Project description
While Haiti was one of the first countries to abolish slavery around 1800, today some 300,000 children work as slaves in the households of host parents. Restavek Freedom is committed to enabling 'restaveks' to go to school and offers them psychosocial support. Host parents are made aware of their responsibility: exploitation and/or exclusion from school is not accepted. Every child has a right to education and a safe environment! Deputies cooperate with Woord en Daad in this project.
Why this project?
Many children in Haiti cannot or should not stay at home, for example due to poverty. A mediator places them with a host family for a long period of time. There they receive board and lodging. In exchange, the child has to help with the household. The parents often do not know exactly where their child is staying, while the child ends up in a lonely and vulnerable position.
Impact
Every child in Restavek Freedom's programme receives accelerated education. This enables him or her as much as possible to still keep up in society. The child also receives guidance from a social worker. This help is indispensable in building self-confidence and self-awareness. The social worker also ensures a safe home situation for the child, who usually stays with his/her host family. Restavek Freedom is also further committed to raising awareness among church leaders, among others, to treat restaveks with charity. The organisation educates, does prevention in schools and lobbies the government through Woord en Daad.
What can we learn?
The practice around restaveks is socially widely accepted in Haiti. Restavek Freedom breaks current thinking with the biblical message of love and justice. Do we dare to stand up for the oppressed? Do we dare to stand up to the established order? But also: do we intervene when children are disadvantaged?
