By Brian Stevens | Engagement Director
Your Generosity is Supporting the Haitian-Led Movement to End Child Servitude
Your generous support for Beyond Borders Schools Not Slavery initiative is supporting the Haitian-led movement to end child servitude, and today -- thanks to you -- five more children are growing up free, safe, and at home with their families.
Thank you for your care, your concern, and your solidarity.
These five children are no longer trapped in servitude, abused, exploited, or neglected. Your generosity trained and equipped their parents and local grassroots leaders to find and free them from the nightmare of forced servitude.
I cannot thank you enough for making this work possible.
Child Protection Team Identifies 36 More At-Risk Children as Next Priority
Child Protection Brigade leaders have also identified 36 other children who they believe are trapped in servitude.
Their urgent focus now is to investigate the circumstances that these children are living in and -- if it's determined that they are being exploited and abused -- they will work with the authorities to free these children and hold their captors accountable.
This is the kind of life-changing work that your generosity supports in Haiti.
Thank you again! So many more children are free, safe, and growing up at home with their families again, thanks to you and your generosity and solidarity.
Follow-Up Visits with Freed Children Now Living with Foster Families
The Child Protection Team that your generosity supports also conducted two follow-up visits with two boys freed from servitude and now living with foster families.
Your generosity previously made it possible for Beyond Borders to launch a foster program – called Welcoming Families – in conjunction with local authorities on Lagonav Island. The program provides much-needed care for children who are unable to return home.
Support For a Child Sexual Assault Survivor
Your support also made it possible for the team to intervene in the case of a girl who suffered sexual assault by the family caring for her. Upon learning of the assault, the team alerted local child protective services officials who took action to remove the girl and investigate the abuse charge.
Your Generosity is an Investment in Movement Building
This past fall, thanks to generous supporters like you, Beyond Borders brought together leaders from Child Protection Brigades across Lagonav Island to make plans for 2024.
These grassroots leaders gathered to develop action plans for a series of community-wide violence-prevention activities to build momentum and support.
As momentum is key in norm-change and movement-building – especially in the early stages – the kind of grassroots leadership these activists are showing is critical.
Beyond Borders Child Protection Team is keeping in close touch with these activists to ensure their continued success. Your generous support makes all this possible. Thank you!
Your Generous Support Made Even More Child Protection Work Possible
Here’s a look at some of the other Child Protection work that your support helped make possible this past quarter:
Your Generosity Makes Quality Education Accessible to More Children on Rural Lagonav Island
A lack of affordable, quality education in rural Haiti is often one reason parents will send their children to the city to live with others, hoping it will mean a better life and more opportunities. Often these children become trapped in household servitude. That’s why increasing access to quality, affordable education close to home is one of the ways the Schools Not Slavery initiative is protecting children.
Because of you, students at more than 90 schools on Lagonav Island are being taught by well-trained teachers who care, using a native language, nonviolent, participatory approach that encourages student creativity, curiosity, and leadership.
Haitian Teachers Love the Training That You Help Make Possible: "I wish there was one every week!"
What does this kind of training mean for students? Phalange, a first-grade teacher at the National School in Bwa Brileon on Lagonav Island, will tell you.
"I did not really know how to teach the children in my classroom to read and write in an effective way. I did not know how to create a good learning environment. Then I joined the teacher training program. My students used to struggle to write. Now they are writing more than ever! Every day they get better and better thanks to the training I am receiving. I want to say a big thank you to the entire teacher training team and to all the people who support them. I can teach my students better now thanks to you!”
Guilène, a first grade teacher at the National School in Lapalmis shared too:
“There is no end to what I can say about how happy I am with this training! The one-on-one attention trainers give teachers in the workshops encourages us to put more effort into our work as teachers. We learned where our weaknesses are in the way we teach and how we can eliminate them. The training was so good, I wish there was one every week!"
Thanks to you and Schools Not Slavery Partners like you, more girls and boys are growing up safe at home and enrolled in good local schools -- instead of being sent away to the city where they risk becoming trapped in servitude.
Thank you again for your care, your concern, and your commitment to making a quality education possible for every girl and boy on Lagonav Island.
Your Generous Support Made Even More Education Work Possible
Here’s a look at some of the other Education work that your support helped make possible this past quarter:
Thank You Again
I am grateful for all the good work that you are making possible through your support for the Schools Not Slavery initiative – especially in these challenging times in Haiti. Thank you again for your extraordinary generosity and solidarity. If you have any questions about what you read in this report, please call or text (305) 450-2561 or write to me: b.stevens@beyondborders.net anytime!
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