Sunday, August 29, 2010

Pink Pagoda?

I ran across a mention of this "organization," Pink Pagoda, a couple of years ago -- it allegedly rescues Chinese girls who are in danger of being killed or abandoned by their parents, and takes them to orphanages instead.  They claim to pay parents cash to give them the children.  Here's an article from a Canadian newspaper about the founder, Jim Garrow:
For the past 10 years, Garrow has run an organization he calls Pink Pagoda. He says he works with 142 people in China to rescue baby girls whose parents might otherwise abandon or kill them. When his team hears about unwanted babies, they collect them from their parents and deliver them to local orphanages or the arms of friends and relatives, Garrow says.

When needed, he adds, the organization can provide money and supplies for a child’s upkeep.

He says Pink Pagoda is responsible for saving 34,000 baby girls since 2000.

Reclining on the front porch of his two-storey Guelph home, Garrow speaks with pride about his role in the organization. His grey hair is streaked with golden-brown hues and falls to his shoulders. A trimmed white beard frames his face.

He says Pink Pagoda has consumed him.

“Am I a zealot? Am I almost religious in my fervour for what I do? Yeah, beyond belief,” he says, leaning forward.

His passion has inspired a groundswell of support from some quarters. There are more than 500 members on Pink Pagoda’s Facebook page and Garrow says he’s well-known and appreciated by elite figures in China.
I have to say I think it's all bunk.  I don't think Garrow is doing any such thing as "rescuing" children in China as he claims. Maybe he did one or two because of some employee in China coming to him with a problem, as he claims on his website.  But a wholesale nationwide program with its own private aircraft?! I just don't see any way that he could do as he claims he has -- funnel 34,000 baby girls into Chinese orphanages -- and fly under the radar. I just don't see China letting him get away with it. And if he is doing as he claims, he's engaging in child trafficking, paying money for children.

Brian Stuy isn't quite as convinced that it's hokum. Read his account of phone calls he had with Jim Garrow, which he includes on his website.  Actually quite chilling listening to the claims Garrow makes. Here's what Brian thinks:
Is Garrow really doing what he says he is doing, offering poor Chinese families money vouchers to turn their children into the orphanages for international adoption? It is very possible. Is he doing it with the full knowledge of the Chinese government? Also possible. As we saw in the Hunan scandal, the government is less concerned with stopping the baby-buying than it is with saving face in the international community. The abduction of children unwillingly from birth parents seems to be taken seriously by the CCAA and the rest of the government; but the willing relinquishment of children for money to IA orphanages is systematically ignored, and even encouraged by the government. Thus, there is every possibility that the Chinese would allow a program such as Garrow's "Pink Pagoda" one to operate freely in China's orphanages.

* * *

In the end I don't know if Garrow is actually doing what he says, or is simply seeking attention and money. Reporters from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, as well as Dateline have investigated and found no substantiation of his program in China. But it could be happening on a localized and informal basis.
So what do you think? Is this a wonderful organization saving China's children?  A child trafficking group? A crazy man's delusion of grandeur?

4 comments:

Von said...

Or simply making lots of money.

Anonymous said...

I aggee with you that the claims are bunk.

Pink Pagoda is all about milking christian pockets for cash "in the name of unfortunate children". Widows and orphans are after all a long standing technique for milking christians of their money.

I disagree with Brian Stuy, who simply has every personal motive to keep fanning the "trafficking" flames (otherwise he must step up and admit he has been wrong, and in fact publicly appologize for inflaming a world wide community).

Anonymous said...

Whether it is true or not, the whole thing is extremely creepy!
Sue (aka anonymous)

Anonymous said...

Recently Jim Garrow was the principal of the school at Winneway but apparently they found out he is a sex offender so they fired him. Jim Garrow would probably say it's all a big misunderstanding.

maybe you should contact the school to get more information:

Amo Ososwan School
Tel: 819-722-2026 Fax: 819-722-2073
address: 109 Kakinwawigak, Winneway, QC J0Z2J0
Winneway, QC , Canada
ZIP: J0Z2J0