An update

I just posted the book Restavec and I do want to explain a little bit about the content and why I was so interested in it. Restavec is a French word, meaning to live with. In Haiti, children from very poor families are often designated to live with families other than their own who are not as poor as they are. As you can imagine, the arrangement often leads to abuse which has strong overtones of enslavement. Restavec is the autobiography of a restavec who somehow found his way out of it but to this day is living with the results of all the abuse he suffered in his earlier years. The reason I was so interested in this book is because Ted Boers started a project called Rescue One, which is designated to save the children from becoming restavecs. It is in its third year and he now has 50 children involved. His foundation, Micah, pays tuition to a Christian school, uniforms, books, one meal a day and health care for these children. Three Haitian churches help him, along with Kerline, who is the Haitian director of this program. His budget is $100,000 a year. And, because he wants to simplify his life, he asked me to take over this project. He will fund it until the end of August. At first I thought there is no way that I want, or can, do this. But more and more it is growing on me. When I talk about it I feel a real interest inside of myself and in the people I relate to. Len said if I did it, he certainly wanted to be involved. Could I raise a hundred thousand dollars each year, and hopefully more as the years go on and as the project grows? I think I can. I have not yet said yes. I am going to wait until the end of April to make a firm decision. I thought this would be a good way to let you all on this little intriguing bit of information that has come to me very unexpectedly. I'll keep you posted. By the way, this blog is a great idea, even though it took a while for me to catch on it. You can tell, I am making up for missed opportunities. Mom