Topic: Power
While writing yesterday's blog, I decided to find out more about the credentials of David Werner, the founder of The Hesperian Foundation. What I learned through Wikipedia and the Chicago Tribune sent shivers up my spine! Never would I have dreamed that this man, responsible for saving so many lives around the world, had been dismissed 20 years ago from the organization he founded, due to strong allegations of having molested disabled teenaged boys in Mexico!
It's a rare example of how a good work, still distributed to Peace Corp volunteers, manages to live on despite the horrific acts of evil that were apparently being perpetrated by one who was, and still is, the author of a great tool. There is no reason to destroy the good Werner did. However.....
Sadly, it's also an example of how much more difficult it is to do an investigation of an American citizen operating in criminal behavior overseas.
So it makes me very proud to find this part of the Hesperian story. It serves as another rare example. Instead of decades of doubting, colluding and massive coverup, this organization unanimously voted to totally dismiss it's founder, even after it's strongly credible investigations were unable to be legally proven. They could have done the "church thing" I've seen so often--refusing to take action because of fear of being sued by the perpetrator while knowing that the powerless victims didn't have a chance of ever being in a court of law!!
Justice? Marie Fortune would say "approximate justice." The best that could be achieved under the circumstances in a place where "there is no doctor" and also "there is no court" available.
I'm still very proud of The Hesperian Foundation, proud to have supported it's colossal accomplishments that continue despite the horror that cruelly invaded the lives of vulnerable young people.
