Theories and Reasons
From Roslyn…
In my epidemiology classes we talk about infectious diseases mostly as they apply to developing countries. There are always numbers thrown around—as they apply to public health. As someone who has seen a little of the realities behind these numbers, I often find myself defending them. I get defensive because I know that many who have not seen the context will only see the number and not the human beings and the lives behind those numbers. Individuals and groups will be dehumanized, and in the end the poor themselves will be blamed for their own misfortunes.
In 2000 UNICEF estimated 300,000 children living in Restavek in Haiti.
It’s a big number, but the significance of this numerical value is intensified for those of us who have seen the innocent eyes, the withdrawn expressions, the small and calloused hands, the tiny dirty bare feet, the new scars on top of the old ones, and of course the hopelessness of it all. Real children.
There is a quote by Winston Churchill that usually puts things into perspective for me: “Once in a while you will stumble upon the truth, but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened.” Sometimes as I retreat back to my home and think about the days work, I realize my defensiveness is not only because of my desire to show people the numbers mean much more than simple numbers in textbooks, but it is also my way of rationalizing the injustice. If I could only understand why so many mothers die while giving birth or why parents send their children to live in servitude, than maybe it would make more sense in my head and I will feel more at ease in my world. After all, would child servitude exist if there were not poverty? My way of picking myself up is figuring out the so-called reasons. As individuals sometimes we get caught up with the reasons and theories that we miss the point entirely.
The danger is that these perceived reasons make us more comfortable with the problem and more willing to brush it off—as something that will pass when other problems are taken cared of. For me, I pick myself up by continuing to live as I always did despite knowing that such a human’s rights violation exists. It is an injustice that should not subsist—regardless of the reasons.
I am learning to put my energy and force less on defending my home country and people and more on teaching others what I know the 300,000 means and what I know can be done about it. 300,000 children in servitude may have to do with the fact that 80 % of this nation lives on less than a dollar a day or because our country is broken, but the biggest cause of child slavery is that so many of us are OK with the fact that children live in servitude. Too many of us have picked ourselves up and continued on our way.
The point is and has always been: No child should be stuck in servitude—period.
There are 300,000 children living in restavek in Haiti...but not for long. We want to end this form of child slavery in our lifetimes. Join us in Standing Up for Freedom.
