[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/14/art.haiti.street.jpg caption="A 2006 picture of housing conditions in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere."]
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Over the last couple days, I have been in Haiti, spending my time walking around with an adorable young gal named Deena. She is 15 years-old, and was born and raised in Haiti.
Within minutes of meeting her, there were things that were impossible not to notice. Her clothes were ragged and clearly too small for her. She hardly ever smiled, and if she did – it was fleeting and purse-lipped. She didn’t look me in the eyes, and in fact spent most of the time staring at the ground.
Her voice was weak, and, her body was frail. When I touched her back, I could feel a hollow space. As part of her introduction, I was told Deena was a Restavek, which in Creole means to “stay with.” Our guide Jean Robert Cadet was more blunt. “Make no mistake,” he said. “She is a child slave.”
Strong words, I thought. I wanted to see for myself and that is why I found myself in a shanty town outside Port au Prince, Haiti at 5 a.m. this past Sunday. It was already well over 90 degrees and there was no breeze whatsoever. We were soaking in our shirts just standing there, which makes what I began to see that much harder to imagine.