By Angela Beswick
A New Zealand family has been expelled from Morocco, with authorities saying their Christian values were no longer acceptable.
Chris and Tina Broadbent, along with their two children, were issued with deportation orders yesterday and told to leave immediately.
Listen to the full phone interview with Chris Broadbent.
The couple had been working for the last year and a half at a Christian orphanage of 33 children in the Middle Atlas Mountains. Officials in Morocco have accused staff at the orphanage of trying to teach Christianity to the orphans in their care. Twenty other international staff members were also told to leave.
Some were physically escorted to the airport, but the Broadbent family made the decision to drive themselves to Tanger and catch a ferry across to Spain. They were given just one hour to pack their belongings and make their way to the port.
Mr Broadbent says the couple hold grave fears for the wellbeing of the orphans they have left behind.
"There's 33 children who have been torn off their foster parents and who knows when they'll see them again, what care or institution they'll be put into next," he says.
"Really we're just gutted for the kids."
He told 3 News he wants the world to know about the plight of the children who have now been abandoned as a result of the government's actions.
The New Zealand embassy in Madrid has confirmed to 3 News the family are safe and well in Torremolinos in Spain.
Mr Broadbent says the family is thinking about what to do next and are still confused as to why they were kicked out.
“They didn’t like the way we were doing things – they didn’t like the Christian component of who we are,” says Mr Broadbent.
“We are certainly not missionaries and we’ve never attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity. It’s not what we’re about, it’s not why we’re here.”
He says his family will eventually come back to New Zealand, and they have made no request for consular help.
3 News Europe Correspondent Kim Chisnall talked to Sunrise about the plight of the orphans
3 News