By Mathia Philippe, Child Advocate

I’m glad to share with you about Maglande*, a 15 year old girl from our Child Advocacy Program.  She goes to one of our partner schools in Port-au-Prince and is in the 6th
grade. Maglande loves to smile. I have taken a lot of time to talk with her and get to know her, and she is always glad to talk and share with me.

Maglande is one of the children in our program that we have identified as being “at risk.”  This means that Maglande is not living in restavek, but due to her family situation,
she is at very high risk of being sent into restavek.  While we are caring for and advocating for children who are already in the restavek system, we are also working hard to prevent more children from ever entering the system in the first place.  Maglande is one of those precious children.

The last time I met with Maglande, she shared with me:

I’m living with my mother and my father, but my father is always sick. We depend on my mother to provide for all of us in the house. My mother used to sell small things to pay my school, but even this was very difficult to do. Just feeding me was hard enough for her. It has been very hard for her to make any money to provide for us.

When I was recruited into the Restavek Freedom program in 2014, I felt very happy because I saw that my life was about to become better, and that things would get better. Since that day, I have been able to go to school and I even received school supplies. I study a lot to pass, and I encourage my classmates and many other children to give importance to their studies so that they can succeed.  

I thank so much Restavek Freedom who helps me and I love my advocate Mathia. I believe that one day I can become an important person in my country and the whole world because I found the opportunity to go to school. I now have hope for myself and my family.

Children like Maglande will never have to experience the horrors of restavek, thanks to Restavek Freedom.  We work hard to prevent and protect them from
ever having to experience the loneliness, abuse and exhaustion they otherwise would.

*Child’s name has been changed to protect their privacy.