A Letter of Hope from Haiti
/2 Comments/in News /by Alejandra SacioIn A Path Appears: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, Nicholas Kristof and Alfre Woodard met Marilaine, a 13- year-old girl attending SOPUDEP’s free school; this moment forever changed her life. During this first meeting, Marilaine was still a “restavek,” a child domestic slave. She wrote to the team at A Path Appears to share her journey since that day, as well as her hopes for the future.
My name Marilaine; I am 15 years old. I was a restavek. I have now lived in the Restavek Freedom Transitional home since January 7, 2014. It’s been over a year since I first breathed freedom.
My life changed the day when you came to visit me because now I am free. I now think I am the luckiest of all students in school and I thank God every day. I am free; I can smile, visit my family, talk to them on the phone, go to school each day, play, have enough to eat and I now have dreams for my future. None of this happened when I lived with my host family.
At the Transitional House we are sisters and friends, but Rosemyrtha and Nerline are my best friends. I’m in a very good school and they teach me a lot of things, but I like science and math the best. Now I am doing two grades at the same time (3rd and 4th) through an accelerated program so that next year I will finish with primary school.
I have enjoyed everything I have experienced at the Transitional Home this past year. My favorite was when I got to be present at the finale of the Miss Haiti competition, and they even came to the Transitional Home to visit! I asked them questions and they taught me to walk like them. We even had our own contest of Miss Transitional House, and I was second. I love playing with my sisters, teasing Mamie Adeline and Tatie Regine, going to the beach, eating pizza in the restaurant with Mamie Joan and having visitors like Life Church, Calvary Church and others. They are strangers at first, but they love us. I have a lot of fun. When I grow up I want to be a nurse. This will allow me to help others and take care of them as the Foundation and the staff have taken care of me. In the future I hope that the world finds joy and peace, and that all children are equal with all families will be able to take care of their children.
I would advise any child living in restavek to be brave and strong because God has a plan for each of us. There are people put around us, like angels, to comfort and guide the weak and sad; look for them. If I can find the joy of life now, why can’t they.
— Marilaine
You can help restavek children, like Marilaine, today by making a donation to SOPUDEP and Restavek Freedom.
Marilaine will remain in the Restavek Freedom transitional home until she is prepared for a job or finishes school at age 18. Restavek Freedom is currently partnering with organizations to provide job training, and they will continue to provide for Marilaine’s education as long as she is interested in pursuing it, whether or not she is living in their house.
Restavek Freedom’s ultimate goal is to unite Marilaine with her mother in the long-term, they are hoping to achieve that by helping her mother build her market business in order to provide for her daughter.
Your donation to Restavek Freedom will help them achieve these goals.
The Journey Continues: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
/0 Comments/in News /by Alejandra SacioIn A Path Appears: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn, Jennifer Garner, Alfre Woodard and Eva Longoria traveled from West Virginia to Haiti and Colombia to learn from programs effectively interrupting the cycle of poverty. They discovered that it doesn’t matter if you’re a big organization like Save the Children or a small nonprofit in Haiti like SOPUDEP, the impact you can have is real if you use strategies with proven outcomes. Our work with the organizations did not end after we finished filming; here’s your chance to find out where the characters are today.
Johnny is doing really well in preschool, and, his mom Truffles says, “He is talking like crazy.” That’s a big deal because he was very quiet for a long time, Save the Children reports. “He’s coming out of his shell,” says Tonya Boncutter, his caseworker for Save the Children’s Early Steps who visits the home on a regular basis and in the film. Additionally, Truffles got a new job as a nursing assistant, and is now making plans to buy their own home.
You can support Johnny, and other children in the U.S. struggling with poverty, by sponsoring a child through Save the Children.
Lyn and Cynthia, their children and the others who shared their small trailer in the film, had some very hard times after the crew left. The trailer became infested with cockroaches to the point where it was unlivable. But their lives soon began to turn around. The generous older couple Lyn and Cynthia were living with was able to buy a small house for themselves, and decided to buy another for Lyn and Cynthia, and their families.
For now, they all remain under one roof as they struggle to get the heating running in the second house; nevertheless, they are hopeful about their future. That hope is fueled by Lyn and Cynthia’s little girls who are thriving. Lyn is already asking Tonya all about registering her daughter in preschool next year, and both girls are hitting all their developmental marks despite some previous challenges.
SOPUDEP and Restavek Freedom continue their work in Haiti. Marilaine, the young girl who was pulled out of an abusive home where she was working as a child slave (restavek in Haitian) and brought into a safe and loving transitional home at Restavek Freedom, is still in school and will stay with the organization until she turns 18. She personally shared the impact Restavek Freedom and SOPUDEP have had on her life in a letter to A Path Appears staff:
My life changed the day when you came to visit me because now I am free. I now think I am the luckiest of all students in school and I thank God every day. I am free; I can smile, visit my family, talk to them on the phone, go to school each day, play, have enough to eat and I now have dreams for my future. None of this happened when I lived with my host family.
At the Transitional House we are sisters and friends, but Rosemyrtha and Nerline are my best friends. I’m in a very good school and they teach me a lot of things, but I like science and math the best. Now I am doing two grades at the same time (3rd and 4th) through an accelerated program so that next year I will finish with primary school.
You can support Marilaine, and other girls like her, by donating to Restavek Freedom and SOPUDEP.
The Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar Foundation in Colombia (also known as JuanFe) continues to grow and expand its impact on the life of teen moms. The organization is expanding in Bogota, and the national government has asked JuanFe to also launch their program in Choco, the poorest city in the country, completely financed by the government, yet operated 100% by JuanFe. In addition, the JuanFe model will soon be replicated in Panama.
Sadly, Damelis who was featured in the film is no longer in the program at JuanFe. She made it through the first part of the program, and started the second cycle studying and getting her scholarship to finish high school, but her efforts were eclipsed by addiction. In a rare case, the foundation managed to continue to support her family by working with her mother to provide seed funding for a food business she wanted to launch. JuanFe continues to work with Damelis’s mother who is grateful for the support she has received.
You can help increase the reach and impact of JuanFe by donating today.
Partnering with Charge.org
/0 Comments/in News /by Alejandra SacioA Path Appears works with partners all around the world to increase our ability to create real change. During the broadcast of Sex Trafficking in the USA, we launched a new partnership with Change.org.
This partnership has allowed A Path Appears to bring more attention to campaigns across the country, and the world, and provide an easy platform for you to take steps to advance women’s rights. Take a look at the page here: https://www.change.org/apathappears.
We have been amazed by the results. The broadcast drove thousands of new people to join campaigns to end practices that oppress and lead to the abuse of women and girls-and the numbers keep growing. Viewers who saw the reality of trafficking through the stories of women like Savannah and Shana have already begun their new journey. Are you ready to join them?
Tonight, we will be launch a new set of petitions relating to poverty, early childhood intervention, education, and teen pregnancy, issues investigated in episode 2 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty. Make sure to look out for the new links on Twitter and Facebook during broadcast.
If you’re ready to increase your impact already, check out the organizations we’re supporting through our Crowdrise page at: www.crowdrise.com/APathAppears