Haitian kids suffer in servitude

[struggle4progress]

Long hours and beatings fill days of children sent away from home
June 13, 2005

BY GARY MARX
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Each morning, 13-year-old Claudia Lundi wakes at 4 and begins cooking, sweeping, fetching water and doing other household chores that last until well after sunset. <snip>

Born in the southwestern city of Jeremie, Haiti, Claudia has been working as a servant for five years. She is one of tens of thousands of Haitian children sent by their impoverished parents to work in the homes of relatives or strangers for nothing but room and board.

Known in Haiti as restaveks from the French phrase rester avec -- "to stay with" -- children in such conditions are growing in number as Haiti's crisis deepens 15 months after the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, according to social workers and experts.

As heavily armed pro-Aristide gangs battle United Nations peacekeeping forces and threaten elections scheduled for fall, there are few signs of progress in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. <snip>

http://www.freep.com/news/nw/haiti13e_20050613.htm

Behold the glorious Ownership Society ...

[MichiganVote]

1. Haiti is hell on earth