AID FOR FAITH

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal, Jul/Aug 2007 by Baron, Kevin

We had to get overseas to see for ourselves. Using the database, I pulled examples of USAID-funded activities around the globe.

In Kenya, Farah Stockman hopped on a bush plane to the remote northwestern village of Lakartinya. After winning the confidence of village elders by wearing bracelets made from the skin of a freshly-killed goat - she said they were wet and bloody when she put them on - and eating from a plate of cooked goat guts and flies, villagers shared their stories of Christian teachings occurring during U.S. -funded infant nutrition classes. In Mombasa, Stockman reported on allegations that a Christian group distributing U.S.-backed small business loans was discriminating against Muslims.

In August, Canellos and I traveled to Angola, a country still emerging from a devastating 30-year civil war. The capital city of Luanda was teeming with foreign oilmen driven by armed guards through a dense squalor of refugees living in mud- walled slums and crumbling apartments.

We reported freely but cautiously. Our target location was in the desert highlands city of Lubango, which rests in a picturesque valley beneath a giant statue of Jesus Christ, arms outstretched from high atop a landmine-filled plateau. With the help of nearly $1 million in USAID grants, local preachers and North Carolina-based Samaritan's Purse were building a modern hospital where, we were told, nurses, doctors and clergy will preach to the mostly non-evangelical patients. The organization's leader, Rev. Franklin Graham, flew here in 2005 to lead a three-day "crusade" to dedicate the medical center. He stayed to convert 13,000 people.

Globe reporter Susan Milligan and staff photographer Dina Rudick traveled deep into Pakistan to visit a Christian hospital supported by recent USAID grants. Milligan reported that many locals avoided the hospital, primarily due to its high cost and association with unpopular U.S. foreign policy, rather than an aversion to Christianity. Despite growing public unrest over and- American sentiment and threatening street riots, they brought the story home.

Finally, Washington staff reporter Rick Klein reported on the little-known world of Christian missionary healthcare workers. Klein chronicled the mindset of thousands of volunteers and professionals eager to help where help is needed but not averse to using U. S . government funds to further their Christian evangelistic missions.

The project resulted in the first complete review of President Bush's faith-based initiative in the context of foreign aid and international development. Since its publication, Democrats have expressed interest in activities of USAID's faith-based contractors. Two committee chairmen have said tíiey will hold hearings later this year.

By Kevin Baron

The Boston Globe, Washington, D.C., bureau correspondent

Kevin Baron is a freelance investigative reporter in Washington, D. C. He has conducted computerassisted investigations at the Boston Globe's Washington bureau since 2004, and previously worked at the Center for Public Integrity.