Comments on: Coming to terms with child slavery in Haiti http://jmcstrategies.com/2008/08/12/coming-to-terms-with-child-slavery-in-haiti/ strategies for a developing world... Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:50:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Claudine http://jmcstrategies.com/2008/08/12/coming-to-terms-with-child-slavery-in-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-794 Claudine Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:19:24 +0000 http://jmcstrategies.com/2008/08/12/coming-to-terms-with-child-slavery-in-haiti/#comment-794 There are so many advocates for the problem, so many voices. But, are we really helping if we do not hear the voices of those who claim are enslaved. Are we really helping if we ignore those who are calling out for help out of the mire of the slave system? If we can only talk the talk and not let the former or existing slaves tell their stories, not let their own voice be heard, then we are continuing to promote slavery by using their story to promote ourselves while their voices remain shut. This is the voice of a woman raised as a slave crying for help. Here is her story at the following site: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1462481; here is her book: http://www.claudineetienne.com. Will you listen to her cry and help free her, or will you continue using the slave story to promote your own voice while slavery continues to in Haiti for generations to come? There are so many advocates for the problem, so many voices. But, are we really helping if we do not hear the voices of those who claim are enslaved. Are we really helping if we ignore those who are calling out for help out of the mire of the slave system? If we can only talk the talk and not let the former or existing slaves tell their stories, not let their own voice be heard, then we are continuing to promote slavery by using their story to promote ourselves while their voices remain shut. This is the voice of a woman raised as a slave crying for help. Here is her story at the following site: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1462481; here is her book: http://www.claudineetienne.com.

Will you listen to her cry and help free her, or will you continue using the slave story to promote your own voice while slavery continues to in Haiti for generations to come?

]]> By: Dr Roger Malebranche http://jmcstrategies.com/2008/08/12/coming-to-terms-with-child-slavery-in-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-106 Dr Roger Malebranche Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:10:18 +0000 http://jmcstrategies.com/2008/08/12/coming-to-terms-with-child-slavery-in-haiti/#comment-106 Indeed the retavek system is deeply rooted in Haiti and for generations. Like every system it works according to the user or the abuser. When I was young my mother had children brought to our house by their parents because they wanted them to be educated and have a better life. They were wiewed as members of our family and worked but every one of us had work to do. Sometimes the restavek is a member of a poorer side of the family and the parents are looking for a better future. Many get adopted by the host family. The children at my home received a better than basic education. They went to night school and my mother supplemented their knowledge by her teaching. The young man went to carpentry school and through our family connections became a rich and powerful real estate man in Haiti. His children are doctors, accountants etc... The Two Girls were married at our home and their families have also done well, much better than the children born in our own family. All are now living in the USA or Canada. I never thought of those 3 as restaveks. They were extended members of my family. I know this is not the classic scenario but many decent and loving people took good care of those children who otherwise would have been Haitian homeless people and left to die in misery. There are horror stories of course but in every facet of life there are horror stories. But if the people in search of sensationalism look deep enough they will realize that there is more to the restavek tradition than abused children sold into slavery. If we look around the world the problem of children being abused by bad people is not unique to Haiti. I agree that the system of using children for work is despicable but the same thing holds true in India, China, the Middle East, many of the African countries and even in the good old U S of As. Reporting on the ills of our world is good and struggling to abolish them should be applauded but please make the reporting a balanced one. There are people jumping on the band wagon and screaming who would not give a plugged nickel to a homeless, hungry, sick Haitian child. Remember the children working in the fields of many European countries, children going blind from tying tiny knots in to be expensive oriental rugs... hours after hours, days after days. Like any bad institution the restavek system has to be fought and destroyed but we have to provide something to those children who are going to be left on the street to fend on their own. The best way would be to have a welcoming center where poor, homeless, neglected children could turn for help and solace, but Haiti itself needs help and solace. Indeed the retavek system is deeply rooted in Haiti and for generations. Like every system it works according to the user or the abuser. When I was young my mother had children brought to our house by their parents because they wanted them to be educated and have a better life. They were wiewed as members of our family and worked but every one of us had work to do. Sometimes the restavek is a member of a poorer side of the family and the parents are looking for a better future. Many get adopted by the host family.
The children at my home received a better than basic education. They went to night school and my mother supplemented their knowledge by her teaching. The young man went to carpentry school and through our family connections became a rich and powerful real estate man in Haiti. His children are doctors, accountants etc... The Two Girls were married at our home and their families have also done well, much better than the children born in our own family. All are now living in the USA or Canada. I never thought of those 3 as restaveks. They were extended members of my family. I know this is not the classic scenario but many decent and loving people took good care of those children who otherwise would have been Haitian homeless people and left to die in misery. There are horror stories of course but in every facet of life there are horror stories. But if the people in search of sensationalism look deep enough they will realize that there is more to the restavek tradition than abused children sold into slavery. If we look around the world the problem of children being abused by bad people is not unique to Haiti. I agree that the system of using children for work is despicable but the same thing holds true in India, China, the Middle East, many of the African countries and even in the good old U S of As. Reporting on the ills of our world is good and struggling to abolish them should be applauded but please make the reporting a balanced one. There are people jumping on the band wagon and screaming who would not give a plugged nickel to a homeless, hungry, sick Haitian child.
Remember the children working in the fields of many European countries, children going blind from tying tiny knots in to be expensive oriental rugs... hours after hours, days after days.
Like any bad institution the restavek system has to be fought and destroyed but we have to provide something to those children who are going to be left on the street to fend on their own.
The best way would be to have a welcoming center where poor, homeless, neglected children could turn for help and solace, but Haiti itself needs help and solace.

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