Nonprofits NPH and St. Luke Foundation shut down hospitals over staff kidnapping in Kenscoff 

PORT-AU-PRINCE — In a dramatic protest over the kidnapping of eight people at an orphanage in Kenscoff amid Haiti’s worsening security situation, religious nonprofits Our Little Brothers and Sisters (NPH), its Spanish acronym, or NPFS, its French acronym) and the St. Luke Foundation announced Sunday, Aug. 3, that they closed all their institutions in the country. 

The shutdown includes the St. Damien Pediatric and St. Luc hospitals, which serve vulnerable communities across the Haitian capital.

Among those abducted early Sunday morning were seven staff members and a 3-year-old child. The group includes Gena Heraty, an Irish missionary who leads care for children with disabilities, and a nurse. Heavily armed men reportedly stormed the orphanage around 3 a.m. in the Tèt Bwa Pen neighborhood of Kenscoff—about 12 miles above the Port-au-Prince hills toward the southeast.

“We say NO to impunity, NO to indifference, NO to the normalization of terror,” the organizations said in a statement released on Facebook. 

“We will not reopen until every kidnapped person is released unconditionally.”

St. Helene is the flagship of NPH’s three residential homes for vulnerable children. In 2023, it housed 244 children aged 3 to 18, including 58 with disabilities, many of whom receive specialized care at the St. Christine and St. Germaine centers. These facilities are now shuttered, including NPH’s Life Program, which provides rehabilitation and therapeutic education for children with disabilities.

The closure of Saint-Damien and Saint-Luc, two of Haiti’s few functional hospitals, further strains the nation’s crumbling health system. Medical professionals and patients have increasingly become targets in Haiti’s escalating conflict, which continues to force closures of humanitarian and social services.

“This decision, painful but necessary, is meant to protect our community and denounce impunity,” NPH and St. Luke Foundation leaders wrote.

The armed gang coalition Viv Ansanm has been taking control of Kenscoff since January. According to the United Nations, during the first three months of this violent takeover, the attacks caused 262 deaths, 66 injuries and the destruction of about 200 homes. Additionally, over 3,000 residents fled the area.

UN reports show that 53% of those killed were civilians, while 47% were believed to be involved in gang activity. The violence has paralyzed daily life and displaced thousands—many of whom are now without access to health care, shelter or food.

Abduction follows high-profile political arrest

The abduction took place just a day after the Haitian National Police (PNH) arrested former Senator Nenel Cassy in Pétion-Ville on charges of conspiracy against national security, financing gangs, complicity in murders and criminal association.

Cassy—a representative of the Nippes Department—along with other political figures like ex-lawmakers Prophane Victor and Alfredo Antoine, has long been suspected of supplying logistical and financial support to gangs operating in Kenscoff and surrounding areas. Police had issued a warrant for his arrest back in February.

The Haitian judicial police have detained both Victor and Antoine. While Antoine was released on May 9, 2025, due to insufficient evidence after being heard by the Port-au-Prince prosecutor’s office under Government Commissioner Frantz Monclair, Victor remains in custody. 

For many observers, Cassy’s case may signal increased scrutiny of political actors accused of enabling gang operations.

Surge in kidnappings and mass violence across Haiti

The latest abduction fits a pattern of gang-led kidnappings targeting missionaries and humanitarian workers for large ransoms. On May 23, 2024, American missionaries Davy and Natalie Lloyd and their Haitian colleague Jude Montis were killed in another high-profile attack. In October 2021, the 400 Mawozo gang abducted 17 Christian Aid Ministries missionaries in Ganthier—an ordeal that ended with three groups of releases between November and December, with no casualties.

These attacks come as kidnappings overall have surged. The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) recorded at least 185 abductions between April and June 2025. In the same period, at least 1,520 people were killed and 609 were injured, mostly in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, but also in the Artibonite and Centre departments.

“The international community must support the full deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission and intensify efforts against arms trafficking,” BINUH urged in the organization’s latest report.

BINUH also called for fast-tracking police vetting, protecting civilians and creating specialized judicial units to confront the crisis lawfully and effectively.

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