The recent earthquake in Haiti gave the rest of the world a glimpse of a form of child suffering that often goes unseen. When a group of American missionaries were accused of child trafficking, many people were confused by the story that unfolded. How could parents have been desperate enough to agree to simply give their children away to strangers? Sadly, this wasn't just an isolated event that only happened because of the earthquake. Thousands of poor Haitian parents send their children away to live with strangers every year, desperately entrusting them to people who tell the parents they will help provide their children with a better life. But not all of these children are transferred to well-meaning caregivers who plan to give them an education or help them find adoptive families. Instead, many poor Haitian children end up trapped in child servitude.
Many Americans watching media coverage of the earthquake were moved by the poverty in Port-au-Prince, but the images from Haiti's capital actually overlooked a devastating reality: the level of poverty in the nation's rural areas is even worse. Almost half of Haiti's population is under age 18, so children are hit very hard by the country's deep poverty, and rural children and families are especially vulnerable. The American organization Beyond Borders has been working to serve the needs of the poor in Haiti for almost 20 years, and the child servitude crisis, which they call a "brutal form of modern slavery," preys on rural families and is one of their main concerns.
As Beyond Borders explains, "Even before the quake, roughly one in ten [about 300,000] Haitian children, mostly girls, were living apart from their parents in unpaid domestic servitude -- working endlessly, without the opportunity to attend school or play. Some were orphans, but many more were sent by their parents in poor rural communities to live with urban families who falsely promised to feed, clothe, and educate them. Desperate and destitute, these parents thought they were giving their children a brighter future. Instead, those boys and girls endured -- and continue to endure -- unimaginable humiliation and physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Because the Haitian government has had no system in place for protecting or even registering these children who live apart from their parents, they have been absolutely defenseless."
The name for these children in Haiti is restavèk, a Creole word that comes from the French reste avec, "stay with," but has evolved to become a general slur meaning worthless. Some of these restavèk children may have been among the traumatized boys and girls we saw on our television screens after the earthquake -- now more alone and afraid than ever. What can be done to help them? Beyond Borders is one of the organizations fighting for them on several fronts.
First, they try to stop and reverse the flow of children into servitude. One key step is conducting campaigns to educate rural parents about the real risks of sending their children away. Another is making education available for rural children. Beyond Borders notes that, right now, fewer than half of Haiti's rural children attend school, most of those who do never finish elementary school, and fewer than four in 100 graduate from high school. But many parents wouldn't consider sending their children away if an education were available to them at home, so Beyond Borders is working to improve the quality of rural schools and provide scholarships for rural children. They are also investing in rural development overall, providing hope for families who live in these areas.
For children who are already caught up in the child servitude system, Beyond Borders is raising awareness of children's rights and developing a grassroots movement to demand that government, civic leaders and citizens do more to protect children from exploitation, abuse, and neglect. They are helping train Haitian police to enforce existing laws protecting children, and training adult survivors of child servitude to become the core of a new abolitionist movement speaking out against the practice. In the wake of the earthquake, there was an outpouring of international compassion for Haiti's children and a new urgency focused on creating a system to ensure children in need were properly documented and safely cared for until they could be reunited with family members or safe caregivers. Beyond Borders is now working with the government, UNICEF, Save the Children, and others to seize this moment of care and concern and fight for the same protections for all of the country's vulnerable children. I am so grateful to Beyond Borders and all those like them committed to keeping children safe, ensuring each one a childhood, and making sure no child believes he or she is worthless.
Follow Marian Wright Edelman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChildDefender
I hope Haiti's "new" government will have the backbone it needs to redo its tattered social contract with an eye towards supporting those most in need rather than its bloated upper classes.
Haiti's basic problem is that it is fatalist - believing that religion causes and will solve its problems rather than taking responsibility for action. Until Haitians take responsibility for their government, whether or not their buildings stand up, and how many children they have, no amount of aid from abroad is going to solve their internal problems. It's a tragedy. If they can't let go of their superstitions and religion, then they at least should decide that God helps them that helps themselves.
There's the rub. Too many Americans believe that poverty is the fault of the poor. If they continue to say to themselves that "God helps them that helps themselves" - then, today's wealthy western Christians don't have to be compassionate and/or generous.
If only more of these individuals would spend some time reading the Gospels and learning about Jesus and His deep concern for the poor. Perhaps they would stop blaming those who are suffering. While there is a time and place for "personal responsibility" speeches - it's interesting how the speeches are typically aimed at the weak and vulnerable (those being taken advantage of) and almost never aimed at the wealthy and greedy (those oppressing others).
Jesus commanded that we "love". We are told to "love God" and "love our neighbors". There's nothing "loving" about telling people without options that the daily horror they face is "their fault". Perhaps some of us need to spend a few minutes reading the Parable of the Sheep and Goats.
Solutions include:
Fair wages. The ten cents/hr that people working in sweatshop are making is not helping out the situation.
Fair trade instead of Free trade thru the establishment of rules that prevent rich countries from exploiting impoverished countries.
Rich countries must stop supporting corrupt government in impoverished countries
Haiti is a creditor not a debtor nation. Force the country that owes it to pay up.
It seems that those in power always want a large supply of "cheap workers". To them, children are considered "expendable" and their suffering is viewed as acceptable "collateral damage".
If the elite in our nation will allow OUR weakest members to be exploited, it's little wonder that they ignore the poor children overseas. It 's truly a sin how many of the world's children are treated.