By Francoise Leon, Child Advocate
Lancia is a little girl who has been in
our program for many years. She is now 15 years old and in the 5thgrade. She lives with her family in Port-au-Prince, in
a big family of eleven brothers and sisters.
Lancia’s mother is a street vendor, and
her father is a bus driver’s assistant. Financially, her situation is very
difficult; food is rare at home, and her parents don’t have the means to meet
the needs of the family.
The two oldest kids in Lancia’s family moved
to Chile to look for work, not only for their own survival, but also to help
the rest of the family. They especially wanted to be able to help their
brothers and sisters go to school, but they are not able to provide enough money
for them to finish an entire school year.
Lancia is very short and skinny, and does
not look her age. However, she is very interested in school. Last year, she
missed a lot of days of school because she was sick; in spite of this, she passed
her final exams and is in a higher grade now. I hope this year she will continue to progress
in her learning.
The last time I met with Lancia, she said
to me, “My family and I thank God for you every day, because without your support
I wouldn’t be able to go to school!” She
told me that the day I recruited her into the Child Advocacy Program, she was
very excited!
I am also grateful for the support she
has received from Restavek Freedom, because she won’t have to leave her family
and live in restavek. Now Lancia is able to dream without fear!
