kudos to all of you!

I just want to make this post very direct and brief. A big kudos to those who, despite all they hear about Haiti are willing to go there and help!

It takes someone with a great heart to go to this country to help! May God bless you!
You might not have the opportunity to go there but in a way or the other you are sponsoring a child or family over there or supporting a missionary working over there, a big than you to you! Thanks to all of you who are writing positive stuff about Haiti!

Some of you have adopted kids from there ! Thank you!

Despite all they are a lot of good stuff happening there! The gospel is being preached full blown! People are coming in term with the Lord!

While we are here driving to olive garden after church, some have to walk miles back to their house and get on their knees praying for a miracle, praying for a dinner! It's not a game!

IF you ever think about going to Haiti make sure you visit Jacmel(South East) you will see a lot about Haiti. The land still needs to be discovered! Beautiful land but poor with a lot of illiteracy! Have you ever seen our art? Go to www.treasuresofhaiti.com for a pick!

Haitians are talented people! We just need a boost! Don't give us a fish everyday 'cause we are surely come tomorrow asking you for another one but, if you teach us how to fish we will take care of ourselves and show how children's children's the trade.

Whatever you are doing in anyway positive for one single Haitian, I want to say thank you and may God bless! You are a blessing to us!

I hope you have a good Sunday!
Kenbe fèm pa lage!

Did you know? Facts about Health in Haiti

Access to sanitation 54% [98th of 129]
Definition: The percentage of the total population with access to sanitation facilities

Contraception 28% [61st of 89]
Definition: % contraceptive prevalence 1995 - 2000. Data refer to married women aged 15-49, but the actual age range covered may vary across countries.

Drug access 0-49% [150th of 163]
Definition: Population with access to essential drugs 2000. The data on access to essential drugs are based on statistical estimates received from World Health Organization (WHO) country and regional offices and regional advisers and through the World Drug Situation Survey carried out in 1998-99. These estimates represent the best information available to the WHO Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy to date and are currently being validated by WHO member states. The department assigns the estimates to four groupings: very low access (0-49%), low access (50-79%), medium access (80-94%) and good access (95-100%). These groupings, used here in presenting the data, are often employed by the WHO in interpreting the data, as the actual estimates may suggest a higher level of accuracy than the data afford.

Infant mortality rate 74.38 [29th of 179]
Malaria cases > per 100,000 15 [76th of 94]
Definition: Malaria cases (per 100,000 people

Maternal mortality 520 per 100,000 [22nd of 136]
Definition: Maternal mortality reported per 100,000 births 1985-1999. The maternal mortality data are those reported by national authorities. UNICEF and the World Health Organization periodically evaluate these data and make adjustments to account for the well-documented problems of under-reporting and misclassification of maternal deaths and to develop estimates for countries with no data (for details on the most recent estimates see Hill, AbouZahr and Wardlaw 2001). Data refer to the most recent year available during the period specified.

Probability of not reaching 40 31.6% [35th of 111]
Definition: Probability at birth of not reaching the age of 40.

Spending > Per person 21 [104th of 133]
Definition: Spending per capita (PPP) in $US 1998.

Spending > Public 1.4%
Definition: World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2002. CD-ROM. Washington, DC.

Tuberculosis cases > Per 100,000 190 [26th of 165]
Definition: Tuberculosis cases (per 100,000 people)

... Now you know

SOURCES: ; WHO (World Health Organization). 2001. Correspondence on access to essential drugs. Department of Essential Drugs and Medecines Policy. February. Geneva; World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators 2002. CD-ROM. Washington, DC; UN 2001 via backone.pdf; CIA World Factbook, December 2003; UNICEF (United Nations Children?s Fund). 2002. Official Summary: The State of the World's Children 2002. New York: Oxford University Press.; UN (United Nations). 2002. United Nations Population Division Database on Contraceptive Use. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. January. New York
Nationmaster

Did you know? Facts about religion in Haiti!

HAITIAN RELIGION STATS: Top Stats All Stats

View this page with: Just Stats Sources Definitions Both
Islam > Percentage 0.04% [152nd of 164]

Islam > Percentage Muslim 0.04% [155th of 168]

Islam > Population 3,248 [148th of 165]

Jehovahs Witnesses 13,849 [59th of 178]
(per capita) 1.51071 per 1,000 people [110th of 177]

Protestantism > Protestants 1,299,460 [50th of 167]

Protestantism > % Protestant 16 % [61st of 163]

Religions
Roman Catholic 80%,
Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%,
other 1%), none 1%, other 3%

Roughly half of the population also practices Voodoo

Religions > All
Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%),
none 1%, other 3%

Religions > Protestant 16 % [23rd of 51]

Religions > Roman Catholic 80 % [33rd of 96]

Roman Catholicism > Catholic 80 % [35th of 170]

Roman Catholicism > Catholic total 6,817,297 [33rd of 170]

Seventh-day Adventist Membership 284,861 [15th of 232]
(per capita) 350,727.653 per 10 million people [28th of 222]

... Now you know

SOURCES: ; CIA World Factbook, December 2003
NationMaster

Child slavery in Haiti

Child slavery in Haiti
How to buy a child in 10 hours!

I am pretty sure by now you have seen or heard about an investigative report ABC Nightline did about Child slavery and how to buy a child in Haiti in 10 hours. From taking a taxi to get to the New York Airport to sealing a deal in an upscale hotel in Haiti it takes him 10 hours. That’s a shame! Was everything they talk about in this documentary true? Does child slavery happen like that? As Haitian (no an expert) what do I think can be done to solve this problem?
Let me give a little back ground about myself. I was raised in a children’s village (orphanage) because my grandma whom I was leaving with could not afford to take care of me anymore. I lived at least a year in the poorest slum of Haiti: Cité Soleil and if you guys want to investigate my claim, I was raised in an oasis place for me called Fondation Coeur pour Haiti available online: www.coeurpourhaiti.org www.heartforhaiti.com www.hartvoorhaiti.nl these websites are respectively in French, English and Dutch.

I was blessed to be granted the opportunity to leave a better life that my misery bitten and aged grandma could not afford to me. When I was living there I did not go to school and I remember I had to stay in line being pushed by kids stronger than I to receive a hot meal from an organization that had a feeding program at the time. Sometimes that was my only meal for the day. Which made me a good candidate for child slavery but thank God Mr. Smoorenburg known as Papi Jean (father Jean) came took care of me in this village where I lived for about 15 years got an education learned English and French, learn to drive, to be better a person for myself and also to help others.

The reason I say all this is just to give you an idea that I am familiar with this subject and I surely can feel the pain of these kids.

Does child slavery exist in Haiti ?
Well, it depends on who you ask? Let me explain myself! Parents who are poor in Haiti which is the case of more than 70% of the population, have no choice since they can not afford to take care of their kids themselves. See, these people they do not have running water, no electricity, school has even become a luxury for them so if they have a family member who is doing a little bit better than them out of their real desire to provide a better life for their children, they ask the family member who has a better life than they do to take the child with them so that she can have a better situation. What happens next is what makes this topic so sad and my heart hurts writing about it. Let’s called the family member with a better economic situation the “host family”. What most of the time they do in return knowing the situation of the child’s parent (s), they start using this child, who is 90% of the time a girl, as a maid ( what people hear refers to as slave). Basically this child is not getting paid, some do not even go to school and they are forced to work literally from sunrise to sunset literally. They are basically the first to wake up and the last to go to bed (to sleep on the floor) while others are snoring. This is a very common practice in Haiti and I am not at all proud of it.
I just want to make sure that I say not everybody being a host family treat the child/children their have as slave. I know a lot of people who sent these kids to school and treat them just like theirs as was the case in the report of a preacher who ended up adopting the girl he was entrusted with.

Unfortunately the people treating kids that bad, are also poor and do not view this kind of treatment as slavery. I do think it is. These kids are treated like the lowest of the low, they have no friends, no body to speak to. I hope the girls featured in this investigation were given a good shelter ‘cause them talking about it could mean them being beaten and kicked out to live in the street. There are a lot of children who refuse this kind of treatment and most of them end up in the street. They become homeless and would do anything to get some money, whether stealing, kidnap and even killing somebody for some money. I am not too sure about the selling of the kids though, since a child can be given to you for the parents know you will feed him/her and pay for her schooling and education not as a slave. I think these guys in the investigation saw an American with money they were going to make some money themselves and were just going to lie to a poor mother into getting her to give her child to the investigator and in return pocket the money. For me there was not going to be a hardcore selling of kids just watching the reactions of the guys the reporter met as well as the waiters who talked to him. Anybody doing adoption in Haiti will testify to you! Do you know how long it takes to get a visa for an adopted child? How in the world was he going to get out of the country with the kid? It is definitely not that easy! Nevertheless, this is a shameful situation and something has to be dome about it!

Who is to blame?
Everybody will say the government but 300 000 kids in slavery is way too much for this poor government who is fighting just to take care of itself. There are not enough structures in Haiti for the government to be able to take care of these kids. They are left alone, forgotten, neglected! It is a very real and sad situation. No one wants to be in this position and specially the parents having to make the decision of entrusting the care of their child(ren) to other family members who they think will be a better opportunity for their kids. Do you know these kids are meanly called restavèk a Creole word meaning staying with. When you call somebody like that in Haiti it is just the same as you call an African American the “N” word. These kids are being hurt all around! How in the world can they become a good person and have a good future for them and their kids? Well, most of them end up in jail for stealing or killing since they have all this anger in their heart, some become prostitutes but believe it or not some, praise the Lord, end up being a good citizen advocating for kids in this situation. They are 10, 000 examples of them ending up bad, all you have to do is to go in the street of Haiti and interview some kids. There is however a good example: his name is Jean Robert Cadet and he has even written a book called: Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-class American so check it out! Read the book yourself as a matter of fact I just bought it while writing this piece.
One thing I want to make clear is that Haiti does not accept slavery as a matter of fact we were the first black Republic to gain their independence against the Napoleon army. We have thought for the independence of many countries such as Venezuela and the USA (there is a monument in Georgia to prove it). I do not, in anyway, shape or form agree with this kind of practice being abused by people thought to be helper. I pray that God speaks through their heart and that they listen to his voice to be nice to these kids and treat them like theirs. I hope the government open more orphanages of children shelter to help these kids and that private institution help as well. They are a lot of orphanages in Haiti but they are not enough. I know there are lots of you who have adopted or sponsoring a child from Haiti and I do thank you. You will not regret it. Helping one child in Haiti is literally helping 3 to 4 families of 4 to 5 kids. You might be thinking how can you help? If the Lord puts it in your heart to bring your stone to the building of a better life to a child, just do your research, find a reliable organization helping kids in Haiti and I strongly suggest Fondation Coeur pour Haiti as one of them and help sponsor a child. You will be blessed and you will feel good. Let’s all join hand together to help eradicate this plague in this impoverish country, it is one thing for adults to be suffering but when you have kids suffering that much ( they are innocent and therefore only victims) there is not much more hope left.
I am a father myself now and can not imagine the pain that will tear my heart to know what a child is going through.
Be thankful to God for leaving a good life and that you are not subject to this kind of treatment at the same time pray and act for those who are powerless and help them. You can also help the country by buying some products from Haiti and I do recommend www.restavecfreedom.org and you can check my my website as well to support the haitian artists: www.treasuresofhaiti.com where you will find some good paintings at a very affordable price. A good way to encourage the artists!

Sponsor a child do you own research! It is your money use it wisely! As long as our economy is that bad (haitian economy ) there will always be people allowing their kids to leave with others whom kids sometime end up with the wrong family.
May god bless you again! I did not write this piece to look for pity but to let you aware of what is really going on. You can help and please make sure you do not do this by emotion but may it be from your heart.

"Restavec slavery is wrong. It is the worst crime imaginable, because the victims are incapable of resisting their adult predators. It is a crime againts nature as well, because the child's very rights to life--to belong, to grow, to smile, to love, to feel, to learn, and to be a child--are denied, by those whose ancestors were slaves themselves."

Jean Robert Cadet
Restavec
From Haitian Slave to Child to middle-class American)Your comments are most welcomed !

A tribute to America

When I was a kid growing up I have always heard about a country called the USA, like I have heard about many other ones. For some reasons I kept hearing more about America than any other country. Growing up in Haiti, I've always heard about the "land of the free" as the "paradise country". IN my young mind, I thought there was a tree growing up money in everybody's backyard, therefore for me from my interpretation of the country I thought that everybody was rich. I have had a lot of expectations for this country and I have always wanted to call home such a beautiful and rich country. Oh, before I forget it as well... I thought also all American could sing!!!!!

I have heard a lot more about America but these two conceptions were the ones that I was expecting the most. Well... God made it possible for me to come leave in America. What about all I was told about it? Was I disappointed? What do I think of it right now!

Hold on, don't be too much in a rush and let me slowly but surely take you to my conclusion and may be you will be able to see for yourself what a Haitian boy from way up in the mountain who is now a father think about America.

I am about two years shy of calling America home for a decade. I have seen lots of even unfolded from 9/11 to the Iraq war, from people being fearsome to being more patriotic than ever. I have read a lot of blogs ad watched a lot of news! I am a news junkie by the way! I have seen people cry in America more than I have ever seen in Haiti. In America, I have learned it's ok to cry, 'cause this can release your stress, your pain. I have learned to stand up and make a difference. Most of all what I have learned is that you can be everything you want to be as long as you work hard for it. I do think that Americans in general are the nicest people I have ever made! Some of them are the rudest ones as well! But like I say generally in my opinion, they are.

I have been blessed to meet the nicest people who have helped me to shape a new picture of America. Of course, as soon as I set foot in this country I realized: "where in the world are those money trees people were talking about?" There surely nothing like, at least I haven't seen one or knows everybody who has one, but may be they meant other otherwise and my innocent mind as a child thought a different way! I have also realized that there are a lot of singers in America but I did not know about these people who think they could sing and unfortunately I am a member of this club (lol).

Am I disappointed? not all! I love this country! America is always the first country people have eye on when there is a natural disaster in other country to come to help! If any country do not help the one that will receive the most blame will be the USA. Why because they are always there to help! I am not saying this country is perfect. There are a lot of stuff happening in it that I do not agree with such as kids not respecting any adults, signing all kind of songs with bad languages in front of elders and not even care about them, people living 1 yard from each other and not even know their first name, the way Haitians are treated when it comes to immigration/deportation. No country is perfect for sure! etc... Still I am disappointed! Why? Because this country gives me a lot of possibilities! I can be anything I want to be! It will not be given to me on a golden plate, I just have to believe in myself and work hard for it!

Unfortunately a lot of Americans do not have a slight idea of how blessed they are to be call the USA their home country. They are spoiled and spend their time complaining about their 500th TV channels which is not working while the 499 others are. They complain about the hamburger which was not warm enough or making a scene about a pickle missing on their burger.

My point is no matter what! The USA remains the richest country of the world and is therefore the land of free, a land of opportunities. It amazes to see the amount of people who spend their time complaining about nothing or useless stuff instead of being thankful to God that they live here!

May God bless America and every other country and may America keep on rising up knowing that should be their anchors. I love America and wouldn't' trade it for any other country! I love Haiti as well it is my homeland and no matter what happen I will always remain Haitian and my heart will always be buried in Haiti but living in the USA has thought me so much: you can be anything you want to be, just work hard for it.

On this 4th of July I wish America and Americans from all over the world a happy anniversary! May God keep on blessing this country and make people within realize there is no true happiness in the world no matter where you are but all this can be found in God. If I had to choose again where to live without a doubt it will be America!!!

Happy 4th of July to you all!

Sammuel
www.treasuresofhaiti.com