Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Haiti fears deportations will mean surge of child servants

By DAVID McFADDEN erty is the primary force be-
Associated Press hind the restavek practice.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) “There’s no doubt an end
— Watson Saint Fleur is 12 to TPS will create far more
but he’s never attended a restaveks,” said prominent
day of school. He’s toiled in Haitian child advocate
hardship doing household Gertrude Sejour.
chores and peddling plas- Each morning, Watson
tic bags of drinking water wakes from his spot on the
along city streets noisy with floor to clean the house
motorbikes and trucks. for his washerwoman em-
He’s one of Haiti’s “restave- ployer before taking to the
ks,” a term to describe chil- streets to sell water. He gets
dren whose poor parents smaller portions at meals.
hand them over to others in He bathes the woman’s
hopes they’ll have oppor- 7-year-old boy to prepare
tunities to escape a dead- him for the local school he’s
end life or at least get more never attended. He helps
food. It’s a practice deeply set up birthday parties for
ingrained in Haiti, where the woman’s two sons, but
families frequently have nu- has never once gotten a
merous kids despite crush- party himself.
ing poverty. He’s fuzzy about how he
For many, that better life In this May 27, 2017 photo, 13-year-old Medege Dorlus nods off as she stands inside the home of ended up at the woman’s
never arrives. Many are friends of her late mother who took her in as an unpaid servant or “restavek,” in Port-au-Prince, house, only knowing his
exploited as domestic ser- Haiti. “Restavek” is a practice deeply ingrained in Haiti, where families frequently have numerous mother died in his home-
kids despite crushing poverty.
vants in households only (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) town of Petit Goave. He
slightly better off, working Studies indicate the popu- the hemisphere’s poorest tus” based on the assump- never knew his father.
long hours in exchange for lation of child domestic country are bracing for yet tion their homeland could “When she hits me, she
food and a spot to sleep on workers rose from some another increase of young- not absorb them following says: ‘Your mother died,
a shack’s floor. An untold 172,000 in 2002 to rough- sters like Watson driven into the disaster. If the program why don’t you die, too?’”
number endure regular ly 286,000 in 2014 — four unpaid servitude. known as TPS is not ex- Watson said outside the
beatings, are deprived of years after an earthquake The Trump administration is tended, people could be Maurice Sixto Foundation,
an education and are vic- flattened much of Port-au- weighing an end to a hu- sent back to Haiti starting where child advocates are
tims of sexual abuse. And Prince and outlying areas, manitarian program that in January. Such mass de- working with the govern-
their numbers have been killing as many as 300,000 has protected nearly 60,000 portation would cut off re- ment social services agen-
growing sharply as urban and leaving some 1.5 mil- Haitians from deportation mittances that keep many cy to move him to a group
slums expand and poverty lion people homeless. since that earthquake — a Haitian families fed in a home for vulnerable boys.
in the countryside deep- Now child advocates in “temporary protected sta- country where deep pov- Continued on page 27
ens.
Amid tear gas, Venezuela violinist symbolizes hope for peace

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ others gave him old violins my music creates a climate
Associated Press and Colombian pop star of peace, which is why I’ll
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Shakira signed her auto- continue playing on the
— Playing amid clouds of graph on a violin dedicat- streets of Venezuela.”
tear gas and flurries of rub- ed to the virtuoso. Arteaga’s newfound ce-
ber bullets, a young violinist On Sunday, Arteaga and lebrity status contrast with
bedecked in the bright col- a group of musician friends his humble upbringing.
ors of Venezuela’s flag ser- gave a free concert in a He first picked up the vio-
enades anti-government Caracas plaza. To shouts lin growing up in the city of
protesters and police alike of “Yes, we can” and “We Valencia and was a mem-
with a somber rendition are brothers,” they thrilled ber of Venezuela’s world-
of the national anthem, the crowd of a few hun- famous El Sistema network
a song that translates as dred with Venezuelan clas- of youth orchestras and
“Glory to the Brave Peo- sics like the foot-stomping music schools.
ple.” “Alma Llanera” and “Moli- He dropped out after two
It’s been a familiar scene In this May 6, 2017 photo, holding up his violin, Wuilly Arteaga endo Cafe.” years but continued study-
during more than two shouts during an anti-government march in Caracas, Venezu- “When I play for the na- ing on his own. About four
months of almost daily ela. Arteaga has become a symbol of peaceful protest large- tional guard, some of them years ago he moved to Ca-
demonstrations in Venezu- ly overshadowed by frequent clashes between rock-throwing listen to me, some of them racas, busking for his meals
ela’s capital, where Wuilly youths and heavily armed security forces. cry. by playing on the streets
Arteaga has become a (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) And when I play for the and outside stores.
symbol of peaceful protest ro’s removal have resulted a national guardsman on protesters, it gives them Protesters began to take
largely overshadowed by in at least 65 deaths and a motorcycle. Videos of motivation to keep go- notice of him after another
frequent clashes between more than 1,100 injured. Areaga crying over his bro- ing,” Arteaga told The As- violinist, a teenage mem-
rock-throwing youths and Appearances by the ken violin spread on social sociated Press, showing off ber of El Sistema, was killed
heavily armed security 23-year-old almost ended media, garnering an out- his repaired violin, which when struck by a tear gas
forces. Protests across the two weeks ago when he pouring of sympathy. Peo- still bears scuff marks and canister about a month
country demanding social- and his instrument were ple donated cash to have scratches from its brush into the outbreak of pro-
ist President Nicolas Madu- dragged to the ground by the instrument repaired, with destruction. “I know tests.