Summary

“I wash dishes, scrub the floor, carry the water, sweep the floor. I don’t feel good because I am always working. I never have fun and I don’t like to play. I loves school, but I can’t go, I am very unlucky. I eat once a day, at noon, but the food is not enough for me.” Marie-Ange Joanise

Household

My name is Marie-Ange Joanise. I am 12 years old. I was born in Citron, a slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I have never gone to school. I am a restavek. My mother’s name is Manese Fabien, and my father’s name is Rigaud Joanise. He is dead since 2004. I am not living with my family, because my mother can’t take care of me. After the death of my father, she wasn’t doing anything to make a living. She had to send me to other Family. My mother has 4 children.
Their names are:
Milande Joanise who is 14 years old.
Michael Joanise who is 16 years old.
Johnny Joanise is 10 years old.
My mother can’t send them to school. She has to share them in another family. I don’t have relative nearby. Where I am living, I am working hard. I am doing all things in the house, because I am a Restavek. I wash dishes, scrub the floor, carry the water, sweep the floor, throw garbage in the empty land and wash clothes. I don’t feel good because I am always working. I never go to school but I love school.

Living conditions

I loves school, but I can’t go, I am very unlucky. I don’t have the chance to go to school.  My father is not alive and I don’t have any family living nearby. My mother, Manese is living with her friend at Delmas 4 (also in Port-au-Prince), and she doesn’t do anything to make a living.
I am poor. None of my sisters go to school. They are sharing a room in another family’s home. My mother waits for someone to give some food, and she gives the rest to them. She doesn’t do anything to make a living. She is a Restavek too, because she doesn’t have money to rent a house. She stays in a friend’s house and shares the children with another family.
I am treated like a slave. I work hard. I wake up in the morning at 5:00 am, wash the dishes, scrub the floor, and carry 10 buckets of water every day.
EDUCATION
I don’t know how to read and write, because I have never gone to school in my life, but I know how to count. My family can’t send me, but I love to go to school, I would like to go to school, to study many things.
HEALTH
I am not healthy. I often have fever, headache, and diarrhea. I never go to see Doctor, because the people where I am living don’t care about me.
FOOD
I eat once a day, at noon, but the food is not enough for me. I don’t eat at the same time with the people that I live with. Since I am a restavek, I eat only rice, corn with no vegetables or meat. I don’t eat regularly sometimes; I eat three times a week. Sometimes I take sugar water with bread. After that, I am going to sleep without eating solid food.

Community information

Marie-Ange lives in Citron, an extremely poor slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Personal qualities and Dreams

The most important thing for me is my education, and to go back to my family. I would like to go to school. I would like to find better food. I love to work. I am laborious. I am not gentle, so sometimes I reply with people when they make me angry. I am angry easily. But I respect everybody. I am shy. I love to smile. I am friendly. I never have fun and I don’t like to play. I love to share with my friends when I have something. Sometimes, something that makes me sad sometimes, when I see some other children enjoy herself with her parents. It makes me sad too. Because I can’t do it with my family, because I am not living with my family. One day if I see that I come back to my own my family, I will be very happy.
Dreams
I would like to go to school, find better food, and go back to my family. I would like to be healthy. I would like to become a Doctor and artist. I would like to have time to play, and reduce my work. I would like to go to learn flowers. I would like it if my mother has something to do.

Sponsorship plan

Immediate needs:
Reduce work, have sufficient food to eat.
Medical care
Clothes and shoes.
Development:
Go to school.
Dreams:
Get out of misery
Help her mother rent a house
Become a Doctor and artist and learn flowers.
Send Marie-Ange back to her family [Not part of first year Sponsorship plan]
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The specific plan for the first year of the Partnership is as follows:
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Research and Workshops ($35)
School, including uniform and supplies ($133)
Medical care (up to $35)
Birthday celebration ($12)
Available: $18 x 12 months = $216
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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/