I am currently staying in the house of Etienne and Betty Prophete. They are a Haitian couple who have over 13,000 children in their schools, feeding programs, clinics and hospitals in Haiti. They have offered me a place to help with their work in Haiti and here in West Palm Beach with the Haitian/American youth (many of whom are searching for their place in this world).
I want to remind you why we are interested in the work in the Dominican Republic and Haiti where children are exploited and abused by the thousands...
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This is an excerpt from the children at risk foundation:
Slavery ended in Haiti in 1804, but nearly two hundred years later slavery continues to exist in Haitian society under a new name, restavek, the Kreyol word meaning "stay with". Restavek is Haiti's form of child domestic work, resulting in no less than 300.000 child slaves. After years of maltreatment and abuse, many of these children will eventually be abandoned to the streets, weak and ineligible to live any normal life.Through the exploitation of African slaves, Europeans in their colonies and the European market itself, flourished from the profitable plantations, the profit-creating slaves and the siphoning of money into the European market.
Today, the availability of resources in Haiti is scarce and the standard of living is low, making this one the most impoverished and underdeveloped nations in the world, where people live in stark deprivation and terror. The country lacks a steady economy and political stability. It’s tragic inability to enforce important laws leaves street children and restaveks totally unprotected and abandoned by society.
Unlike the visible street children, constantly appearing in public places and thereby accessible for investigation and aid, restaveks are hidden away in the private realm of the home, a social space controlled by masters, hindering any chances they have of being helped. Because this space is private, child domestics are difficult to reach, count, investigate or rescue.
On average, restaveks work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, have extremely poor health, nutrition, low educational attainment and their living conditions are appalling. They sleep on the bare floor or on a mat on the floor next to their master's bed or under the kitchen table. They use an old rolled up dress as a billow or a blanket. Restaveks wear dirty, old clothing and shoes with holes in them, sometimes too big for their small bodies. Also, they are permitted to bathe only once a week. While these children prepare meals for their masters, they are not allowed to eat with the family and must wait until everyone finishes and leaves the table in order to eat the leftovers from the meal that he or she cooked. The master requires that the child domestic use a specific plate, cup, and fork, made out of tin and bent out of shape. The restavek must wash and store these utensils separately, perhaps for a fear that he or she will contaminate the rest of the family's "good" dining equipment. The child is further separated from social life as the restavek spends virtually the entire day indoors unless he or she is fetching water, cleaning chamber pots, or visiting the market. And while indoors, he or she sits in isolation when not doing chores. These children are not allowed to speak unless their owners speak to them or permit them to speak. In addition to the daily schedule and tasks and the living conditions, these children suffer great physical and emotional danger, are beaten, tortured, raped, falsely accused and verbally assaulted. www.carfweb.net/I want to thank you for staying with me on this journey. My sincere home is that we can make a difference for these children.... one project at a time.
Shane
