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

Sep
5

2014 September Newsletter

 Uncategorized

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September 5, 2014

Dear Friends:

My summer in Haiti presented many challenges, but I also saw tremendous progress towardchildren rights.

During the month of May, Chikungunya, a virus that causes high fever and severe joint pain, forced many schools to close. I, myself, fell victim to the virus caused by mosquitos while in Haiti. In addition, I was robbed at gunpoint of my camera, laptop and money. However, I was successful in leading a conference of school directors in the city of Gonaives during the second half of my trip. They were enthusiastic and receptive to having their students learn our song to change attitudes toward child slavery. In that conference we distributed 300 CDs, DVDs and copies of the lyrics to more than two hundred principals. Almost immediately they began to teach the song to their students. I got calls from many schools asking me to come see the children singing the song, and I will be visiting them in October.



Some of our children were receiving their First Communion on Sunday, May 28.

On June 8, Haiti celebrated the National Day of the Child with many schools singing our anti-restavek song, radio hosts condemning child servitude and TV stations rebroadcasting my interviews and playing the DVD of Lanbi Konnen. In one of my interviews, I had asked schools to help me reach one million children with the song. This prompted hundreds of teachers and school administrators throughout Haiti to request DVDs of the song. We hope to reach that magic number in a year, as many schools have pledged to teach the song to incoming students,and children who have learned the song are teaching it to their siblings. Last week, I was surprised to see a 2-year-old boy singing the song without missing a word.

In October 2014, we will have two large conferences in southern Haiti, where many schools have been asking for CDs and DVDs. We will need at least 2000 CDs and DVDs of the song to distribute at the conferences to help change hearts and minds, starting with children.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.
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