China Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 How to Buy a Child in 10 Hours One Reporter's Journey Reveals An Epidemic of Child Slavery in Haiti By DAN HARRIS July 8, 2008 This deeply unsettling experiment starts on a typical Monday morning on Manhattan's leafy Upper West Side, where commuters stroll by Starbucks and Central Park. At 7:10 a.m., I'm off to see how long it takes to buy a child slave. It's 45 minutes to Kennedy Airport and an hour or so wait in the terminal, then a 3½-hour flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A band greets the flight. By the time my team and I have collected our luggage, gone through immigration and customs, and are loaded into our vehicles, it's about 3:15 p.m. As we leave the airport, two things become immediately apparent: Port-au-Prince is an amazing, vivid place, and it's also extremely poor. The U.S. State Department warns Americans against visiting here. United Nations peacekeepers patrol the roads while we drive with our own security team: two armed Haitian men in SUVs. 'I Would Like to Get a Child' By 4:45 p.m., I'm poolside at one of the city's few upscale hotels. I'm wearing a hidden camera built into the strap of a bike messenger-style bag that's around my neck. There's another hidden camera in a leather satchel on the table, right next to the fruit plate and Evian water. My colleagues are manning cameras in hotel rooms overlooking the pool. Our security guards are sitting discretely nearby. That's when the man with whom I've arranged a meeting shows up. He says he's a former member of parliament and that he has connections. In broad daylight, with hotel waiters walking by, he doesn't even flinch when I make a horrific request. "If I would like to get a child to live with me and take care of me," I ask. "Could you do that?" "Yes," he says. "I can." He's speaking in Creole, the most prevalent Haitian language. The man doing the translation, who has set up the meeting, works for us (unbeknownst to the slave trafficker). The trafficker assures me he's done this sort of transaction many times before. "A girl or a boy?" he asks. "A girl probably," I say. "How old?" "Maybe 10 or 11." "Not a problem." He says he can get me an 11-year-old girl, although he suggests that a 15-year-old might be better, because she'd be more "developed." I'm thinking: I can't believe I'm having this conversation. "And this is OK?" I ask. "I won't have any trouble from their parents or anything like that?" "No, you won't have any problems with their parents." "Why not?" "When I give you the child, I will train it for you." I'm not exactly sure what that means. A Successful Negotiation "I'm a little nervous." I say. "I just want to make sure that this is OK, that I'm not going to get in trouble, that this will be smooth, that you've done this before." "I guarantee my service," says the trafficker, grinning. "I can get you your girl as early as tomorrow." And now, the negotiation begins. "So how much will it cost me to get a child?" I ask. "The last one I gave was $300." Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paige3girl Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 wow, that was disturbing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour of Duty Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 That was pretty depressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 So in conclusion.... The mother stands up and forces her abusive husband to retrieve the child from domestic slavery. The mother becomes homeless kicked out of the house by the abusive husband because she stood up to him. The Child get's deposited in a "cheerful" orphanage, which we are supposed to take on faith is going to be better than where she was, rather than joining her mother on the streets... ABC news people go home telling themselves they've done a good job, and "this is as close to a happy ending as it gets in Haitii".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xameil Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 ABC news people go home telling themselves they've done a good job, and "this is as close to a happy ending as it gets in Haitii".... gotta love it huh :rollseyes: You would think ABC could throw the woman a couple thousand...I bet that will go along way down there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 You can buy a kid in ten minutes. Crackhead parents. Probably cheaper too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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