Numana Update for Haiti
Friends,
I hardly ever send out one of my writings since I blog a lot, but we have developed a new partnership with Cross International of Florida who are doing amazing work in creatively "rescuing" children slaves in Haiti. There is no way on earth to rescue them all by taking them away from their owners because their are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them, but we now have over 550,000 Numana meals in the pipeline to help in a creative new way to rescue a restavik!
Here's the story:
"Is she saying what I think she's saying?" I asked my Haitian interpreter as a young mother tried to move her shy, seven-year-old daughter out from behind her hip.
"Yes," he replied, "She wants to know if you want to take her daughter?"
"But she doesn't even know me?" I replied in disbelief. "She has no idea if I'm a good guy or not!"
"It doesn't matter," the interpreter said, "she just can't take care of her."
"How could a mother offer up a beautiful young daughter to a complete stranger?" I asked through my American experience of always being able to feed my children. Always. Never once have my kids known hunger because Dad couldn't buy food.
"Because she loves her." My interpreter, a Haitian native who was gracious, but somewhat indignant that I didn't understand what millions of parents go through. "This little girl hasn't eaten for a couple of days and the mom's heart can't take listening to her cry herself to sleep anymore and you look rich like you could feed her. The mom just loves her and wants her to eat."
I have no idea what it is like to hear my children cry themselves to sleep because of being hungry. None.
This mom, like millions of other parents, faces that grueling dilemma every day of the year: Will I feed my children? We, in America, ask the question, "What do I feed my children?" but almost never, "Will I feed my children?"
I gave the mom some money which, I know, will be used wisely but quickly gone. And there is always the haunting reality that I've only fixed it for a little bit.
"What will happen to that little girl?" I asked my interpreter as we left. "I would love to adopt her - my family would be so good for her - but I know adoption is almost impossible."
He hung his head and said quietly, "Restavik."
"What's a restavik?" I asked. I had heard but I wanted his explanation.
"A slave," he responded, still looking at the ground. "She will go with a family just a little bit better off than hers, and there she will have a place to sleep and she'll have to take care of the family. They'll feed her every couple of days. But she won't go to school."
Such is the life of a restavik in Haiti. Even before the earthquake there were an estimated 250,000 children slaves in Port-au-Prince alone! They are often children who are given to another more affluent family who provides shelter and minimal food. This is not only acceptable, it is expected in Haiti culture. But these children are then treated like slaves. They are not educated, they are barely fed, they are often molested, and frequently abused.
For anyone wanting to help, the first dilemma they face is that child-slavery is an accepted part of the Haitian society so it is not a moral issue of right or wrong. Owning a child slave is just normal. And if you own that child and they run off before they're 16, all you have to do is sic the police after them. Hmm, so I can get the cops to go after my slave? See what I mean? It's part of the norm.
The other dilemma is this: What are you going to do with them if you do get them? Adoption is nearly impossible and orphanages are filled to the brim.
The answer is: Give them an education!
I am currently in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, much to my Kansas staff's chagrin (since they are buried in a foot of snow while I bask in the shade of a palm tree!). I came to visit Cross International with whom we are starting to partner in sending our Numana food to restaviks! In fact, the first container of food that we sent them is going to a part of Haiti where they educate restaviks in 29 schools.
This is the way it works: Because the slave owner does not want to actually be responsible for feeding the child, they will send them to afternoon schools that Cross supports because they know the children will be fed. And, while they're there, the children will learn to read and write so when they finally do hit 16 years old and are free to leave their slave-owners, they will have an education. Since 54% of Haitians cannot read or write, a strategy like this is brilliant in the long-term help of Haiti. As I've mentioned before, when you think about helping Haiti, you have to think in terms of decades. Truly, the best way to help Haiti long-term is to educate children and the best way to get kids to school is to feed them.
Numana food does more than feed a tummy, it feeds a future.
--
Be blessed,
Rick McNary
521 Whispering Meadows
Potwin, KS 67123
H. 620-752-3425
C. 316-734-6845
I hardly ever send out one of my writings since I blog a lot, but we have developed a new partnership with Cross International of Florida who are doing amazing work in creatively "rescuing" children slaves in Haiti. There is no way on earth to rescue them all by taking them away from their owners because their are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them, but we now have over 550,000 Numana meals in the pipeline to help in a creative new way to rescue a restavik!
Here's the story:
"Is she saying what I think she's saying?" I asked my Haitian interpreter as a young mother tried to move her shy, seven-year-old daughter out from behind her hip.
"Yes," he replied, "She wants to know if you want to take her daughter?"
"But she doesn't even know me?" I replied in disbelief. "She has no idea if I'm a good guy or not!"
"It doesn't matter," the interpreter said, "she just can't take care of her."
"How could a mother offer up a beautiful young daughter to a complete stranger?" I asked through my American experience of always being able to feed my children. Always. Never once have my kids known hunger because Dad couldn't buy food.
"Because she loves her." My interpreter, a Haitian native who was gracious, but somewhat indignant that I didn't understand what millions of parents go through. "This little girl hasn't eaten for a couple of days and the mom's heart can't take listening to her cry herself to sleep anymore and you look rich like you could feed her. The mom just loves her and wants her to eat."
I have no idea what it is like to hear my children cry themselves to sleep because of being hungry. None.
This mom, like millions of other parents, faces that grueling dilemma every day of the year: Will I feed my children? We, in America, ask the question, "What do I feed my children?" but almost never, "Will I feed my children?"
I gave the mom some money which, I know, will be used wisely but quickly gone. And there is always the haunting reality that I've only fixed it for a little bit.
"What will happen to that little girl?" I asked my interpreter as we left. "I would love to adopt her - my family would be so good for her - but I know adoption is almost impossible."
He hung his head and said quietly, "Restavik."
"What's a restavik?" I asked. I had heard but I wanted his explanation.
"A slave," he responded, still looking at the ground. "She will go with a family just a little bit better off than hers, and there she will have a place to sleep and she'll have to take care of the family. They'll feed her every couple of days. But she won't go to school."
Such is the life of a restavik in Haiti. Even before the earthquake there were an estimated 250,000 children slaves in Port-au-Prince alone! They are often children who are given to another more affluent family who provides shelter and minimal food. This is not only acceptable, it is expected in Haiti culture. But these children are then treated like slaves. They are not educated, they are barely fed, they are often molested, and frequently abused.
For anyone wanting to help, the first dilemma they face is that child-slavery is an accepted part of the Haitian society so it is not a moral issue of right or wrong. Owning a child slave is just normal. And if you own that child and they run off before they're 16, all you have to do is sic the police after them. Hmm, so I can get the cops to go after my slave? See what I mean? It's part of the norm.
The other dilemma is this: What are you going to do with them if you do get them? Adoption is nearly impossible and orphanages are filled to the brim.
The answer is: Give them an education!
I am currently in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, much to my Kansas staff's chagrin (since they are buried in a foot of snow while I bask in the shade of a palm tree!). I came to visit Cross International with whom we are starting to partner in sending our Numana food to restaviks! In fact, the first container of food that we sent them is going to a part of Haiti where they educate restaviks in 29 schools.
This is the way it works: Because the slave owner does not want to actually be responsible for feeding the child, they will send them to afternoon schools that Cross supports because they know the children will be fed. And, while they're there, the children will learn to read and write so when they finally do hit 16 years old and are free to leave their slave-owners, they will have an education. Since 54% of Haitians cannot read or write, a strategy like this is brilliant in the long-term help of Haiti. As I've mentioned before, when you think about helping Haiti, you have to think in terms of decades. Truly, the best way to help Haiti long-term is to educate children and the best way to get kids to school is to feed them.
Numana food does more than feed a tummy, it feeds a future.
--
Be blessed,
Rick McNary
521 Whispering Meadows
Potwin, KS 67123
H. 620-752-3425
C. 316-734-6845
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