Poverty in Haiti

　In Haiti, there remains a very strong tradition of apprenticeship called “reste avec”. This country, known to be the poorest country in the Western hemisphere holds half of the population living under 1 dollar per day, and 78% living under 2 dollars per day. Many families unfortunately cannot afford to bring up their children, so these children, often young girls, are sent as apprentices “reste avec” to wealthy families.  In reality, these children are not sent out to work and earn money, but are rather “given up” forever to be taken care of by wealthy families, never to be　reunited with the biological family again. According to UNICEF, there were about 100,000 girls between age 6 and 17 sent to apprenticeships, before the earthquake.

　These children lost their families, houses, even their biological families. In the spontaneous camps, no protective system to take care of these children are working, including communities, churches, schools and the police, rendering the children to become street children.

　JEN will continue to conduct assistance projects for all the Haitian people, including children, to regain independent lives.

Some children we have seen in Haiti after the earthquake.

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Donation for JEN Haiti Earthquake Emergency Assistance.
By credit card via homepage (in Japanese) ->

By postal transfer (available within Japan) -> 00170-2-538657. Account name: JEN
We appreciate your cooperation.