SUPPORT THOSE TRAFFICKED
This is Sara. She lost both of her parents when she was ten and was taken to an orphanage. At eighteen, she aged-out and didn’t know what to do. Soon, she was snatched up by a trafficker. The orphanage director introduced us to her as she was in the church where we attended. She tells us that things are very bad for her, and she is praying for help. We now have eight, aged-out or trafficked children in our care for whom we don’t have funding. Please help us so that we can help Sara and the many other trafficking victims in Haiti.
TRAFFICKING IN HAITI
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Mercy International has been working to prevent sex trafficking and restoring restavek children for a long time now. They both flourish in Haiti, in large part due to poverty.
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A restavek is a child whose parents are unable to take care of them, either because of death or poverty. A member of the family or a friend will take responsibility for the child. The youngster will have to be the maid, the cook, and do everything else they ask of him or her. Many refer to a restavek as a child slave. They are often physically and sexually abused and tend to be malnourished and very sad children. They have lost hope.
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When a restavek is able to leave the house where they have been captive, they need to find a new place to live and food to eat. They have no education and no means to support themselves. The boys will generally turn to crime. The girls will be trafficked. Often, she will find a man who is willing to pay for her food and perhaps a dirt floor to sleep on in exchange for doing whatever he requests. She will more than likely be severely abused.
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Orphans “age out” at eighteen years old and, by law, must leave their orphanage. They have nothing and will do whatever is necessary for food, just like the restavek child.
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This is why Mercy International has started a new area in our village called “Nouvelle Horizon,” meaning, New Horizon. New Horizon has been set up to help aged-out orphans and restavek children who have no place to go, to prevent them from being abused and trafficked. It is a place they can call home and not have to worry about what they must do to survive.
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All the age out orphans and restavek children in New Horizon are going to school. Some are in secondary school and some in a technical school, learning a trade so that they can survive. Here there’s hope for them, and we love to help as much as possible, but we will need your help. Food and basic care cost $125.00 per month per child.
Building a home for four children costs $6,800.00, but that provides a lot more than giving them a house. It saves their lives and gives them hope and a future. Our church staff will reach out to them as will the dozens of Christian families in the village, and our free clinic is there for any medical need that arises.
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Will you show them that you care by sponsoring one of them for all or part of their monthly expenses or perhaps help us build more homes so that we can shelter and protect more children?
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1 Timothy 6:18 "Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others. 6:19 In this way they will save up a treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the future and so lay hold of what is truly life."