Young children are seen at an orphanage on January 18, 2010 following the earthquake that hit Port au Prince on January 12, 2010.Credit: Julien Tack, AFP / Getty Images

The world’s attention has gone on from Haiti to other catastrophes.  But outside the glare of the news media, life in the ravaged island nation goes on — albeit barely, and especially for children orphaned in the January earthquake.

One such orphan, a 14-year-old named Daphne Joseph, is portrayed in this New York Times article that is both heart-breaking and upsetting.  Heart-breaking because Daphne is living an uncertain existence, her future very much up in the air, like thousands of other destitute Haitian children. And upsetting because after the billions of dollars worth of aid funneled to Haiti after the earthquake, progress in rebuilding the nation appears wobbly. Daphne, according to the Times, is at least eating better, but her living conditions remain unbelievably spartan, and it’s completely unclear whether she will return to school — at least anytime soon.

The danger in this, although the article doesn’t mention it, is that Daphne may end up as a Restavek — a domestic slave that according to most accounts is a practice embedded in Haitian society.  It is estimated that there are around 300,000 Haitian children who live and work as domestic laborers in households that may — or may not — treat them with respect and honor their basic human rights.  Many Restaveks, in fact, are denied the opportunity to even attend school or read or write.

The practice of forced domestic servitude is a blot on Haiti; unfortunately, in the aftermath of the earthquake, many more Haitian youngsters who somehow survived the catastrophe, now confront a future in which freedom remains a distant dream.