Global Family

 

Linès was born November 10, 1998, in Leogane, Haiti, to an impoverished couple that was unprepared and unable to take care of her. Her father died and her mother disappeared before she ever got a chance to know either of them. After her father died, her aunt brought her to Port-au-Prince and found a family that would take her in. From the age of two onward, she lived as a “restavek” – which means that she was given a place to sleep and food to eat, but was forced to work for this privilege from the moment she was physically able. In Haiti, restavek children are barely seen as human. They serve their host families hand and foot. They are the first to rise in the morning and the last to lie down and sleep, usually on the floor. Children in this situation accept it as their lot in life. They suffer all kinds of degradation that are unimaginable even for other impoverished Haitian children who at least have one or two parents to care for them.
 
Before Linès began participating in our House of Hope program for restavek children, she was continually abused. But ever since she was discovered by our staff and invited to enroll in classes, her life has seen a dramatic change. Now, thanks to the curriculum which seeks to inform the students about their human rights, Linès now understands the rights accorded to her by the Haitian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Before she would have simply continued to live as a slave, believing that she somehow deserved this life because she was born to parents who could not care for her. Now she understands that every human being, including herself, deserves to be treated as such. In addition to that, she has received education on what her responsibilities are as a citizen, and how important it is to respect those responsibilities.
 
She quickly learned how to read and write. And because our program is a strong advocate of peacebuilding, she has learned how to resolve conflicts peacefully. This education has allowed Linès to shine as the natural leader that she is. She has moved to the head of her class, and she is the star of the dance troupe. All of this was made possible because she was given a chance to develop her own self-confidence.

 

House of Hope Survives the Earthquake
 
In the same way that Linès has gone through a radical change, our program itself has been transformed following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12. The building that we were using at the time of the earthquake was barely big enough to house the program. The building was badly damaged during the earthquake, though fortunately nobody was killed or injured there. However, it was immediately clear that we would need to find a new building. For several weeks they set up tents in the street and provided hot meals to people in the community that had lost everything. The staff worked with other MCC partners to do play therapy with the students and create a safe place where they could reflect on what had happened, and imagine a brighter future for Haiti.
 
Then, in March, the program had the good fortune of finding a large building that could easily house all of their programs. The owner was moved by the work of the organization, and offered the building and the land to the House of Hope program for a price quite a bit lower than its market value, especially considering how much real estate prices shot up after the earthquake. With the support of MCC and other funders, we were able to make the purchase and renovate the space. The amount of work required has been enormous, but as a consequence House of Hope has raised its profile in the community. This has allowed us to become a more powerful advocate for the rights of restavek children in Carrefour Feuilles. At the same time, this greater level of influence and visibility has meant that the number of students served by the organization has doubled. With the support of Global Family, house of Hope is able to offer a lifeline to one of Haiti’s most vulnerable populations, and effect change in the community, including people’s attitudes towards restavek children, on a level that they could not have imagined just a year ago.
 
While House of Hope and the neighborhood of Carrefour Feuilles continue to adapt to the post-earthquake reality, there is an upcoming presidential election in Haiti which colors much of the news day to day. In Haiti’s history, elections have been a cause for much hope, but at times they have also provoked violence among political partisans. The House of Hope program is taking advantage of the opportunity to illustrate to the students in a very real way what democracy is, and how to participate in a positive way for the betterment of the country. Before coming to House of Hope, every student would have easily been written off as ignorant and unable to participate as a citizen in a democracy. Now, they are in the course of being transformed into model citizens who know their rights and responsibilities. Even though they cannot vote yet, the students already understand quite well what an important process this is.