Children’s Books
Restavek Freedom Writers
Stand Up for Soraya:
Soraya dreams of the life she once knew: a loving mother, school, hope for the future. But now that her mother has died, her father has re-married, and her step-mother treats her as a slave, she feels alone and invisible. Until one day when she meets a little girl named Anita, whose courage and sense of justice could change the course of Soraya’s life. Through this story the authors issue a challenge: Could you have this courage to change a life?
Jenika Sings for Freedom:
Jenika’s life changed in an instant. One day she lived in the countryside with her mother and ten siblings, and the next she moved with her aunt to the city, where she was promised an education but was instead forced into a life of cooking, cleaning, and despair. The only thing that kept her going was her singing. Read this inspiring tale of a girl who overcame the odds, written by girls who understand her struggle.
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In June 2014, fifteen young women from the Restavek Freedom transitional home in Port-au-Prince were issued a challenge: use the power of story to help end child slavery in Haiti. Together with Shout Mouse Press and some dedicated Haitian college students, the girls set out to write two illustrated children’s books that raise awareness about the system of restavek.
Their mission was to shake up their reading public by:
Instilling EMPATHY for children living in restavek.
Creating OUTRAGE at the injustice of exploitation and abuse.
Providing INSPIRATION to stand up, speak up, and make a change.
These two powerful books move readers not only through their well-crafted and imaginative stories, written in both English and Kreyol, but through the real-life stories-behind-the-stories: these writers used their own pain, determination, and heart to put these words on the page.
By writing these books, these authors take control of their stories, reshaping them with power and possibility and hope.
By reading these books, you are letting thousands of children living in restavek know that their story matters, and that their voices are being heard.
Shout Mouse Press is a nonprofit publishing house that empowers under-represented communities worldwide to write and publish their stories. SMP makes unheard voices heard. To learn more about Shout Mouse Press and their work, go to shoutmousepress.org.