If any of you follow orphan care at all, you'll know that people around the globe are calling out to "End the Orphanage Era." This isn't a new idea. This isn't a bad idea. However, there is a need for orphan care. These people are speaking out about the institution of an orphanage. People are FINALLY having the veil removed from their eyes and are realizing that a HUGE percentage of the children in orphanages worldwide are not true orphans in the way that we, North Americans, would think.
Before we moved to Haiti, I always understood an orphan as a child with no living parents. After moving, I realized that up to 80% of "orphans" are actually abandoned or economic orphans. This means that they most likely have one surviving parent, who almost always has many other children and can not afford to adequately care for them. She doesn't have the resources to feed, clothe, educate and give medical attention to her children. So, she has a couple options. She can keep her child and hope she can find someone generous enough to help her feed her children each day; she could try to find an aunt, uncle, grandmother, or other family member to take her child (this happens often...and leads sometimes to a restavek situation), she could abandon her child to the streets, or she could try to find an orphanage to take him or her.
"Restavek is a form of modern-day slavery that persists in Haiti, affecting one in every 15 children. Typically born into poor rural families, restavek children are often given to relatives or strangers. In their new homes, they become domestic slaves, performing menial tasks for no pay." (restavekfreedom.org)
Now none of these decisions are easy for these parents to make. They want what is best for their children. Since 2010, orphanages have been popping up all over Haiti by well meaning foreigners. I heard recently that Haiti has over 750 orphanages, home to thirty two thousand children! Most of these people have good intentions and hearts, but they may be blinded by their want to "help." The reality is, if you build an orphanage, children will come.
In 2010, on our first trip to Haiti, we met Mme. Soliette. She was born and grew up here on La Gonave. She always had a heart for the street children in her community, ever since she was a little girl. In 2007, she took in the first 14 children into her own home. She was a local woman who was caring for the orphaned children in her community. People around the island would hear of Mme. Soliette and send children to her. Her heart had a hard time saying no to these children who were in desperate need. When we met her in 2010, shortly after the January earthquake, she was doing her best to care for 60 children in very poor conditions.
When we sat down with her and asked her to tell us her vision and dream for these children, she described to us something very different than a traditional orphanage. She knew the importance of a family. She knew that the children needed room to run and play. She described her vision of the children living in little houses on a compound with a house mom. Never once did she mention wanting these children to be adopted into other countries. On the contrary, she wanted these children to grow up to be leaders and CHANGERS of their communities here in Haiti. She had a vision. She was caring for abandoned and orphaned children in an effort to PREVENT more orphans in the future.
Over the past six years, we have been blessed to come alongside Mme. Soliette and her vision. We have seen her and her staff working hard to ensure these children have the best they can offer. Some parents and other family members even visit their children on the monthly visit days. These children know they are loved.
However, I still agree that the best place for these children to be is with their families, IF their families are able to take proper care of them. I don't think you will find many if any who would disagree. So, now that we have made sure that the over 80 children living at the village are being properly cared for, we can turn our attention to helping the families and the community outside the walls of the village.
What caused these children to be abandoned in the first place? The story for most is that their mother or father didn't have the resources to take care of them. So, what can we do? We can try to create more opportunities for work. We are now in the process of coming up with micro and macro business plans and are partnering with many around the globe to work towards making this a reality. We have just over 80 children currently at the children's village. As these children age out, we are working to train them and equip them with the skills needed to start and manage new businesses here on La Gonave.
It seems like a huge task to eliminate the need for orphanages all together, but I'm not saying it can't be done. However, I believe that it's going to need to start with the children. Working hard to prevent more orphans in the future. We could send these children back with their families now, but I believe that would just continue the cycle of creating more orphans.
I write all of this mostly for myself. I get tired, frustrated and question if what we're really doing is helping or hurting. There is always room for improvement. But, when you see so much negativity towards the thing that you've been called to, it's difficult. I truly believe that we are where we are supposed to be and doing what we are supposed to do, no matter what others think. We did not come to Haiti to start our own orphanage, or to create more problems. We are here to try to give resources and training to the locals so that they can achieve their dreams.
Mme. Soliette has a heart of gold and she is one of the most selfless people I know. If the children's village were no longer needed in the same capacity as now, we would view that as a success. However, as long as there are orphans, we have a responsibility...
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
- James 1:27
And that is what we hope to do.