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

Dec

Last week I was in Haiti

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Last week I was in Haiti, speaking at several high schools about child slavery and its effect on society. This was organized by our grassroots partner, the Maurice Sixto Foundation. Some students were pensive after we showed them pictures of children in rags walking children in uniforms to school. Others admitted to having been cared for by children in servitude.

“For Haiti to go forward,” I told them, “Haitian society must change, take ownership of child servitude and pressure their government to invest in its human capital.” Over the years I’ve come to realize that freedom cannot be exported from one culture to another, and that child slavery is a cultural issue that can only be solved by Haitians.

“But we’re not adults. What can we do? If we intervene on behalf of these children, the adults will tell us to mind our own business,” said a young woman.

“These children are everybody’s business, yours, mine and society’s. Child slavery produces broken adults who become hardened criminals. It prevents children from dreaming about tomorrow because they live in constant fear of the adults they serve. It increases illiteracy and poverty. It’s keeping Haiti from becoming a respectable nation,” I told them.

As they lowered their heads, I suggested that they form after school clubs to discuss the plight of children in domestic slavery and a march to government buildings with signs demanding universal, mandatory education as prescribed by the Haitian constitution. The success of this meeting suggests that I continue to speak at as many schools in Haiti as possible.

I also told these students about the national singing contest, inviting Haitian artists to write songs condemning child slavery. They nodded in agreement. The artists think the songs should be ready by March or April 2011.

These initiatives: a contest that harnesses the transformative power of music, a national school curriculum aimed at changing the mentality that’s perpetuating child slavery, and my speaking in schools throughout Haiti can change the social fabric.

I am certain that child slavery could become, in ten years, a national taboo.

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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.