Summary

“My mother sells fruit but it is not enough to feed us. That’s the reason she decided to send me to stay with my another woman. I don’t know to read well. I do not know to write. I went to school only one month for my all life.” Delourde Albert

Household

I was born on May 1. I do not know the year. My father’s name is Dieufort Lajeunesse. I do not know his age. He is farmer. My mother’s mane is Yvrose, I don’t know her age. She is selling fruit to make a living. My father and my mother are not married, and they do not live together.
My father has 10 children with another woman and he is married to that woman. He has 6 with my mother.
We are:
Jocelet Albert the older
Garry Albert
Ti- Gacon Albert
Ti- Frere Albert
Johnny Albert
And I, I don’t know they ages. None of them went to school. Since I left my mother’s house to come live with them as a restavek I know nothing of my brothers. I do not know if they go to school or not.
When I lived with Dad and Mom, Dad farmed the land for us to eat food. He has planted corn, peas Congole and he also sold coal. My Mom she sells fruits like pineapple, melon, and all kinds. My mother is still doing that same little business, but it’s not enough to feed us. She sells fruit but it is not enough to feed us.
That’s the reason my mother has decided to send me to stay with my stepmother. After years with my stepmother mistreating me, I did not want it to stay with her anymore. My mother came to get me and made me stay with another woman. For 4 years I have been far away from her and my brothers.

Work

I don’t go to school. I wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to prepare their daughter of 7 years old to go to school. I prepare food; I’m dressing and prepare the juice forever. I do everything for her so that she can go to school.
After having finished with her I have to go sweep the yard, wash dishes, and go to buy spices to prepare the dinner.
Sometime I wash their clothes. I go to get water for them to use in the house. I go to sleep at ten. I am happy sometimes because when I finish with my work in the house they allow me to watch television.

Education

I don’t know to read well. I do not know to write. I went to school only 1 month for my all life.

Food and Nutrition

I don’t really like to eat much. They usually do give me enough to eat.

Health and Medical

Thanks to God I never got sick and nothing never hurt me, no pain.

Personal qualities and Dreams

I do not like to smile. I do not like to play. I do not have many friends. I have only one friend. Her name is Vergetane. She is my best. I am happy each time I have chance to see her when she’s passing by. When I am with my friend we talk about many things and laugh together.
I am obedient. I do not like when people laugh at me. I can get angry and when I get angry the people that I am staying with say that I am rude. But I know that I am polite with everybody.
Dreams
When I was with my mom, I often said I like to become a dressmaker to sew pretty dresses for her. I would be happy if I could to go back to school again.

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

Delourde Albert, December 30, 2009

Sponsorship plan

Immediate needs:
Have a check up medical
Development:
Go to school
Dreams:
Go back her mother’s house
To become a dressmaker