“If you’re caring for children at the Village of Hope and people see your faith as you care for your children and become interested and care about the Christian faith, is that proselytism? Apparently the government is saying, yes it is.”

Children’s Haven of Morocco began when a Moroccan woman pled with two American expatriates—Irene Wenholz and Mary Mellinger—to take her baby. They were not in Morocco to start an orphanage so they refused, but they couldn’t forget that baby.

The next time a Moroccan woman thrust her baby at them with a plea, they took the baby in. Fifty-seven years later, the children who grew up under the women’s care describe Moroccans lining up each afternoon to get medicine and medical help from the orphanage workers. When a staff member was gravely injured in a car accident, the governor of the region canceled his reelection party out of concern. When recent floods nearly wiped the village of Azrou away, the orphanage gave medicine and aid.

So when the Muslim neighbors of Children’s Haven heard that it was under investigation for proselytizing, the neighbors flocked to the mosques to pray for the aid workers’ safety. Salim Sefaine, who grew up in the Children’s Haven and now lives in the United States, said his foster parents are not outsiders who come in and out of the country to make converts, but community pillars. His foster father, Jim Pitts, has lived in Morocco longer than he has lived in the United States.

READ MORE: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16569