Haitian families displaced by gang violence sustain effects with more than just solidarity 

Twenty years ago, 12-year-old Natacha Bélizaire, a girl with a pocketful of dreams, embarked on a 125-mile journey north from her hometown, Les Cayes, to the bustling urban center of Port-au-Prince. Little did she know, this move was just the beginning of a life filled with unimaginable hardships—including running for her life and living with hundreds of people in a refugee camp, requiring more than just solidarity. Many people like her have been battling the effects of relentless gang violence and life’s uncertainties thanks to a self-governing system based on mutual aid, compassion, hope and belief.

Bélizaire left her hometown to join her sister, Roselie, who was 29 then. At the time, most of Port-au-Prince’s overpopulated areas were already under rampant violence from armed groups and violent agitators—also known as chimères. 

“Port-au-Prince has been hell to me,” Bélizaire told The Haitian Times during a Whatsapp video interview. “I have never thought of things being so difficult and the environment so unsafe. Ever since I moved to the city, armed bandits have ruled all populated quarters. A functioning government serving the people has been totally absent.” 

Bélizaire’s elder sister, Roselie, echoed the same sentiment. 

“We have been helpless for so long,” she said. “Danger is coming from almost everywhere. But we have been left to fend for ourselves, not just to make ends meet daily but also to fight criminal gangs who have been terrorizing people freely.” 

Solidarity is important but not enough in the face of gang terror

According to the Bélizaires, bracing for what each day would bring to families in Port-au-Prince and its metropolitan areas demands more than just practicing solidarity with each other. It also extends to fostering a community-based support system inside the different shelters to aid individuals in developing survival skills, social connections and healthy relationships. 

In fact, the younger Bélizaire said: “My life would have been worse off, or I could have been killed alongside my children if I was not linked to people in my different environments over the years.”

Often running away from gang violence or socio-political unrest, her plan has been particularly altered, and her life shattered by the relentless grip of gang attacks and financial hardships, a struggle that lasted for a grueling two decades. After many setbacks, she was forced to abandon her education prematurely— thus, her dream of becoming a family physician or a pediatrician.  

At 32, Bélizaire is today a mother of two children under 10 years old. Her struggles continue in a refugee camp for displaced victims of gang violence. She has been sheltered there with her children for nearly a year now. She fled the gang-infested areas of Carrefour-Feuilles, Savanne Pistache and Grand Ravine in August 2023, when armed gangs fighting for control terrorized families, assaulted women and girls, even killed some people and burned several homes—-including the Bélizaires. 

A big family who shares struggles, hope and belief in a better future

Bélizaire’s story is similar to the experiences of many displaced people living in encampments due to gang violence. 

Since last August, she has been sharing life with 320 other families inside the Ecole Nationale République de Colombie, a public school in the Bourdon area—a southeast Port-au-Prince suburb. This school was closed about a year ago due to unrelenting socio-political unrest in the Haitian capital, leaving hundreds of children without formal education for that long. As the school building was vacant, people fleeing extreme gang violence moved in and turned it into a big shelter center. 

 “The way people in this encampment and numerous others  throughout the metropolitan area of  Port-au-Prince carry themselves inspires hope and a sense of belief in a better future for Haiti.”

Inside the shelter, most individuals are women and children whose husbands or parents were killed in gang attacks between August 2023 and March 2024. 

“Here [at the shelter center], everyone has become family,” René Petit-Homme said. 

Petit-Homme is one of the few men in the camp, playing father figures for numerous children. He is part of a self-established committee for the shelter center’s management. Also, one of the young men serving as a vigilante to protect the camp used a pseudonym to speak with The Haitian Times fearing for his safety. At night, these men take turns watching over everyone’s security and well-being. 

Most of these families did not know each other before taking refuge at this technical elementary school for underserved children and youth. But they have created a bond over shared struggles, hope and belief in a promising future outside the camp.  

They come together to provide practical assistance to each other, such as helping with daily tasks, including cleaning, cooking, distributing food and hygiene products and watching over the school vicinity for security and safety. They not only share resources but also leisure time and recreational activities. 

“This collaborative effort helps to create a supportive and inclusive environment within the shelter center, fostering a sense of unity and mutual aid among the gang terrorized victims,” said Herbert Henriquez, a humanitarian aid and grassroots socio-economic development consultant who works with the nonprofit organization, Hope for Haitian Women (Espwa Pou Fanm Ayisyen—EFA, in Haitian Creole).

Over the last four months or so, EFA has been the main source of outside support for the families inside the shelter center.

“We need the government to provide security so that we can get out of here. No one wants to occupy the children’s school forever. But the government has been absent,” Donatien Metéus lamented.

With the backing of the Florida-based international organization, Food For The Poor (FFTP), and a team of 10 volunteers, the Haitian nonprofit distributes food, hygiene products and other necessities to families.

EFA, in partnership with Haitian psychologist Johane Landrin, also provides displaced families with emotional and psychological support. The organization provides a listening ear to individuals experiencing emotional difficulties, helping them feel less isolated during challenging periods.

Landrin uses different methods such as listening, pausing, stopping, breathing and connecting to help families dealing with anxiety, stress and panic attacks.

To Victoria Baillergeau, founder and CEO of EFA, “these families are trying to live one day at a time in the face of adversity.” Despite this, she said: “The way they carry themselves inspires hope and a sense of belief in a better future for Haiti. They are respectful and caring people who trust each other.”

It is that kind of inspiration that led Baillergeau to leave her comfort in the United States, quit her well-paying job and professional career in 2018 to return to Haiti. She wanted to be on the ground helping vulnerable people, especially women and girls.

“She put her own livelihoods on hold to support folks,” Henriquez said.

Her ultimate goal is to establish a 24/7 fully operating shelter for abused women and girls.

“Looking at how people are suffering and the potential in young girls, I feel the necessity to be part of a solution,”  EFA’s founder told The Haitian Times. 

This philanthropic mindset is in her DNA. Baillergeau is the granddaughter of Episcopal priest Fritz Lafontant, a lifelong advocate for marginalized people. Before he died in June 2021, the late Father Lafontant, a Partners In Health (PIH) founding member and its sister organization Zanmi Lasante’s founding director, spent over 60 years of his life educating, training and providing healthcare services to people in rural Haiti’s communities. 

“As a U.S. citizen, like many others, I could leave Haiti after things got worse in the last few months,” Baillergeau contemplated. “But I resisted because I know that millions of people here do not have any other option. They need our organizational support on the ground to get through the storm of gang terror,” she explained. “I believe together we will survive, and we can change the country.”

The post Haitian families displaced by gang violence sustain effects with more than just solidarity  appeared first on The Haitian Times.

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Haitian families displaced by gang violence sustain effects with more than just solidarity  was first posted on June 17, 2024 at 9:30 am.