Why are Haitian children in slavery?

Haitian parents are no different from parents elsewhere. They love their children and want them to grow up at home. Still, each year tens of thousands of rural Haitian parents send their children away to live with families in distant cities. They do so in hope that their children will be sent to school. Gender discrimination is a factor in parents’ decisions to send their children away. One in six girls and one in ten boys between the ages of 5 and 17(nearly 400,000 total) are trapped in domestic servitude in Haiti. Forced to work from before sunup to after sundown, they are often physically and emotionally abused and either sent to inferior schools or no school at all.

The “Schools Not Slavery” Initiative works to make sure rural families have the means to provide for their children, raise them at home, and send them to a good local school. Last year 104 children were returned to their families through the work of Beyond Borders.

The collaboration between Beyond Borders and School Sisters of Notre Dame will focus on two communities on Lagonav, Nan Mango and Tipalmis.

Schools Not Slavery is a vision of what life in rural communities can be:

• Every child enrolled in a high-quality school where they are treated with respect


• No child sent away to live with another family where they may become enslaved


• Vulnerable families get the help they need to earn a dignified living and provide for themselves


• Every woman and child is living free of domestic violence and discrimination

Why lifting Haitian families and children out of poverty matters

Beyond Borders was founded in response to the challenge of Jesus’ words and life of radical love. In all we do, we attempt to measure our success by this standard. In Haiti and in the United States, we are bringing people together for just and lasting change. We work hand in hand with the Haitian people, understanding that they know how to best address the issues they face. We provide them with the resources they need to build grassroots, community-based movements that lead to sustainable, positive change.

School Sisters of Notre Dame believe that “Educations means enabling persons to reach the fullness of their potential as individuals created in God’ image and assisting them to direct their gifts toward building the earth. We educate in schools and in other areas of urgent need; we exclude no one from our concern, but are especially sensitive to youth and women and are impelled to prefer the poor.”
–You are Sent, SSND Constitution, Para. 22 and 24

What you can do to help