Haitian Beatz

As soon as dawn breaks in Port-au-Prince the first children appear, staggering under the weight of five-gallon buckets of water.

The water carriers, many as young as 6-years-old, are some of the thousands of children living as virtual child slaves in the country.

Given away to other families by parents too poor to feed and clothe them, they cook, clean and fetch water without any payment.

Restavek child in Haiti


Under what is known as the restavek system, the children are supposed to get food, shelter and a place at school in return. But for many, the reality is very different.

"Sometimes they beat me with lengths of electrical cable and sometimes they punch me," says 14-year-old restavek Jenette.

"I was grinding a coconut and I wasn't doing it very well so they took a knife and cut me with it," she says.

"My mother is dead and my father doesn't care for me. I would like to run away but I have nowhere to go."

'No clue'