Monday, October 13, 2008

Haitian Child Servants

In the past few months Haiti has been devastated by multiple hurricanes: Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike. The country's poor are now destitute and those getting by are now struggling. Parents can't afford to feed their children and so as an alternative, they are becoming "restaveks." The term literally means to "stay with" someone else. These children are taken in by families who are better off than their own and the idea is that they will contribute to the household by doing some work in order to earn their room and board and be allowed to attend school. However, in practice what really happens is that they become cheap servants who are underfed and treated as second-class citizens. Very, very few are actually allowed to attend school. It's extremely sad and something needs to be done. When will things change?

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