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

May
2

2015 May Newsletter

 Uncategorized

Click here to download PDF version.


Dear Friends:
I am ecstatic about the transformation that's taking place in Haitian cities and villages, because of LANBI KONNEN, the children’s song against child slavery. The workshops we organize to distribute CDs of the song to school officials are very successful. I have been, for many months, inundated with calls from schools inviting me to see their student bodies sing the song. It’s always heartwarming to see the children dramatize certain parts of the lyrics. Teachers and principals are telling me that the song is the right tool against child servitude, because they can hear them singing it in the playground during recess. And these children are teaching it to their friends and siblings. Please see my latest YouTube video at: http://youtu.be/WFM4RdXIGkg



On April 10, 2015, we organized a large conference in the city of St. Marc. I was the guest of Rose-Marth, a principal who lived on the second floor of her elementary school. She had volunteered to help me organize the event at a high school’s auditorium, a venue provided by the superintendent. Rose-Marth had sent out 300 letters of invitation at her own expense. She helped me rent chairs and a sound system, and buy snacks and drinks for the invited. She brought in 60 of her 300 pupils to sing at the conference. Many teachers wept as I spoke of my childhood spent in servitude. Mr. Isaac Volcy, the Superintendent of Public Schools in St. Marc, told the teachers to learn and to teach the song. Before I left St. Marc, I offered to pay Rose-Marth for having housed and fed me for two days.



"No, Jean-Robert. You have given us the tools to end child slavery. We should be paying you for the work you’re doing.” She has volunteered to organize conferences and workshops around the song in other cities.

We want to empower one million children with the song so that in ten years this new generation will bring the change that Haiti needs. Child slavery will be socially unacceptable, and all Haitian boys and girls will have hope for their future.

Thank you so much for your continuing support,
Jean-Robert Cadet

Post a comment

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.
Copyright Jean-Robert Cadet Restavek Organization. All rights reserved. | Site by: Sound Press Design