thedna in Haiti

“I came to Port-au-Prince three years ago from Thiotte, a town on the border with the Dominican Republic. One day a lady came and asked my mum if she could have a child to help her in the city. My mum had a lot of trouble trying to feed all of us and send us to school and the lady seemed to be very nice and sympathetic, so my mum sent me to Port-au-Prince with her.

"But things changed when I came here. I have to get up at five each morning to fetch water from far away. It takes me about three hours. Then I have to wash the floor, the clothes and the dishes. My employer has three big daughters, but I’m the only one who does any work.

"She bites me, burns me, and beats me. One time her baby son spat in my face, so I smacked him lightly on the hand. She went crazy. She took the spoon she was cooking with and thrashed me with it. The spoon was burning hot and now I have these scars on my legs.

"She says I should be grateful that she brought me here from the countryside to help me, but living with her is like living in hell.

"When I was back in Thiotte I used to go to school, but since I got here I’ve never been. My employer says she’s going to send me but she never does. If I was with my mum it would be different. I’d like to go home before the next school year so that I can catch up. That would be the best thing ever.

"I have not been in touch with my family since I left. I have no idea if my mum is sick, or how my brothers and sisters are. Whenever I ask my employer if I can go home, she says that if I’m expecting her to pay for me I’ll never go. I cannot answer back so I just have to shut my mouth."

With the help of Centre D’Action pour Development, a local organisation that supports child domestic workers, Thedna has now been re-united with her mother and is attending school.

Taken from Forgotten but not Gone: Slavery and Resistance 200 years after abolition, Pete Pattison, 2007, www.petepattison.com