It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men -- Frederick Douglass

Jan

2015 January Newsletter

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January 2, 2015

Dear Friends:
I wish you good health and much happiness throughout 2015.

It’s been a year since we began to distribute the CD and DVD of Lanbi Konen (The conch shell has sounded), the anti-child slavery song, to schools in Haiti, resulting in hundreds of thousands of children who have learned the song, and are teaching it to their younger siblings and friends. It’s a social revolution. Before the song was distributed to the schools, I asked 200 children at three different public schools if they would take in restaveks--child domestic slaves when they grow up. Nearly half had raised their hands. Then I paid a teacher to teach the song to thesechildren and returned two weeks later. When I asked the same question as before, not a hand was raised. At that point, I knew that we had a powerful tool in the fight against child slavery.

The idea for the song had come to me in February 2010 when I realized that it would be an uphill battle to convince adults to give up the practice, no matter how many times I spoke on behalf of these children on Haitian television. I realized that I needed to imbed the idea of children’s rights and equality into young, open minds. I remembered as a child watchingchildren in my neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, in the 60s, singing on the bridge of Avignon, we dance and we sing, a very popular children’s song originating in France. By the time I was trafficked into the United States in the 70’s, the song had imbedded itself in my mind as if I was born knowing it. It was during my senior year at Spring Valley High School, in New York, that Ilearned Avignon was a city in France, and I dreamt of traveling there just to see the famous bridge. That opportunity came in the mid-80s, when I had two weeks of vacation from my job. Iflew to Paris, rented a car and drove south to Avignon. Today Haitian children no longer sing on the Bridge of Avignon which I heard fifty years ago and which led me across two oceans. But now, by the thousands, they are singing Lanbi Konen which is building a bridge that children in servitude will cross to find freedom in a modern Haiti.

Hosting a conference to distribute DVDs and copies of the lyrics to school principals in Haiti is a challenge: After the venue is found, invitations are sent via a private delivery system. Snacks, paper plates, napkins, water, soft drinks, chairs, tables, a generator to provide electricity and a sound system with a microphone are required. Incentives for the guests to come must be provided. We begin each conference with a prayer, followed by the pledge of allegiance. Then I speak about my journey from a restavek child without a nationality to becoming an American teacher and advocate for children in domestic slavery, followed by a children’s choir performing Lanbi Konen. We always end each conference with a drawing of ten prizes, such as copies of Restavec, handbags, shoes, and a Dell computer provided by AXA Insurance Company, one of our supporters in France. Two weeks after the conference, I would receive dozens of calls from principals asking me to come see their students sing the song. It’s a thrill for me to hear hundreds of children sing the song when I drive by an elementary school. So far, about 250,000 children have learned Lanbi Konen. Our goal is to reach one million children throughout Haiti.

Thank you so much for your continuing support.

Jean-Robert Cadet

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If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
One of an estimated 300,000 Haitian children enslaved in child labor.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
From an isolated, rural area of Haiti where there are no schools, no electricity, no running water and few possibilities for the future.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Living in the city with a family who is not your own -- not as a foster child, but as their servant.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Between the ages of 5 and 15, and missing out on your childhood.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Three times more likely to be a girl than a boy.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Up at dawn, before any member of the family you serve, to begin preparing for their day, and in bed well after most other children are asleep.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Responsible for preparing the household meals, fetching water from the local well, cleaning inside and outside the house, doing laundry and emptying bedpans.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Getting no pay for any of these activities.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Unable to see your family or remember where they live.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Unable to attend school consistently, if at all -- depending on your owner's financial situation and schedule.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Hungry, as you would probably not get enough to eat or food with enough nutritional value for someone who works hard all day.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely be:
Subjected to physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

If you were a restavek child, you would most likely:
Never have all of your rights as a child respected.