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RESTAVEK: A DAY IN THE LIFE
Restavek: A Day in the Life is an interactive exhibit that helps people understand the restavek system of child slavery in Haiti.
The Exhibit
For many people slavery is something that happened hundreds of years ago, something you study in history class. Sadly, slavery is very much still alive today - all over the globe. We created this exhibit to help people try to wrap their minds around Haiti's cultural practice of restavek - a form of child slavery that today affects over 300,000 children.
- A highly experiential exhibit with video, large-scale visuals, audio and authentic Haitian articles, like a rigwaz whip still sold in markets today
- Interactive stations that give people insight into the abuse, isolation and exhaustion that children in restavek experience
- Stories and quotes from children that are living in restavek today
Feedback
On November 5th, hundreds of junior high and high school students experienced the Restavek: A Day in the Life exhibit at Unbound, a student-led conference on global trafficking. And on November 6th, the exhibit moved to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. Here is what people said...
If you had only one word to describe the exhibit what would it be?
- chilling
- eye-opening
- amazing
- shocking
- enlightening
- powerful
- moving
- unimaginable
What impacted you the most about the exhibit?
Hearing about how, when asked about hopes and dreams, children who are in a restavek situation have nothing to say. They don't see a future for themselves and appear so hopeless. That stayed with me.
Feeling the experience - getting to lie underneath the table where they slept and carrying the water bucket on my head and washing the dirty pan and kneeling on the uncomfortable ground. It helped me realize what restaveks go through every day.
How would you respond, what would you say to a child in restavek or how do you react?
Wow. I have never seen something so heartbreaking. Children that are so small being whipped. They are treated like animals. This is something we need to act on. Let us work together to make a difference.
I'm sorry.
Child of God, I can't even imagine what your live has been like. Stay strong, for there is a better place for you! you will get through this. You will conquer this. Know that there are people that love you. I love you.
Details
- The exhibit is freestanding and can be set up in any large space or hallway
- Average participant takes 30 minutes to see the whole experience
- Appropriate for children 12 years +
- Restavek Freedom can send 2-3 individuals to answer questions
- Requires 4-5 volunteers to help set up
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