Not Only the Will, But Also the Way

At Restavek Freedom, our main focus is to give all children the opportunity to make it in life.  In addition to advocating for children, we have also developed literacy programs, Library for All (a program that combines technology with reading), English classes, and even a food program to help the children who are living in the most extreme poverty.  All of these programs are very important and valuable for the children we work with.

Our Child Advocacy Program

In our Child Advocacy Program, we see the most vulnerable children, who live in restavek and aren’t living with their biological parents. Most of these children live with a host family where they are not treated well. They are not fed, not sent to school, dressed in dirty clothes and barefoot, and do all of the domestic chores at their host parents’ homes.  They go to bed the latest at night and wake up the earliest in the morning of anyone in the house. These children lack hygiene products and the things they need to take care of themselves.

Since they are not sent to school by their host families, Restavek Freedom decided to hire Child Advocates to locate these children and help enroll them in school. Now we have more than 800 children in our program. Each year, these students receive school uniforms, books and backpacks; their tuition is paid and they have an advocate who visits them on a regular basis in order to understand their situation and intervene. This is something that has great value for the kids and is very beneficial for Haiti.  When the children lack a pair of shoes, something that is necessary for them to be admitted into the school, we provide them shoes.

When a child doesn’t show up to school for a week, we visit them at their home in order to best understand their living situation and meet with their host parents to sensitize them to the restavek issue.  Many of these children live so far away from their schools; it is incredible to see how far they have to walk to and from school. Visiting these children at their homes can really make you stronger in light of your own difficult situations. Children living in tents and in very poor conditions really puts life in perspective.

Every time there is one child who has the opportunity to go to school, there is hope for this country. We believe that education is one of the most powerful engines that will change a nation. Our main goal is to end child slavery in our lifetime, and we believe it is possible. The will is there, and we also have the way for this to happen.