The Power of Movements

As they approached the gate to confront the family, the five Haitian women may not have known that they were about to become part of a social movement. What they did know was that they were about to do something together they couldn’t have imagined doing individually just a few weeks earlier.

For years these women had been bothered by the way a certain family in their Port-Au-Prince neighborhood treated the 14-year-old restavèk* child who was living with them. More recently, the child, whom we’ll call Anita, had fallen ill; yet this family of eight still forced her to work non-stop. These women had seen other children like Anita who were routinely exploited, abused, and neglected. But what could they do?

These women dared to do together what they couldn't imagine doing on their own. From left to right they are Ilyena Josil, Lise Honore, Fosta Nortil, and Delina Narcelus (Berne Exane not pictured). Ilyena also retrieved one of her own children from another family after participating in just a few lessons.

That was before these women joined a child-rights training group designed and supported by Beyond Borders. Every week they gathered with about fifteen other adults to talk about serious issues that shaped the lives of children in their community. These issues were often shrouded in shame and silence domestic violence, sexual abuse, the restavèk practice, and the abandonment of children. The group facilitator we had trained, a young woman named Miriam Saintquite, led the participants through group discussions and role-playing exercises where they rehearsed different ways of intervening to help children who were being mistreated. After just 8 sessions these women who had been thinking about how they might help Anita were ready to act. As individuals they had felt helpless. But together they became clear on what they needed to do and found the courage to do it.

The board and staff of Beyond Borders have also been meeting over the past few months. Like these women, we’ve decided to take action and do something we couldn’t have imagined trying to do before we started meeting. Through an intensive strategic planning process we’ve decided that going forward our sole focus will be to help people build movements in Haiti to liberate themselves from oppression and isolation.

There are four movements in Haiti we have committed ourselves to help build. These are to:
1. End child slavery,
2. Guarantee access to quality education,
3. End violence against women and girls, and
4. Replace systems that oppress the poor with systems that support dignified work and sustainable livelihoods,

We know that this list will seem audaciously ambitious. How could a small organization like Beyond Borders ever hope to achieve even one of these huge goals on a national scale?

We can be this audacious for two reasons: We believe in the power of movements, and we believe in the power of the Haitian people.

The Power of Movements:
As movements bring people together and help them focus on a common goal, their power grows exponentially. Things that were unimaginable before become increasingly possible and eventually inevitable.

These movements are distinct from and bigger than Beyond Borders. Our focus is on helping people build these movements. The movements do the heavy lifting. Our job is to offer tools and skills that emerging leaders need to be able to mobilize the population and push for change. 

In 2011 more than 10,000 Haitian adults will receive the same training these five women received. Pierre Louis Clercius (left) and Rachelle Nelzir (center) are with CISP, an organization based in Cite Soleil, a crowded Port-au-Prince neighborhood that has one of the highest concentrations of restavèk children in Haiti. They receive training to be trainers from master trainer Guyto Desrosiers (right).

The Power of the Haitian People:
The Haitian people are fundamentally far more powerful than most of us imagine. The stories we hear and the images we see, especially after the earthquake, tend to portray Haitians as powerless victims. Those of us who know Haiti well know that there is this tremendous strength in the Haitian people when they come together. It was this power on display at Haiti’s birth when it became the only nation in history to be born of a slave revolution.

Too often, though, the help Haiti has been offered by the outside world has done more to divide and weaken Haiti’s people. Instead of encouraging Haitians to come together and discover their latent strength, much of how outside help is offered has created dependence and benefited a few at the expense of the majority.

The focus on movement building allows us to avoid the trap of help that pacifies and divides the population. By definition, movements mobilize and unite. Movements help people discover their strengths. The five women discovered their own strength as they knocked on the gate to confront this family about the way they were treating Anita. The family wasn’t initially receptive to what the women had to say. It required a second meeting and the women speaking more firmly. “Take this girl for medical care and return her to her parents or we will bring more neighbors together and take the girl from you.” The family was not happy, but they complied. Anita was admitted to a hospital and eventually returned to her parents.

Perhaps an even bigger victory is that word spread in the neighborhood. Families that might be tempted to exploit or abuse a child know that they risk finding these women knocking at their door. The women all went on to complete the full course and form their own neighborhood child protection committee. If anyone in the neighborhood knows of a child facing abuse or neglect, they now know where to go.

What happened with these women in this neighborhood is being replicated all over Port-Au-Prince. By the end of the year, the 18 Haitian facilitators we trained and support will have worked with more than 200 groups like this one. In addition, this year we will have trained another 175 group facilitators who will work on behalf of other organizations. Together through this effort we expect to train more than 10,000 child rights advocates this year—10,000 people willing to make a difference for Haiti’s children like these five women have done and continue to do.

By definition, movements mobilize and unite.  Movements help people discover their strengths.