Summary

“I have to carry 20 gallons of water per day. Some times I go to bed without a meal. I am suffering from different kind of sicknesses. I am generous and I am a strong girl. I would like to get the chance to go to school like every child.” Fedeline Jean Charles

Household

My name is Fedeline Jean Charles. I am 15 years old. I am a restavek. I am going to school. I was born in Cap Haitian [a town in the North of Haiti]. My mother’s name is Zette Jean and my father’s name is Paulner Jean Charles. I have been living in Port-au-Prince for 10 years.
I have four brothers and two sisters. We have different mothers. Their names are:
Islande is 8 years old
Myraline who is 8 month
Golmerson, 3 years
Wilgens, 2 years
Berving, 6 years
Guvens, 5 month
None of us is going to school. The reason I am living with the other person is that my mother does not have money to feed me, and take care of us.
My father and my mother are living in Cap Haitian.

Living conditions

I have to get up early, because I have many things to do. I carry 20 gallons of water per day. I have to wash the clothes, the dishes, mop the house, sweep, and clean the rooms. I am the only one available; I do everything in the house. I can go to sleep only when I have finished doing everything. It is happening, and I do not feel I can do anything as I do not have a choice. Otherwise they will hit me.
I do not even know how to read and write, because I never went to school in my whole life. My parents do not have money. That is why they sent me to be with someone else.
HEALTH
I am not healthy; I am suffering different kind of sicknesses. I never visit a doctor.
FOOD
I usually have stomachache, because I do not eat often. I do not find food to eat regularly, and I eat once a day. Sometimes, I have two or three days without solid food. The people where I am living try to give me a little food, because they have to do it but not because they want to. They give me my own food because they imagine that I can’t eat the same food with them.

Community information

In the area, we do not have a toilet, and we do not have safe water to drink. The water that we use we do not buy, it is free. There is no school, no Hospital, no market. If we want to buy something, we have to go to Petion Ville [a rich neighborhood nearby].
We are very safe here, but there is no police. In the area, there is empty land where they throw garbage, and sewage.
Education system and opportunities
There is no school in my area. There is no school for Adults or children. There is no vocational school.

Personal qualities and Dreams

I am a nice and polite little girl; I never try to steal from people. I love other children, I respect every body. I love to share the little bit I have with my friends. I can cook, I can comb other children’s hair, and I can do laundry by hand. I love to work, I am laborious, I like to smile but I get angry easily, and I have many friends. I do not like to quarrel on the streets, and I am peaceful. I am generous as I explained above. I am a strong girl.
Dreams
The most important thing for me, I would like to get the chance to go to school like every child. I also would like to get out of the situation that I am in, as a restavek. I would like to become a tutor. I would like to find food easily to eat. I want to get back to my own family. I would like my work to decrease a little bit.

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/

Sponsorship plan

Immediate needs:
More food, and clothes.
Development:
Go to school.
Dreams:
Become a tutor. Learn how to teach.
..
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/