A restavek is a child who is sent or sold by their parents to work for a host household as a domestic servant because the parents lack the resources required to support the child. In this situation the child is mistreated, neglected, and abused emotionally, physically, and sexually.
By working with the kids who are in the restavek system as a child advocate, I’ve learned that a kid can’t have a good living situation without love, education, attention, and appreciation, whether he is from the city or countryside.
As the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says, the children need to survive. They have the right to eat, to rest, to escape the pain. They need protection and security. They need to belong, to be accepted, and to be part of a group they claim as their own. They have a need for recognition. They need to achieve their full potential.
In our society we are used to seeing children who do not go to school and who are mistreated. The restavek child knows no physical security, has no private space, and is subject to various violent or sexual assaults. The child is not an integral part of his family’s “home”. Domestic children are often devalued, and they can’t achieve their full potential because they receive no education or vocational training.
For these three months, I worked with these children. I see them every week. I tell them that I share their anxieties and their fears. I realize the great and important work we do with them. We help them to become more confident in themselves and to have hope. We give them love and attention; we work to give them a better future.
That’s why I am proud, so proud, of my work with these kinds of kids who are called “Restavek” because I know that I am doing something useful that will serve for the coming generation.
Natacha D, Child Advocate
