Modern Day Slavery

When we think of slavery, many of us often think of it in the terms of Africans being shipped to the United States to work on plantations, and in treating it that way, we often think that it is something of the past. Slavery is very much alive and thriving today which is highly disturbing.
To me, one of the best ways to learn about something is directly through someone who has a first-hand account of the situation. Often times, it is not feasible to talk to all different types of individuals in all corners of the world, so the internet and books are a good way to get this experience as well. Books in autobiographical form are perhaps my most favorite literary medium. I had the pleasure of having my eyes opened to the plight of modern-day slavery through autobiographical form in the book Restavec: From Haitian Slave to Middle-Class American by Jean-Robert Cadet. It tells the tale of a boy growing up in Haiti as a restavec, which is basically a child slave, and his horrible childhood to the adulthood in which he gained some sense of empowerment. Cadet still suffers psychologically from all of the trauma he was put through as a child slave and recounts a lot of his childhood in vivid detail. It is not a fun, light read, but, it is a story that once you start reading, you will be compelled to finish. If you are interested in this book, you should borrow the copy from me, it's enlightening.

-Juliana Adedoyin