Sadly enough, there is a lot of child slavery in Haiti! When a poor child’s mother and father die, they automatically go to a relative. This will be a hard life for the child. He or she will “never be part of the family.” They will always wait until everyone has eaten, and they will get a “small handful of food!” If it is a boy, like Jonas, he will be made to work hard in the hot sun with little water and lots of beatings. He will never be happy, never be educated, and always feel that he is useless. It is “beyond sad.”

We found Jonas one day while doing a feeding program in the mountains. We saw him working “very hard,” in the heat of the sun, with older men. We took him back with us, with the “owner of the garden” screaming at us, as we left! We put Jonas in kindergarten. He had never held a pencil or a piece of chalk in his hands… only a huge “garden hoe,” called a “wou.” Jonas is still in class with smaller children, but is happy to be alive, and part of a large family!! Oh, how we love him!!

Sherry