RESTAVEK FREEDOM
THE
FREEDOM REPORT
2016 FALL NEWSLETTER
E : INSoIfD m Freedo
cy ne A Lega elped o h u o y y How is famil h e v i g boy ! freedom p.4
HIGHLIGHTS CHILD ADVOCACY GROWS
STUDENTS LOVE EXHIBIT!
We have recruited 100 new children and
Our Day-in-the-Life of Restavek exhibit
DATABASE HUGE SUCCESS
CHURCHES SPEAK UP
Because of you, the Haitian Child Protection
Thank you, churches, for partnering with us to
hired two more Child Advocates to our team. To date, we have served more than 1,600 children. Thank you for helping to reach the many children still in restavek!
Police are successfully using their first-ever computerized database, with 1,000 entries and counting. One investigator said, "This is the tool we needed all this time to reach the peak of our work."
continues to engage students and communities around the U.S. Thanks to the Monroe Church of God for hosting us most recently! Consider hosting the exhibit to raise awareness in your community.
end child slavery in Haiti. This summer, three highly engaged churches in PA hosted us and led the charge on a sponsorship drive that resulted in the most new sponsorships ever acquired at one time!
ABOUT US: Restavek Freedom is a movement of individuals, families, communities, churches, schools, and organizations dedicated to ending child slavery
in Haiti in our lifetime. 2
Join us today by sponsoring a child, donating funds, or getting engaged! Learn more by connecting with us: Restavekfreedom.org 513.475.3710 @RestavekFreedom
Sophia moved from dependence to independence through economic opportunity!
BUILDING THEIR FUTURES
TRANSITIONING FROM RESTAVEK TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY In a country with 60% unemployment, five
of the girls from our Transitional Home in Port-auPrince held summer internships! This is a tremendous experience and a chance to develop critical work related skills and build confidence in an environment where job opportunities are rare.
Sophia and Lisena worked
with Rebuild Globally, a social enterprise providing jobs for local Haitians through shoe manufacturing. The girls learned to make durable school shoes out of recycled materials, learning the art of creating beauty out of something as ordinary as discarded tires. Many of the children in our Child Advocacy program will get to wear these shoes to school this year.
Jonia and Rose found jobs in two of the top
restaurants in the area. Meanwhile, Kathia worked as an intern in our Restavek Freedom office in Port-au-
Prince, assisting the Child Advocates with translating our child interviews and helping out with our summer camps.
Excitingly, these jobs were the first
for many of our girls. They worked hard through the summer and earned their first paychecks! The girls felt proud of their earnings, putting much of the money into their own personal savings accounts and purchasing their own school uniforms. Sophia was also able to buy her own pair of school shoes and pay her school tuition for the year!
It’s been amazing to see their confidence grow as they prepare themselves to take jobs after school and move from dependence to independence. Thank you to all our Haitian partners who make internships like these possible. We are also so grateful for generous donors like you who believe in these girls and make this work possible.
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Evans' dream came true, and now his whole family has a brighter future!
A LEGACY OF FREEDOM 4
HOW FREEDOM FOR ONE LED TO HOPE FOR A FAMILY
Evans' mom died when he was only seven years old. Not knowing his father and suddenly parentless, he and his siblings were moved from their hometown of Jeremie, in the west of Haiti, to Port-au-Prince to live in restavek. That’s when Evans’ nightmare began. In an unfamiliar city, his new life consisted of fetching water, going to the market, sweeping the outside of the house and doing laundry. Evans had so much work that he was always the first to rise and the last to sleep. He wasn’t allowed to touch the other children’s things, and worst of all, he was often beaten for no reason.
One day, a neighbor witnessed him being
place to live, but Evans was again put to work. If he wanted to eat, he had to fetch water multiple times a day and clear out the trash. Evans didn’t feel well at this house either. He continued to move from house to house, trying to find somewhere stable to live. Finally he landed with a friend. It was then that we met him.
Evans wasn't going to school and was very tired
all the time. When we invited him into our program and offered him an education, Evans was elated! We also provided him a Child Advocate who would help and support him. We visited his home to check out his living situation and began to help him socially and psychologically. Evans began to improve. He passed all of his exams. Two years ago, Evans took the 6th grade state exam and passed! He decided to move in with a good friend of his and chose to go to a secondary school near his new home. He did well his 7th grade year, and started his 8th grade year well also, but he began to express that he was really ready to have a job. We asked him what kind of job he would like to have, and he confided that he wanted to be a driver.
beaten and took him to live with her. Evans was happy, thinking his life would change. Instead, things grew even worse. He Evans with his lived with her for two years, Child Advocate and although she enrolled him in Recognizing Evans’ dream, a small school, it was very difficult we helped him enroll in a driving for him. He didn’t have school books or school. He completed his classes, and is a notebook, and he only had one very old pair of now working as a driver! He is able to pay the rent shoes. for his house and eat when he wants. He has gained He was always late to school and never got to attend a full week at a time because on top of Evans' regular workload, he also had to take care of his host’s four children. He had to get them ready for school in the mornings. When they came home, he was responsible for bathing, feeding and supervising them.
When Evans realized his life had not gotten any better in this new house, he left and lived on the street. One day, he met a man who offered him a
weight, is growing physically, and saving money. Not only is he free from living in restavek, Evans is now also providing for his brothers and sister so they can go to school. His freedom has led to his brothers’ and sister’s freedom. Evans’ family is no longer in restavek! Through your investment in our Child Advocacy program, you've helped Evans create a legacy of freedom for him and his family! 5
SONGS FOR FREEDOM REACHES MASSES PURSUING A VISION FOR A "HAITI WITHOUT RESTAVEK" You are empowering Haitians to
reach every region of their country with a second season of our innovative singing competition that uses music to pierce hearts and protect children!
Equipping Haitians to protect children in their community
A HEART FOR JUSTICE MILESTONE: 70,000+ TRAINED ALL ACROSS HAITI!
Ending child slavery in Haiti is an audacious goal, but
it can happen as heart and minds are awakened. As light is shed on the practice of restavek, with all of its abuse and exploitation, good people can’t help but stand against it.
That is at the heart of what you are making possible At the southeast competition one woman shared: “After attending this competition, my heart is transformed... I thought it was normal for a child working at home to be treated with harshness and brutality. But after seeing this event... I understood it is urgent to change my attitude.”
Thousands have been introduced
to a bold vision. This next generation of Haitians is crying out for an end to the restavek system. Thank you for helping bring forth a new reality in Haiti. 6
through our Justice Curriculum training. Dedicated trainers walk alongside church and community leaders to teach them what is happening to these children and what both the law and the Bible say about how we treat children. These leaders then take their members through a 12-week curriculum.
“I am grateful for the justice training,” shared
one community leader. "There are three people in my church who really mistreated children living with them (in restavek). Since we have walked through the training, they no longer mistreat those children… As leaders, I believe with all my heart that we have to engage in this fight to change people’s mentality.”
We have now trained more than 70,000 people representing over 7,000 communities and churches. Thank you for building this grassroots movement to end child slavery in Haiti!
KNOWING THOSE WE SERVE EXTENSIVE RURAL CENSUS GIVES INVALUABLE INSIGHT INTO RESTAVEK We launched a huge effort to send teams
throughout all areas surrounding our Learning Center in Port Salut to strategically collect census data. Due to the terrain of Haiti, team members had to hike hours up the mountains to speak with each head of household in the surrounding villages.
Families were asked how many children lived in the
homes, how far they walk to get water, what they do for a living, and other important questions. Their responses provide remarkable insight into critical issues such as education, employment, public health, and family planning. This data will allow us to better tailor our activities to serve the rural communities and address the underlying issues contributing to the restavek system.
Our community classes remain strong, as adult students come from miles away to receive training on computers, English, and literacy. Many adults are engaging in our classes and having open conversations about children's freedoms.
Thank you for helping stem the tide of children in restavek by investing in these rural communities!
Teaching English and engaging rural families
FROM THE BOARD
STANDING ABOVE THE FIELD WHY I'M SO PROUD TO BE A PART OF THIS EFFORT By Christine Buchholz
Nearly a decade ago, I
joined the board of Restavek Freedom out of passion for the mission and respect for the founders, Joan and Ray Conn. It has been a privilege to watch this organization as it lives into its mission. I’ve seen us grow from sponsoring the education of our first group of children in restavek, to now connecting with both the poorest children as well as the most powerful leaders in Haiti. Today we are influencing millions of people across the country. None of this would be possible without
"Thank you for believing in the hopes and dreams of the children in Haiti." you! Thank you for sending hygiene packages, sponsoring children, helping to run our summer programs, and so much more. Thank you for believing in the hopes and dreams of the children in Haiti. Thank you for supporting this work with your generous financial contributions.
The road to ending child slavery will
continue to be arduous, but we are clearer about how to work together towards this bold mission. We look forward to continued partnership in bringing freedom for this generation and those to come.
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RESTAVEK FREEDOM
11160 Kenwood Road Cincinnati, OH 45242 restavekfreedom.org 513.475.3710
BE A CHILD'S FREEDOM SPONSOR WHAT’S A FREEDOM SPONSOR? Give freedom and hope to a child trapped in slavery in Haiti or at high risk of being sent into slavery. For $30/month or $360/year, you’ll bring FREEDOM from isolation, illiteracy, and despair. You will partner with a Haitian Child Advocate to provide love, education, and hope! EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF FREEDOM: • • •
You’ll receive quarterly email updates You will also receive an annual card in the mail made by your sponsored child and their advocate And you’ll have opportunities to support your child and advocate in creative ways!
Sponsor today with the enclosed form or at restavekfreedom.org/sponsor