When 10 American missionaries working in earthquake-devastated Haiti tried to take a group of Haitian children out of the stricken country, they obviously had nothing but the best of intentions. But they didn’t have legal permission to whisk the children away. So the missionaries ended up in jail.
Some of the children were orphans, some not. Some of the parents, wanting the best for their children in horrible conditions, said they approved the missionaries’ efforts.
So now eight of the missionaries have been released by a Haitian court into the hands of U.S. diplomats. What about the two others?
This “rescue effort” was obviously a well-meaning but ill-conceived operation. Haiti certainly needs lots of assistance of many kinds to help millions of its people suffering from earthquake devastation, hunger and possible disease. But the missionary operation in this case, though well-intended, was not a good example of offering much-needed aid.