The Periclean Scholars Class of 2015 has partnered with the Restavek Freedom Foundation to combat the practice of restavek, a form of child slavery in Haiti, by raising $100,000 to provide scholarships for children living in Restavek Freedom Foundation's transitional homes.
When you think of the life you want for your children, what comes to mind? Being good at sports, having a high-paying career, traveling the world? Or perhaps simpler things: being healthy, getting a good education, growing up in a happy home? What would you do to give your child a chance at those dreams?
Would you sell your child into slavery?
Though this is unthinkable to most parents, it is stark reality for many Haitian families. In Haiti, restaveks (from the French “rester avec,” meaning “to stay with”) are child slaves forced to perform household tasks without pay. There are more than 300,000 children living as restaveks, facing a future devoid of hope.
These children are typically born into impoverished rural families that struggle to afford food and shelter. Additionally, many parents cannot finance their children’s education, a heavy burden in a country with no public schools. After living in such a cycle of abject poverty, an offer from distant relations or strangers to take a child and provide for their education sounds like the best way to help their child have a better life. Desperate, the parents accept the offer holding onto the belief that they are providing their children with a more hopeful future. Yet an education and a supportive home are not what await the newly enslaved child.
The life of a restavek is a hard one. Their daily life is filled with cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children of their new master’s family. They often face emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, malnutrition, and a future without education. Back-breaking labor and hopelessness should never characterize a childhood, and yet child slavery remains mostly ignored by the Haitian government and the international community.
Most Americans associate slavery with the Civil War, as something of the past. What many do not realize is the prevalence of child slavery an hour’s flight south of Miami. The irony goes unnoticed that Haiti, a country born from a slave revolution, has now become a breeding ground for the morally repugnant practice of child slavery.
In response, a group of Haitians and Americans have joined forces against the practice of restavek. The Restavek Freedom Foundation (RFF) sits at the forefront of this fight, providing transitional homes for children who are rescued from dangerous living environments, as well as working with restaveks to ensure they receive an education and are able to live healthy, happy lives. The Elon University Periclean Scholars Class of 2015, an organization that promotes sustainable change through international partnership, has joined with RFF to create a $100,000 endowment that will provide scholarships to fund children in RFF’s transitional homes. These scholarships will enable the children to receive counseling after their traumatic experience, a proper education, and the chance to be a kid again.
When you think of the life you would want for any child in the world, what would it be? A healthy home, an education, a happy childhood? You can help make this life a reality by supporting the endowment at: tinyurl.com/2015pericleanfund
For more information on the Restavek Freedom Foundation, please visit their website at restavekfreedom.org.