Morocco Re-Orphans 33 Orphans

I was at church recently and there I heard about some very sad developments going on in Morocco.

On March 8 a Christian orphanage was closed down for alledgedly proselytizing the orphans.

I regard this as a very sad story to hear of children being ripped away from care givers who are willing to provide care for them.

Here's the story as reported by the Bible League of Canada:

The most recent incident took place this past Tuesday, March 8. The government ordered the Village of Hope orphanage in Ain Leuh be closed and that the 20 foreigners who ran it must leave the county within three days. The organization’s website reports that they were told “the abandoned children in the care of VoH have been proselytised by us, that we are trying to make them Christian. This is despite the fact that we have always been open about our faith to the authorities, and for 10 years they have allowed VoH to take in and foster children abandoned by this society, children who would otherwise be killed or placed in state run ‘mega’ orphanages.” The government stated that they “exploited some families' poverty and targeted their minor children …. they carried out proselytizing activities aimed at children under the age of 10.” They added that “the investigation resulted in the seizure of materials used in proselytizing.”

The children taken in by Village of Hope were primarily from illegitimate relationships with most of the mothers involved in prostitution or “out of wedlock” activities. According to Village of Hope, before the orphanage opened its doors many such children were killed before or after they were born by their desperate mothers.

The foreigners working at the orphanage leave behind 33 children, some of whom have been at the orphanage since it opened a decade ago. The adults were considered by the children to be their parents. According to Chris Broadbent, Human Resources Manager for the orphanage, "Watching the children be told by their [foster] parents that they had to leave, that they would maybe never see them again, is the most painful thing I have ever witnessed... This is a shame and a disgrace …"

From Voice of the Martyrs:

Moroccan police accused Christian aid workers from the United States, Korea, Netherlands and England of “violating Morocco’s anti-proselytism laws.” “On March 8, police visited the orphanage Village of Hope, which has been operating with the government’s approval for the past ten years,” Smyrna Ministries International said. “They scoured the grounds looking for Bibles, interrogated children and staff members and announced that the parents had seven hours to pack and say goodbye to their adopted children. All fifteen of the foster parents, the only parents these children have ever known, were deported before nightfall, leaving the 33 children with the police.”

From Assist News.