In the wake of this awful calamity in Haiti, I want to remind people to consider helping out the poorest of the poor in Haiti: the Restaveks. More below the fault line...
Haiti's ills are well documented and many people in the West know that 70% of all Haitians live on $2.00/day or less. How can you feed your kids on that kind of money in a country that has little access to agricultural areas for the size of the population that it has? And yes I know that that is giving short shrift to the history of how the fertility of the land has been lost but that is not the point of this particular diary... The truth is that some families just can't make it so they sell their kids into slavery.
"Restavek is a Creole term which literally means "stay with." An accurate term in that these children do stay with their hosts, working as domestic servants in exchange for a roof over their head, some leftover food and, supposedly, the ability to go to school. In practice, though, the restaveks are easy prey for exploitation. Many are beaten, sexually abused and frequently denied access to education, since many host families believe that schooling will only make them less obedient." www.restavekfreedom.org
The Restavek Foundation which is the organization that I quoted from, is working to free the over 300,000 Restaveks in Haiti. I worry that while many child slaves may have died this week, that many more will be created in the aftermath of the earthquake. Families that were on the fringe already may be pushed over the edge by their losses this week and might be tempted to sell a child to save themselves or other children in the family. Newly orphaned children are also vulnerable right now.
The Restavek Foundation has been featured on CNN and 60 Minutes. The head of the organization Jean Cadet, survived the quake and his organization seems to still be working according to an update on his website. The fact that all of this is still going on today is sickening, but maybe if a little bit of good can come from this disaster it might be that the work of this admirable man can be recognized and supported. It is where my donation dollars will be headed now that I know he is ok and still leading the fight to end child slavery in Haiti. I know that there are many good organizations in Haiti that deserve support, but this one really tugs at my heart.