The Restavek Situation in Haïti

Guy S. Antoine
March 29, 1998

The lot of restaveks in Haiti is often worse than generally let by middle-class Haitians. Slavery-like conditions persist for some both in Haiti, and outside of Haiti, when you consider the lot of our compatriots in the "bitter sugar" fields of the Dominican Republic. For the unfortunate, brutal labor as a means of survival starts well before puberty sets in. This is the shame of our generation.

I too have witnessed unspeakable acts of horror while growing up in Haiti, such as a tiny weeny skinny little girl, absolutely no more than three feet tall, carrying a huge block of ice over her head, and quite visibly straining from the effort of having to carry it from the ice shop which was many blocks away to the house of her benefactors, the people who were entrusted with her care in exchange for her housekeeping services. These kids are not entitled to a day of respite, never mind a long night sleep, a long weekend, a birthday gift, or a kind word...

However, what has become more of interest to me over the years was my personal reaction to this incident. Did it horrify me? That, for sure. I felt extremely ill-at-ease. Obviously, this particular sight also horrified MANY in the crowd of onlookers quickly gathering and even walking along, but at a safe lateral distance, from the little girl. Did I, a fifteen-year old boy at the time, or any of those reproaching adults, do anything at all, to help her in any way? Did any one of us offer to take it upon oneself to relieve her of her oppressing load? No, not one of us did... either we did not care to or we did not dare to. Such is the stuff of which our everyday life is made. And no amount of stern condemnation of Haitians from abroad is going to change an iota in the lives of those little boys and girls in servitude. Only direct action can make a change, if you care to, if you dare to.

The other aspect of this that we so often miss in our broad intellectual debate and condemnation of the attitudes of those who live in Haiti is the conditioning that goes along when one grows up with such attitudes of superiority, based on non-intrinsic factors such as skin color or money. Nobody is born a Jesus Christ. Many of us have come to accept certain evils as NORMAL, because that's what the NORM was around us from birth to childhood, from adolescence to adulthood. If we've become educated enough to be able to recognize right from wrong, then we should think of how to make others see the light, instead of just telling Haitians how bad they really are. We should one day walk up to the little girl and lift the block of ice from her head, rather than walking along in a reproaching manner. I hope that all of my thinking will help me do that in my own life, when I care to, when I dare to...

I remember my appreciation of my mother's generosity in letting "our ti-moun" go to the neighborhood school to learn the rudiments of literacy... in my mind, it was my mother's generosity, not the children's rights. But in spite of all the work they did, from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm, I sometimes wondered why they were allowed in my house to take a mid-day break in the servants' quarters (they were not working!!!). I remember spanking a little girl for maladroitly stealing a little piece of my birthday cake (she left some fingermarks). I forced her to confess by threatening to go to the houngan/bokor, whatever (never mind that I have never been a believer). Terrified, she confessed to her crime, and I punished her accordingly. Unbelievably, it took a few years for me to realize that perhaps she had never tasted cake before. That perhaps, had I been generous enough to offer her a piece of my cake, she would not have felt the compulsion to steal. That perhaps, it was HER right to have a piece of cake too. That simple thought was powerful enough to allow me to profoundly change some of my attitudes. It never was any condemnation from anyone, believe me. The amount of things that are screwed up in this life, and for Haitians in Haiti in particular, is utterly unbelievable, and we ALL participate in it to a certain extent. Only with education, solidarity, and the action that ensues, can we even begin to right the wrongs...


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