The "Restavek" Next Door

A few days before December of 1980, I was almost home from school when some activity in the house next door captivated me. It sounded as though our neighbors, who were childless for a long time, were talking to a young person. I stopped and listened for a bit. Sure enough, the voice of a girl wafted from inside their house to my ear.

Huh! Could it be they have finally adopted a child?

My mind started going seventy miles an hour. I had been longing for a close friend for a long time and, all of a sudden, there was someone right next door with whom I could talk and play. I quickly raced inside my own house to share the news with my family.

Well, I waited all afternoon to catch a glimpse of her -- to no avail.

Early the next morning, which was a Saturday, I quickly got dressed and started keeping watch by the window which faced the neighbor's house. At long last, I saw her.

Her sight surprised me.

She seemed to be 12 or 13. Her hair was extremely short, tightly curled like pre-ground pepper. Her eyes seemed penetrating and careful. It was barely 8 o'clock in the morning yet her forehead was singularly dotted with sweat drops. Her lips looked parched. Her dress, dingy and dirty, was a forlorn and washed out green that had seen better days. She was bow-legged and her shoes -- if one could give them that name -- were falling apart, revealing mud-caked feet.

As repulsion invaded my heart and eyes, she looked up and spotted my looking at her from the window. Her lips parted in a smile which revealed yellowish teeth with signs of gingivitis.

A quick bonjou (Good morning!) was all I managed to croak out of my throat. She replied with a friendliness, an exuberance, and a joie de vivre that truly shook me to the core.

How could a girl like her exude so much joy?
How could she be so accepting of me?
How could her appearance not affect her self-worth?

A conversation with Manmie soon informed me the girl next door is a Restavek. A creole word that literally translates into "stay with," Restavek is a fancy name for what one would call a modern slave. Households that have a restavek enjoy the benefits of house cleaning, floor and yard sweeping, cooking, washing, water fetching, grocery shopping, and so much more -- all for the price of nada. What is even worse is that a restavek often goes without a meal, affection, or recognition. A restavek is often considered the scum of Haitian society.

All of that sank into my 6-year old brain and I realized, with all the rejection and ridicule I had endured, this girl and I had a lot in common.

We soon became fast friends. When her services were not needed at night, she and I would often sit in the alley shared between our two houses. She told me story after story, sang with me, and comforted me with her encouraging words. She was one of the wisest voices that entered my young brain.

And I loved her.

And I learned much from her. She taught me it is often the rejected, the ridiculed, the oppressed, the dejected who most understand compassion and love. She persuaded me to keep room in my heart for inner strength and patient forgiveness to develop. She helped me realize those who are heavily mistreated can only survive if they cling to a deep faith in their hearts because that is all they have. She painted suffering in a new way and presented adversity in a new light -- they represent the journey that takes us to a place where full joy resides.

Wow! Such powerful truths!

God used the uneducated one to offer instruction to my young learned brain.
God employed the dirty one to tender the scouring and cleansing of my prejudices.
God led the enslaved one to point me to freedom from the snares of real and perceived offenses.

The choice was clear.

I chose to listen to her even when others felt it was degrading for me to spend time with a restavek. I chose to listen and learn. I chose to enter her world of humiliation in order to experience the love that is available through humility. I chose to follow the path of faith.

I thank You, dear Master, for the Restavek next door. Thank You for bringing her into my life to teach me the beauty of compassion, acceptance, and love. Thank You for showing me all the tests and trials of life come my way out of Your deepest love and desire to strengthen, mature, and complete me. May I follow You in every circumstance! Amen.