Being a parent in Haiti is hard too—especially in rural areas where there are few schools, hunger is common, and poverty is especially severe.

Even before the devastating earthquake, about one in ten Haitian children, or an estimated 300,000, mostly girls, were living apart from their parents in unpaid domestic servitude. Some were orphans, but many more were sent away by their parents in poor rural communities to live with urban families who falsely promised to feed, clothe, and educate them.

Destitute and desperate, these parents thought they were giving their children a brighter future. Instead, the vast majority of those boys and girls endured—and continue to endure—unimaginable humiliation through physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

A child living in servitude is often called a restavèk, a Creole word that literally means a "stay-with." This term is used as an insult to say someone is worthless, and this is how restavèk children generally feel.

A typical restavèk child is forced to work from dawn to dusk and given little or no time to attend school, play, form friendships, or rest. Almost all these children grow up emotionally wounded and illiterate. As adults, they become part of the poorest economic strata of the poorest nation in our hemisphere.


Working to End Child Servitude

Together with our partners, Limyè Lavi (Light for Life) Foundation, Beyond Borders has been working tirelessly to nurture a growing grassroots movement in Haiti and bring an end to child servitude.

Our integrated strategy—which supports the growth of a national child rights movement demanding the Haitian government to take a stand against the exploitation of these children—includes:

• Training and deploying child rights workers
• Educating parents about the grave risks facing children who are sent away
• Mobilizing local grassroots groups and uniting them to combat child servitude
• Working to address the roots of the problem—extreme rural poverty and the lack of quality rural schools

Prior to the earthquake, our work was having a real impact:

• Some parents were deciding to keep their children
• Others were rescuing children they had already sent away
• Neighborhood advocates were giving care and hope to children still trapped in servitude

Then the devastating earthquake hit—orphaning thousands more children and leaving countless others homeless, lost, and abandoned. Though it has set us back, it has also presented a unique, albeit tragic opportunity.

Beyond Borders is now playing a key role in shaping international relief efforts to document, register, and reunite separated children with their families. Because we have been working effectively on behalf of Haiti’s children for nearly twenty years, we are uniquely equipped to provide the care they so desperately need following the quake.