Pastors Leigh Ramsey and Brian Mulheran
322 Wecker Road
Carindale
QLD 4152
30th May 2014
Dear Pastors Ramsey and Mulheran
I had no choice but to cancel my flight
back to Australia; to stay in Cambodia to try, as best I can, to help with the
emotional mess your church has created. Both Rosa and Chita are in shock at the
sudden and unannounced transformation in their lives. Chita is quite traumatized.
She has been in tears for much for the past 18 hours and has slipped into what
could best be described as a form of catatonic depression. One day she was
living in a Christian institution in Phnom Penh, with a secure lifestyle and a
group of friends; the next she is dumped in a materially poor village with a
family that was given no warning at all of their impending arrival. How could
Citipointe be so lacking in even a basic understanding of child psychology and
of the effect so rapid a transformation would have on an 11 year old girl who
has spent more than half her life in an institution?
It is now close to six years since
Citipointe illegally removed Rosa and Chita from their home, using the sham 31st
July 2008 ‘contract’. And then, on 28th May 2014 representatives of
your church arrive at Chanti and Chhork’s village with Rosa and Chita and present
the parents with an equally sham ‘contract’ for them to sign. Fearing that this
may be their only opportunity to get their daughters back, Chanti and Chhork
sign a document which, as with the 2008 ‘contract’ has no legal validity.
Citipointe’s dumping of the girls,
unannounced, is compounded by the pathetic nature of your church’s parting gift
to Rosa and Chita (and the family) – one 50 kilo bag of rice and 2 second hand
bicycles. The combined value of these would be less than $100.
When I have done what I can to smooth
the transition for Rosa and Chita from institutional living to village life I
will put all of my effort into securing copies of the MOUs that both Citipointe
and the Global Development Group insist gave you the right of removal and
detention. If, as seems to be the case, the Australian Council for
International Development refuses to ask for copies, I will pursue this matter
in an Australian and/or international court and in other ways available to me
now that the custody question has been resolved.
I again ask, as Chanti and Chhork’s
legally appointed advocate, that Citipointe church immediately produce copies
of the 2008 and 2009 MOUs. I am copying this to various individuals in a
position to insist that Citipointe produce the MOUs and to others who could
well ask the question and draw their own conclusions as to why Citipointe
refuses to produce them.
Please do not think that the return of
Rosa and Chita is the end of this matter. It is the end of one chapter and the
beginning of another. Your church will now trick some other parents into giving
up their daughters and the pattern will be repeated, both in Cambodia and in
India, until someone in a position to do so puts a stop to Citipointe’s
child-stealing scam.
best wishes
James Ricketson
No comments:
Post a Comment