Restaveks: Haiti’s Invisible Children
As we flip through the pages of history books or visit a house along the Underground Railroad, slavery seems to be a thing of the past. However, as the saying goes, “history repeats itself”¾or simply lives on. Today slavery is no less a reality than it was 150 years ago when Americans warred over emancipation or when, over 200 years ago, Haiti’s slaves revolted and succeeded in creating the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
Today, an estimated 300,000 Haitian children are “restaveks”, or child slaves. Restavek is a Creole term originating from the French words “reste avec”, meaning “to stay with”.
Schools are scarce in the rural regions of Haiti, and families are often desperately poor, with too many mouths to feed. Consequently, rural families often send their children to stay with an urban host family in the hopes that their children will be cared for and educated. However, these children are rarely nurtured and just as rarely sent to school. Rather, they become enslaved; they become restaveks.
One such child was Jean Robert Cadet, whose impoverished mother died when he was four. He was sent to live with a wealthy prostitute named Florence who raised him as a restavek. Cadet awoke every morning at 5:30 to complete such chores as cleaning the chamber pots and sweeping the yard. The first to wake up each morning, Cadet was also the last to fall asleep.
In addition to being exploited for his labor, Cadet was beaten for even the slightest infraction. Once, after Cadet accidentally broke a glass, Florence struck him across the face with a heeled shoe, causing his eye to bleed and swell shut for several days.
Perhaps more egregious than such physical violence, however, was the denial of any love or affection toward Cadet. Barbara Mustard, a French teacher and friend of Jean Robert Cadet, describes the isolation that Cadet faced as a child: “Jean did not have friends growing up and he never had adult conversation. He had never experienced a hug...before age 16.” As a restavek, Cadet was not allowed to speak out of turn. Because of Cadet’s abject social status, he was denied the privilege to interact, to make personal contact.
Such physical and emotional violence is commonly committed against restaveks. The stigma of inferiority is ingrained into their consciousnesses. For example, restaveks are forbidden to eat at their host family’s dinner table and are afforded only scraps.
In a BBC interview, Cadet describes the sense of inferiority that shook him years after his life as a restavek: “This particular friend invited me to his home for Thanksgiving, and we were sitting at the table. I broke into a cold sweat. It was my first time at a table with a family, and I faked an illness...just to excuse myself.”
When Cadet was 15 years old, Florence decided to move to the United States, and Cadet followed her to New York. In accordance with New York law, Florence enrolled Cadet in school. He graduated from high school, served in the U.S. military, earned a college degree, and wrote a memoir.
Today, Cadet is married with a child of his own. Driven by a vision of love, he now campaigns for the rights of all of Haitian children, for their freedom, for their chance to have a childhood. Through the Jean R. Cadet Restavek Organization, Cadet works toward the ultimate goal of eliminating the restavek tradition.
However, the deep institutionalization of the restavek tradition in Haiti impedes Cadet’s progress. Firstly, children are not required by law to attend school. Consequently, restaveks have no means of escaping the self-perpetuating cycle of poverty.
Indeed, about 80 percent of Haiti’s population lives below the poverty line, scraping by with less than two dollars per day! According to a 2009 UNICEF report, half of Haiti’s school-eligible children are not in school. Furthermore, only 18 percent of primary school students attend government schools. In addition to limited federal funding for education, expensive school supplies and other costs prevent children from attending school.
Secondly, although Haiti ratified UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, Haitian law has yet to implement provisions that would ensure children’s rights. Although in 2003 the Haitian government repealed the provisions of the 1984 Labor Code that permitted child domestic work, child labor laws are not enforced. Lack of resources is the reason cited for The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs’ failure to enforce regulatory legislation.
The recent January 2010 earthquake only exacerbates the situation. Having decimated the delicate infrastructure of Port-Au-Prince, the earthquake left more children homeless and vulnerable.
Finally, the restavek tradition is so entrenched in Haitian daily life that it no longer fazes most Haitians. Many, especially those who were raised by restaveks, are desensitized to the practice. Cadet comments, “Everybody sees it, and yet those kids remain invisible.”
To confront these barriers, Jean Cadet’s organization raises international awareness, conducts national sensitizing campaigns in Haiti, and develops and implements school curriculum that empowers Haitian children.
In a current project, Cadet seeks to dispel social acceptance of the restavek practice through Haiti’s musical tradition: “What I’m trying to do right now is to change the mentality that is perpetuating the problem, to start a tradition, to have a national singing contest...with lyrics that condemn child slavery.”
Jean Cadet is also pushing for a law that would mandate education for children and lobbying the U.S. government to exert political pressure on the Haitian government.
Not only does Cadet raise awareness among government officials but also among community members in his current home of Cincinnati. As a guest speaker at schools, he recounts his experiences for high school and college students. Of these students, Cadet says, “Maybe one or two of them will stand up and say, ‘You know, I remember this story that was told to me fifteen years ago. Maybe I should do something because I’m in a position to do it.’”
Meanwhile, Cadet continues to pursue the mission that he has chased for nearly 12 years, awaiting the day when someone stands up on behalf of Haiti’s children.