Beyond Borders

A Few Words from Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was on an airplane with my five-year-old daughter last year when we got to talking about clouds. “We don’t look like clouds,” I said, “but we are all made mostly from clouds.”

She turned to see if I was serious. “It’s true,” I insisted. “We are made mostly of water. That water started out as clouds that turned into rain. The rain watered the plants and gave us the fresh water we drink.”

I thought about that conversation when a friend recently sent me words she saw etched on the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the National Mall. They were words he wrote from a jail in Birmingham.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.

Isn’t this what Jesus taught? “Whatever you do, even to the very least, you do it to me,” he said. Just as clouds and human beings share a common substance, so too are all our individual choices part of a common moral fabric. When we feed the hungry, Jesus says, we’re feeding him. When we visit a prisoner, we’re visiting Jesus.

This is why it should matter to us if even a single child in Haiti is trapped in slavery--beyond the shock or pity we feel, we are morally present in this child. Some part of us is enslaved as long as this child is enslaved. To struggle for this child’s freedom is to struggle for our own freedom.

Our Fall 2011 newsletter talks about how powerful this awareness can be. To cultivate this awareness, we bring thousands of typical Haitians together in small groups of twelve or so. A typical group includes parents who have sent children away into servitude, adult survivors of child slavery, neighbors who’ve felt powerless to help enslaved children, and even individuals who have children enslaved in their homes.

We guide each group through a six-month process where their awareness grows and they develop the practical skills to begin fighting child slavery. Even adults who formerly enslaved children become vocal advocates and leaders in the movement to end child slavery.

Nearly 5,000 Haitians have participated in this program so far. Many have gone on to form local Child Protection Committees that work on the front lines in the struggle against child slavery. The demand for this training is huge, so our goal is to raise funds to enroll 10,000 more adults by this time next year.

It costs just $70 to train a new child rights advocate.  Think about it; a monthly pledge of that amount would cover a brand new group of 12 Haitians who we will equip to free and defend children.  Will you make that pledge today?

Flying through the clouds that day, my daughter pondered a miracle—our bodies are mostly collections of distant and disparate clouds coalesced into rainwater and infused into living flesh.

It is no less a miracle that a decision you freely make now can coalesce into the freedom of a child in Haiti, and we can say with the prophet Isaiah, “let the clouds burst open and justice rain down.”

Thank you for sharing so freely,

David Diggs

Here is a story from our Child Protection Team in Haiti-

"During the first six months of 2011, ten (10) groups of 10-15 camp residents in the IDP camp at Place Sainte Anne in downtown Port-au-Prince gathered weekly to discuss child rights issues, guided by the story-based ‘Education is a Conversation’ dialogue module. They talked about stories of children and related them to the real-life stories they were living and witnessing each day in their lives. They role-played ways they would intervene in the lives of children suffering abuses. At the end of the sessions, these ten groups each nominated a delegate to serve on the Child Protection Committee, a committee established to serve the role of promoting child protection in the community, and of intervening in cases of abuse of children. In July, eight such committees were trained and inaugurated in different IDP camps in Port-au-Prince.

Below is a report from the committee serving the IDP camp at Place Sainte Anne, issued just six weeks after their inauguration.

At 4 p.m. on September 5, 2011, after we had completed a large awareness-raising activity in the camp, a gentleman came to us with a child who had run away. He had been living in restavèk with a woman who cooks food and sells it on the street. He was being mistreated by the woman.

This twelve year-old boy talked with us about his situation. He told us the names of his parents and shared that they live in the Kenscoff area (mountaineous region to the south of Port-au-Prince). We asked for advice from (Limyè Lavi staff) and we were advised to refer the case to Zanmi Timoun (a local organization working in collaboration with the Haitian state and IOM to reunify restavèk children with their families).

Since it was late in the day, Zanmi Timoun advised us to hold the child in a safe place, which we did. Zanmi Timoun staff came to see the child the next morning and conducted an initial interview. Later that day, two other staff came and did a more lengthy intake with the child, and then visited the woman where the boy was in restavèk. They asked us to hold the child for one additional night and to care for his needs.

The next day they (Zanmi Timoun staff accompanied by an agent from IBESR -Institut du Bien-être Social et de Recherches) came to collect the child. They thanked us for the good work we are doing. We feel this work was a success.

We have since confirmed that this child is now living temporarily with a trained and monitored foster care family while Zanmi Timoun conducts the search to find his family. The presence of the child protection committee within the camp community at Place Sainte Anne ensured that this boy received the appropriate response from trained individuals in his own neighborhood. They were able to refer him to the appropriate social services agency."

Spring Newsletter Online

Our Spring 2011 Newsletter is now available online.  Read a story about a group we trained that intervened to rescue a child slave, learn more about our Rethinking Power program to end violence against women and girls, and get an update on our cholera response efforts.  Access it here: http://www.beyondborders.net/NewsEvents/Spring2011Newsletter.aspx

More than 1,000 children's rights trainers trained in the last six months.

Our Child Protection Program has been leading children's rights workshops for local Haitian groups and residents living in tent camps in Port-au-Prince. Between November 2010 and April 2011, more than 1,000 people received the skills necessary to be trainers themselves, so that they can train others to intervene on behalf of children. Read more about our Child Protection Program here: http://www.beyondborders.net/WhatWeDo/EndingChildSlavery/ChildProtection.aspx

New Apprentices in Haiti

We have two new Apprentices from the US who will be living in Haiti for the next year (or more). You can follow their experiences via their blogs here:  http://www.beyondborders.net/WhatWeDo/TransformingtheMissionModel/ApprenticeshipinSharedLiving/CurrentASLers.aspx

Esther's Story

 

You might not even believe this story. After all the bad news 2010 brought Haiti—an earthquake, a cholera epidemic, and political turmoil—good news can seem implausible.

But, as this story will illustrate, the best news often follows really bad news. And this story begins with really bad news.

 

Esther was only 11 years old when her parents in the countryside decided to send her away to live with a family in Port-au-Prince. This family promised they’d pay for her schooling in exchange for a little household work. While Esther was heartbroken and missed home, she was finally getting to attend school… at least for the first few months.

 

But then the family suddenly moved to another neighborhood without telling Esther’s parents. She was no longer allowed to go to school, and for the next three years every waking moment was filled with nothing but work and abuse. She had become what Haitians call a restavèk—a slave child.

 

Then on the afternoon of January 12 while Esther was out at the open-air market the earth began to convulse and the house that had been her hell was flattened. Without this house, the family had no more use for her and abandoned her to the post-quake chaos.

 

We wouldn’t know Esther’s story were it not for a courageous young woman named Myriam Saintquitte. She’s one of 113 caseworkers that the Beyond Borders team in Haiti trained right after the earthquake to identify and protect children who had become separated from their families.

 

Myriam was introduced to Esther by a caring elderly woman who had found Esther wandering a nearby street. The woman struggled to protect Esther and keep her fed.

 

Myriam needed to get the details of Esther’s story to start the process of finding her family. Keeping any professional distance during that first interview was impossible. Myriam wept withEsther and held her as she recounted her painful odyssey.

 

Myriam returned to meet with Esther frequently, making sure the elderly woman was able to provide for the basics. Meanwhile Myriam’s colleagues worked in the countryside trying to find Esther’s family.

 

The team wasn’t certain that Esther’s family had survived the quake because they lived in Petit-Goâve, a town that was close to the epicenter. Eventually though, their hard work paid off, and Myriam got a call that Esther’s parents had been found. Myriam talked to Esther’s mother who was ecstatic because they’d given Esther up for dead.

 

Esther’s entire extended family and neighborhood gathered to welcome her home. Myriam wept again, this time with tears of joy, as she witnessed Esther and her mother embrace for the first time in years.

 

Myriam stays in close touch with Esther to make sure the reintegration with her family is going well and that she is settled into a school that can meet the needs of a 14-year-old who’s had almost no previous schooling. Esther says she’s never been happier.

 

This is not an isolated story of hope and happiness. So far, nearly a thousand children have been reunited with their families by caseworkers we’ve trained.

 

But there are tens of thousands more separated children. This is partly why our plans for 2011 are so ambitious.

 

For example, we plan to train over 16,000 Haitian adults to serve as child advocates for vulnerable or abused children. We also want to help Haiti develop a formal alternative to therestavèk practice—a functioning foster care and adoption program for kids who are orphaned or whose parents can’t be found.

 

We know that our plans are ambitious.  We're working hard to make sure that 2011 brings a year of progress, relief, and continued hope for Haiti.

 

Mourning and Contrition

Other children wore brightly colored school uniforms. But for a full year little Fedo and Myriam wore black. My little neighbors had been orphaned when their mother Nadege died of AIDS.

That was over 20 years ago when I first lived in Haiti and the tiny nation was the first in the world to suffer the full onslaught of the AIDS epidemic. Initially many assumed that AIDS had originated in Haiti. It took years to prove that AIDS had be brought to Haiti (probably by sex tourists), and that Haiti was just especially vulnerable to the rapid spread of the virus because of extreme poverty. 

The summer before last a total of four hurricanes swept over Haiti in a four-week period and killed over 1,200 people. These storms went on to strike Cuba where only 8 died. Why the difference? Again, just as Haiti had been especially vulnerable to the devastation of a virus, the denuded mountains of Haiti and sub-standard urban drainage and housing, each a consequence of extreme poverty, left Haiti much more vulnerable to flash floods from these storms.

Six months ago today thirty-five seconds of shaking from a 7.3 magnitude earthquake again demonstrated the vulnerability poverty creates. A quarter million people were crushed and killed under the rubble. Those who were spared were left traumatized and struggling to survive. Over a million and a half are still homeless.

It is this same poverty that is making recovery so difficult.

We could talk in this message about all the work that Beyond Borders is doing in Haiti, how we're making a difference.

But in this moment when we remember all who died sixth months ago, it is more fitting that we simply take a moment to remember them, mourn their loss, and recognize that Haiti's people suffer so much not because of natural disasters or "acts of God," but because of an unjust economic world order that allows a people so exploited for centuries to continue suffering the consequences of exploitation and neglect. 

Mourning and contrition and a re-commitment to working for a different world are all fitting for this moment when we remember all those lost six months ago today in Haiti. Too many children have been orphaned. Too many are left vulnerable.

David Diggs

Other children wore brightly colored school uniforms. But for a full year little Fedo and Myriam wore black. My little neighbors had been orphaned when their mother Nadege died of AIDS.

That was over 20 years ago when I first lived in Haiti and the tiny nation was the first in the world to suffer the full onslaught of the AIDS epidemic. Initially many assumed that AIDS had originated in Haiti. It took years to prove that AIDS had be brought to Haiti (probably by sex tourists), and that Haiti was just especially vulnerable to the rapid spread of the virus because of extreme poverty. 

The summer before last a total of four hurricanes swept over Haiti in a four-week period and killed over 1,200 people. These storms went on to strike Cuba where only 8 died. Why the difference? Again, just as Haiti had been especially vulnerable to the devastation of a virus, the denuded mountains of Haiti and sub-standard urban drainage and housing, each a consequence of extreme poverty, left Haiti much more vulnerable to flash floods from these storms.

Six months ago today thirty-five seconds of shaking from a 7.3 magnitude earthquake again demonstrated the vulnerability poverty creates. A quarter million people were crushed and killed under the rubble. Those who were spared were left traumatized and struggling to survive. Over a million and a half are still homeless.

It is this same poverty that is making recovery so difficult.

We could talk in this message about all the work that Beyond Borders is doing in Haiti, how we're making a difference.

But in this moment when we remember all who died sixth months ago, it is more fitting that we simply take a moment to remember them, mourn their loss, and recognize that Haiti's people suffer so much not because of natural disasters or "acts of God," but because of an unjust economic world order that allows a people so exploited for centuries to continue suffering the consequences of exploitation and neglect. 

Mourning and contrition and a re-commitment to working for a different world are all fitting for this moment when we remember all those lost six months ago today in Haiti. Too many children have been orphaned. Too many are left vulnerable.

David Diggs

Other children wore brightly colored school uniforms. But for a full year little Fedo and Myriam wore black. My little neighbors had been orphaned when their mother Nadege died of AIDS.

That was over 20 years ago when I first lived in Haiti and the tiny nation was the first in the world to suffer the full onslaught of the AIDS epidemic. Initially many assumed that AIDS had originated in Haiti. It took years to prove that AIDS had be brought to Haiti (probably by sex tourists), and that Haiti was just especially vulnerable to the rapid spread of the virus because of extreme poverty. 

The summer before last a total of four hurricanes swept over Haiti in a four-week period and killed over 1,200 people. These storms went on to strike Cuba where only 8 died. Why the difference? Again, just as Haiti had been especially vulnerable to the devastation of a virus, the denuded mountains of Haiti and sub-standard urban drainage and housing, each a consequence of extreme poverty, left Haiti much more vulnerable to flash floods from these storms.

Six months ago today thirty-five seconds of shaking from a 7.3 magnitude earthquake again demonstrated the vulnerability poverty creates. A quarter million people were crushed and killed under the rubble. Those who were spared were left traumatized and struggling to survive. Over a million and a half are still homeless.

It is this same poverty that is making recovery so difficult.

We could talk in this message about all the work that Beyond Borders is doing in Haiti, how we're making a difference.

But in this moment when we remember all who died sixth months ago, it is more fitting that we simply take a moment to remember them, mourn their loss, and recognize that Haiti's people suffer so much not because of natural disasters or "acts of God," but because of an unjust economic world order that allows a people so exploited for centuries to continue suffering the consequences of exploitation and neglect. 

Mourning and contrition and a re-commitment to working for a different world are all fitting for this moment when we remember all those lost six months ago today in Haiti. Too many children have been orphaned. Too many are left vulnerable.

David Diggs

Other children wore brightly colored school uniforms. But for a full year little Fedo and Myriam wore black. My little neighbors had been orphaned when their mother Nadege died of AIDS.

That was over 20 years ago when I first lived in Haiti and the tiny nation was the first in the world to suffer the full onslaught of the AIDS epidemic. Initially many assumed that AIDS had originated in Haiti. It took years to prove that AIDS had be brought to Haiti (probably by sex tourists), and that Haiti was just especially vulnerable to the rapid spread of the virus because of extreme poverty. 

The summer before last a total of four hurricanes swept over Haiti in a four-week period and killed over 1,200 people. These storms went on to strike Cuba where only 8 died. Why the difference? Again, just as Haiti had been especially vulnerable to the devastation of a virus, the denuded mountains of Haiti and sub-standard urban drainage and housing, each a consequence of extreme poverty, left Haiti much more vulnerable to flash floods from these storms.

Six months ago today thirty-five seconds of shaking from a 7.3 magnitude earthquake again demonstrated the vulnerability poverty creates. A quarter million people were crushed and killed under the rubble. Those who were spared were left traumatized and struggling to survive. Over a million and a half are still homeless.

It is this same poverty that is making recovery so difficult.

We could talk in this message about all the work that Beyond Borders is doing in Haiti, how we're making a difference.

But in this moment when we remember all who died sixth months ago, it is more fitting that we simply take a moment to remember them, mourn their loss, and recognize that Haiti's people suffer so much not because of natural disasters or "acts of God," but because of an unjust economic world order that allows a people so exploited for centuries to continue suffering the consequences of exploitation and neglect. 

Mourning and contrition and a re-commitment to working for a different world are all fitting for this moment when we remember all those lost six months ago today in Haiti. Too many children have been orphaned. Too many are left vulnerable.

David Diggs

Responding to Sexual Violence in Haiti's Camps

Sara Siebert wrote us from Haiti after a particularly moving experience in one of the camps in Port-au-Prince. Her message tells of the crucible of contrasts Haiti is, especially since the earthquake. Violence and love, fear and courage, extreme pain and relentless joy all intermingle in a crowded camp of earthquake survivors.

Sara is our newest staff member in Haiti and was recruited to join Beyond Borders well before the earthquake struck in January. She came to us with tremendous expertise in developing programs to prevent sexual and domestic violence and support survivors of this violence and has more than 13 years experience working with large and small organizations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

With Sara’s leadership and support from the International Rescue Committee, Beyond Borders just completed two weeks of training for women leaders in three large camps. Here’s what Sara wrote:

"I just came from a particularly tough camp in Port-au-Prince today. There’s a zone within it where a lot of prisoners who escaped when the prison collapsed have been living. It’s not an easy place to be a woman.

When I first arrived a few weeks ago, I came looking for potential support people for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. I asked around about who was respected in the community—who did women flee to when they needed help? At first no one wanted to be involved. They said: ‘yes, women are beaten here all the time, and raped. We hear them screaming and there’s no one to help them. It’s too dangerous to get involved.’ 

But little by little, we found women who wanted to help and were not afraid. They had incredible spirits and guts and life to contribute. We invited them to training—several days of reflective training on peer counseling and basic community network building related to violence against women. Later, I went back to see what they had learned.

They showed off their skills in listening and non-directive options giving. Then we started to chat. They sang a song they’d learned, and we got up to dance. People’s capacity for spontaneous joy in the most unlikely places astounds me!

Other women came out of their tents to see what the joy was about. Then the women wanted to show us their homes, so we marched through the most dangerous part of camp. Big, tough guys watched as these 10 incredible women marched through their neighborhood like they finally owned it. We met their families and danced together.

 Seeing the joy of those women who are unafraid to be joyful made other women start smiling—and that’s the miracle that keeps me going!"

Yesterday The New York Times ran an article highlighting the plight of Haiti’s children in the wake of the devastating earthquake. It offers a haunting picture of their new reality and the daunting challenges we face in reaching these most vulnerable quake victims: 

“Haiti's children, 45 percent of the population, are among the most disoriented and vulnerable of the survivors of the earthquake. By the many tens of thousands, they have lost their parents, their homes, their schools and their bearings. They have sustained head injuries and undergone amputations. They have slept on the street, foraged for food and suffered nightmares.”  You can read the entire article here.

The article emphasizes that despite their remarkable resilience, these traumatized children are at risk—at risk for malnutrition and physical and emotional health problems. And the many thousands of unaccompanied children—orphaned, lost, and separated from their families—are also at risk of being abducted into illegal adoptions, the sex trade, and child servitude. 

What the article doesn’t say is that a large percentage of the children in Port-au-Prince were already living apart from their families in domestic servitude at the time of the quake—and how extremely vulnerable those children are, whether they remain with them or are abandoned. 

For more than a decade, Beyond Borders has been on the ground working to end child servitude and create a better life for Haiti’s children. Our experience and the understanding we've developed  allow us, along with our partner organizations, to play a critical role in enhancing the reach and effectiveness of other international agencies seeking to help Haiti's children. We’re working closely with Free the Slaves, which supports our sister organization, Fondasyon Limyè Lavi to:

• train relief workers to register unaccompanied children,
• adapt the international response to Haiti's unique reality,
• develop systems to trace children to their families,
• and support the creation of child safe areas in the camps of the homeless. 
  

Tens of thousands of children have been made more vulnerable by this quake. Your support for our efforts is making a difference on their behalf. We're committed to these children for the long-term, long after this disaster fades from the headlines and the relief agencies have moved on to the next disaster.