Happy 2014!
2014. That sure sounds a long way from 1994 and it is. This time of the month in 1994 I was in the middle of my first trip to Haiti, and had no idea, like all of us, what the future held for us. Without a doubt, it was not a great time to make your first visit to Haiti. Then President Clinton had just sent troops there to remove General Cedras from power after he had taken over the country in a violent coup and ran “president for life” baby doc Jean Claude Duvalier out of the country.
There is an old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” and this can be said about Haiti. Although many things HAVE changed and for the better, some things are just the same as they were, or, in some cases worse. In recent months protesters have clashed, demanding President Martelly resign. According to a published report from the BBC and forwarded by Sandra Mignot, Haiti has recently seen a series of protest marches amid growing public anger over the rising cost about everything people buy, along with reports of high level corruption. President Martelly is accused of spending money on luxury vehicles and useless international trips. Kind of sounds familiar.
Another problem that points back to the government is the garment factories. There are 24 in the country, most in Port Au Prince and Cap Haitien in the north. In a report prepared by the Workers Rights Consortium and published by the New York Times, “the majority of Haitian workers are being denied nearly a third of their wages”. These factories supply T-shirts and shorts for companies like Gap, Target, JC Penney and Wal-Mart. Workers who are paid by the piece earn 300 Haitian gourdes for an 8 hour day, or about $6.90 US. But the report found most need much more than the typical 48 hour work week to meet the quota and then were paid at a lower rate, about $4.60. That’s per day–not hour. Of course, those who have a job have no other place to turn, so they continue with what they have.
And finally, a problem we have mentioned in the past: child slavery or as it is called in Haiti, restavek. Restavek is a Haitian Creole word meaning “one who stays with”. Poor, rural families send children to live with a family of better means, usually in urban areas. The children are sent with the understanding that the family will clothe, feed, quarter and educate them in exchange for their work. In reality the children are denied food, water, a bed to sleep in, and suffer constant physical and emotional abuse. The Christian Science Monitor, citing a report of the Walk Free Foundation, found that there are between 200,000 to 220,000 enslaved people, mostly children who live with families not their own in Haiti. Thought most don’t consider this slavery, we are not sure what else it would be called. The top three countries in the world with the highest percentage of “enslaved” people are, west Africa’s Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan.
You may wonder why would we begin the year pointing out problems like these, but these are just three of the many problems our friends live with on a daily basis. Although there is little we can do about these, other than pray, there are problems we CAN do something about and that is to continue doing as we have, with your help almost two decades: providing nutrition, education, healthcare and above all God’s love.
We appreciate the sacrifices you made to help our friends during 2013 and look forward to what 2014 holds for them and the ministry. We pray this will be your best year ever.
