Repeating Islands

The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) has launched a U.S. campaign to heighten awareness about the hundreds of thousands of Haitian children who are victims of trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation. The campaign, called I Too Am Haiti, draws its name from Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America.”  The campaign was announced by Jimmy Jean-Louis, the actor known as “The Haitian” on NBC’s hit series Heroes. Jean-Louis, PADF’s Goodwill Ambassador for Haiti’s Children, observed that “the exploitation of children is a stain on human dignity.”

The U.S. State Department reported in 2008 that Haiti “is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.” The State Department estimates that as many as 200,000 children are the victims of trafficking.

I Too Am Haiti is the first in a series of specialized PADF campaigns that are part of the non-profit organization’s larger Building Haiti from the Ground Up initiative. In addition to exploited children, other issue-specific campaigns will include community-driven development, job creation and reviving agriculture. The I Too Am Haiti campaign will run for approximately six months. The campaign includes outreach to Congress and the Obama Administration to generate support for PADF’s efforts, which include supporting 50 shelters that provide a safe haven for exploited children, advocacy on their behalf and training of community groups to identify abused children.

For more information on the campaign go to www.ITooAmHaiti.org

PADF also invites people to check out the special Facebook site for the I Too Am Haiti campaign at http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Too-Am-Haiti/68546496607