Summary

“I can sleep only for two or three hours. I sleep in the house on a piece of carpet. Sometimes I spend the night on my feet when it’s raining, because I sleep under the bed. When the rains stop I have to clear the water out from the floor where I sleep. I have a dream. I would like to become a doctor.” Christmarie Dorelien
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Household

I was born in Jeremie (a rural area in Haiti) on August, 23, 1997. I am 12 years old. My father is dead,. My mother’s name is Berenice Augustin. She is 42 years old. She lives at Jeremie. She works in the field for a little bit of money. That’s not enough to take care of her 8 children. I have six brothers and one sister.
Nenel, who is 21 years old
Osnel, who is 19 years old
Frenel, who is 17 years old
Kenlove, who is 15 years old
Kenson, who is 6 years old
Tiga, who is 3 years old
And Christell, who is 4 years old
I never went to school, because my mother has no way to send me. So she sent me to Port-au-Prince to live with Gislne as a restavek (child slave). I am living with her for one year. She does not work.

Work

I get up early and go to bed late. Every day I wash dishes, scrub the floor, clean the table, wash clothes, and go to get water. I throw the garbage, and look after children. Sometime I am feeling so tired I just do house work. I go to play when everybody is out. But I can sleep only for two or three hours.

Education

I could not go to school because it is me who takes care of all the things in the house. I would kike to go to school but they don’t give me that chance. The other children of my block can go, but not me

Food and Nutrition

I eat once a day, when they cook food. And sometimes I go to bed without a meal. I do not eat at same time with everybody else. It’s a hard for me to eat. They have plenty of food for themselves, but they give me very little. While they eat I go to buy ice, and orange or lemon for making juice. I am tired. I can’t eat well because my belly is full with gas. It’s not good.

Shelter and Clothes

I sleep in the house on a piece of carpet. It is uncomfortable. Sometimes I spend the night on my feet when it’s raining, because I sleep under the bed. When the rains stop I have to clear the water out from the floor where I sleep.

Health and Medical

When something hurts me they buy me some medicine in the street. It is always like that. 

Personal qualities and Dreams

I am kind and honest. I am not shy. I am little girl who likes to share with other kids. I like to tell history, the truth. I love to play but I can’t. I love fruit like apple, mango, and orange. I love animals. I do not like to fight. I don’t like it when someone steals from me. I would like my life to change, and I would like to go to school.
Dream
My health and my studies are the things most important for me. I have a dream. I would like to become a doctor. I think I can reach it if only I can go to school. I hope to find someone to help me going to school.

Restaveks

According to UNICEF, as many as 300,000 Haitian children live apart from their families in unpaid domestic servitude. Although the treatment these children endure varies, this practice is generally regarded by international human rights groups as a modern form of slavery.
Many of these children are forced to work endlessly, with no time to attend school, play, form friendships, or rest. Physical and sexual abuse is common. About three quarters of these children are girls, many of whom end up pregnant from rape during adolescence.
This usually leads to their being forced from the household often with no place to go but the streets. Almost all these children, boys and girls, grow up emotionally wounded and illiterate.
They are used until they are used up, run away, or become too big to control and are turned out to fend for themselves. If they survive, they grow up to fill the poorest economic strata of the poorest nation in our hemisphere.
A child living in servitude is often called a restavek, a Creole word that literally means a “stay-with.” The word restavek has come to be a foul word in Haiti, an insult one would use to say someone is worthless. And this is how restavek children generally feel.
(From Beyondborders.net)

Specific programs

The specific plan for the first year of the Partnership is as follows:
Research and Workshops ($35)
School, including uniform and supplies ($133)
Medical care (up to $35)
Birthday celebration ($12)
Available: $18 x 12 months = $216
Sending the restavek (child slave) back to live in their family is not included in the first year, but can be part of a longer-term plan. Our main focus is personal development, especially going back to school. Food, clothing and shelter are not addressed in this plan, but options for additional help in these areas are available. The Financial plan page will allow you to trace how your money is being used at all times. For more details about our programs, including the research, workshops and classes which each partner participants in, go here: http://peopleinneed.info/index.php/plan/program/C95/

Video clip

Christmarie Dorelien December 29, 2009

Sponsorship plan

Immediate needs:
Food, Clothes, Health care
Development:
School
Dreams:
To become a doctor and go back to my family one day