Empowerment Unit Plan for Haitian Restavek Children

Restavek, French for one who stays with , is a word used to describe child slaves in Haiti. These children are given away by their parents at a young age because of financial hardships or for hopes of life in the urban areas to be better than life in the rural areas. The Restaveks, far from their family and anyone they know, end up as slaves without access to education, healthcare, and sometimes food. As a result, many of these children suffer from malnutrition, abuse, and illnesses. The majority of Restaveks are young girls. In the communities, they are shunned and seen as the outcasts or burdens on society. This paper presents Restaveks, an empowerment education curriculum, and the Haitian education system as a whole in order to create a week-long unit plan to empower and encourage these children. The goal of this curriculum is to empower 8-12 year old Restavek girls to assist them in creating a positive self-image and to allow them to work toward a better life. By providing education and empowerment to these girls, the system of slavery could be ended, and all people would be seen as equals