Emmanuelson is a 10-year-old little boy who lives with a stranger. He watched other children go to school every day, but his host parents didn’t have work and could not pay for him to go to school.
One day, he heard about Restavek Freedom and the efforts to send restavek children like himself to school. When we were able to place him in a school, he was overwhelmed with joy!
But a problem arose on his first day of class. Emmanuelson did not even have an old backpack and his host parent was unable to buy him one. Arriving at school the director met him and said, “Where is your backpack?” He replied in a sad voice that he doesn’t have one and his host parent doesn’t have the money to buy him one. It affected the director. Emmanuelson was the only one who didn’t have his backpack in his class and the other children laughed at him. He felt uncomfortable among his new classmates and he asked to go home, but the director wouldn’t allow it.
Later on this same day I distributed the backpacks in his school. When I gave him his backpack, he was overjoyed! He was running to his classmates to show them, and went to the director and said, “Madam look! I have a brand-new backpack!” At this moment, he felt equal to the other children. He spent the whole day with a smile on his face.
I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who help with backpacks. Thanks to you, many children do not feel inferior to others. I am already counting on you to help children like Emmanuelson, because I know that you have a big heart.
– Jude Celestin, Child Advocate
Give a child in restavek the joy of receiving their own backpack filled with school supplies for $25! Visit restavekfreedom.org/backpacks to learn more.
