Hearts and Smiles of Haiti has a flagship program called Our Garden Haiti. It is a non-profit organization that works to empower Restavek youth. Restaveks are Haitian children from impoverished households sent to be domestic workers in exchange for food and shelter, with little to no access to proper health care and education. Our Garden Haiti helps children living in rural communities who are at risk of becoming Restavek by increasing the value of education and learning a trade. We equip youth with agricultural knowledge, provide them land to cultivate, and ultimately increase the number of Restaveks enrolled in school. For more info, check out http://www.ourgardenhaiti.net/.
We're currently in need of volunteers to assist in designing a sustainable agricultural curriculum and/or come on volunteer trips during school breaks to help establish the program! If interested, please email lindawan@usc.edu.
