Summary

Gabriel is eleven years old, and a restavek (indentured servant or child slave). His mother had no way to take care of him, so she gave him to another family. He eats white rice, one time per day, and has festering sores on his limbs. Sponsorship level: $12 per month.

Household

Gabriel’s mother is Juditte Mack. Juditte has three children. She doesn’t have any way to take care of Gabriel, so she gave him to another family.
Nadyeje is the mother of the family where he is staying.

Personal information

Gabriel has a nice smile, and is relaxed and sweet.
He lives with a family that uses him to do household work. He buys water, washes dishes, and scrubs the floor.
There is not enough rest. And Gabriel doesn’t eat enough. One time per day, rice. White rice (with no vegetables or meat), with Maggie (a kind of bullion flavored mostly with MSG).
He does go to school – second grade – but it is a school that is much worse than the one their other children go to. The school is not being paid, so he may have to stop.
Gabriel says he likes to play with any kind of toys.
He is sick, with fever, and has sores on his knees and elbows. There are six sores, the size of a quarter.
Where he’s living now, the family can’t help more than they are doing.

Community information

He lives in the neighborhood of Peeblay, in Delmas 75, which is in the heart of one of the poorer neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
A local organization called AMACHU is seeking help for him. AMACHU, the Association Moderne Appplique por le Combat Humanitaire (Modern Association for Humanitarian Struggle), is a non-political association which seeks to help children in need. This organization tries to find help for school and food, and works with 400 children, including restaveks, orphans, and poor children.

Self-survey

Unique path

We asked Gabriel’s mother, ‘What do you need in order to get him back?’ She said that she doesn’t have a house to live in. She stays with her friend. She is not working. But she would like to work in a house, and start a small business, selling rice, oil, and spices. 

Life Plan and Sponsorship

Immediate needs
He needs medical help.
He needs more and better food.
Goals and dreams
Return to his mother.
Be able to continue going to school.
Development
Sponsor the mother in a small business.
Sponsorship level
$14.00 per month for one year. These funds will be used for the items described in the Life-plan, with focus on Development, which is a way of connecting immediate needs with goals. The sponsor is able to help guide the choice of priorities. Local organizations will monitor use of the funds, and the sponsor will receive monthly or bi-monthly updates of progress.

Restaveks

According to UNICEF, as many as 300,000 Haitian children live apart from their families in unpaid domestic servitude. Although the treatment these children endure varies, this practice is generally regarded by international human rights groups as a modern form of slavery.
Many of these children are forced to work endlessly, with no time to attend school, play, form friendships, or rest. Physical and sexual abuse is common. About three quarters of these children are girls, many of whom end up pregnant from rape during adolescence. This usually leads to their being forced from the household often with no place to go but the streets. Almost all these children, boys and girls, grow up emotionally wounded and illiterate.
They are used until they are used up, run away, or become too big to control and are turned out to fend for themselves. If they survive, they grow up to fill the poorest economic strata of the poorest nation in our hemisphere.
A child living in servitude is often called a restavek, a Creole word that literally means a “stay-with.” The word restavek has come to be a foul word in Haiti, an insult one would use to say someone is worthless. And this is how restavek children generally feel.
(From Beyondborders.net)

Interview details

Interviewed on February 16, 2008, by Geoff Bederson, Laura Reynolds, and Cajuste Jean-Louis.