel my flight to Australia and
have spent much of today arranging for the girls to be enrolled in a new
school.
It would seem that Citipointe has timed the
return of Rosa and Chita to occur at a time when I was not in the country and
to do it in such a way as to cause maximum distress to the girls themselves –
thus making them want to return to the ‘SHE Rescue Home’.
After all these years of coming to
Cambodia, knowing the country well and understanding the way corruption works
(it pervades every aspect of life here), I am nonetheless astounded that
Citipointe has been able to manipulate the Cambodian judiciary and the Ministry
of Social Affairs in such a way as to leave the church free to steal the
daughters of materially poor Cambodians with impunity. More shocking, perhaps,
is the fact that such illegal removals can occur with the full knowledge and
tacit approval of the Australian Ambassador to Cambodia and the Department of
Foreign Affairs; that the Australian Council for International Development –
whose job it is to see to it that AusAID-approved NGOs obey the law of their
host country and the ACFIF Code of Conduct – refuses to even ask Citipointe, or
its funding partner the Global Development Group, to produce documentary
evidence of the legality of its 2008 removal of the girls.
The two beds in the ‘SHE Rescue Home’
occupied by Rosa and Chita will soon be filled by two other girls whose
materially poor parents will have been duped into believing the church wants to
help them. They will soon discover that they have lost all their rights as
parents guaranteed by Cambodian law, by Australian law and by the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child. The illegal removal of these two girls will be
funded by AusAID approved tax-deductible charity dollars. The two girls will be
re-packaged for gullible sponsors and donors as ‘victims of human trafficking’. This will
result in vast sums of money flowing into the coffers of Citipointe, whilst the
church pursues its other religious goal – turning these girls into young Pentecostals
and, in the process, alienating them from their family, their community, their
culture and their religion.
There are days when Cambodia breaks your
heart. Today is one of them for me. The bitter taste is offset by the sweetness
of seeing Chanti’s family together for the first time in six years.
PS
Citipointe’s farewell gift to Rosa and
Chita was a 50 kilo bag of rice ($35) and two second hand bicycles ($60).
