Haiti Journal – March 2025

It has been quite a while since I have been able to send out a Haiti Journal. I presume that most of you have kept up somewhat with what continues to go on in Haiti. The gangs are still pretty much in charge there. Firearms are still flowing into Haiti from the U.S.

Food is hard to find. Farmers from the countryside cannot sell their crops on the roads due to the danger from gangs. The farmers also cannot travel on the roads to transport crops to cities for the same reason. Now, any governmental food aid from the U.S. has stopped. Some non-governmental organizations (ngo) are still trying to help with food but with great difficulty.

The gangs continue to close off access to roads either by threatening harm or putting up roadblocks demanding money or other things in order to pass. To get from point A to point B in Haiti it takes great intelligence and some tact and a lot of luck at times. When people cannot safely travel on the roads, not only can they not purchase anything, but they also cannot access medical assistance of any kind.

In certain areas, gangs have taken over citizens’ houses, huts, and other buildings and then they steal everything in them and then burn what is left. I truly don’t understand the purpose of burning; except for anger. Up until recently there was a significant number of gang-on-gang violence. Now a few of the gangs have agreed to merge.

What I have been told are the possible reasons to belong to these gangs are as follows:

• Some people, particularly young men are angry because they do not have work and cannot support themselves and their families.
• Some people, like in all countries, are just hungry for power.
• Some people want money over anything else.
• Some people are trying to take this opportunity to set themselves up for a position in a future government later.
• Some people have difficulty thinking for themselves and only follow others.

For many years, politicians, wealthy people, and merchants have used groups (gangs) to get what they wanted. Now many of those groups have set out on their own, sometimes attacking their former employers. There have been efforts to improve and reinforce the Haitian Police Force with some success. However, the increased violence has continued with killings, kidnappings, rapes, theft, etc. Natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc.) continue to make the lives of Haitians challenging.

Many people have died when they are caught in the cross fire between rival gangs. Others have been killed by gangs when they are simply in the way. An equal or greater number have died in the last 3 years of starvation and then you can add to this sad figure the people who died from medical causes. When people cannot travel on the roads to get medicine, be treated by doctors, or seek help at a clinic or hospital, many just have to stay where they are and die.

It has been over 3 years since I have been able to be in Haiti. I know I would be bringing much danger to whomever I was with if I went. It’s hard to hide me. So, my information comes from occasional emails, and texts and conversations thanks to WhatsApp, from some of the Little Sisters with whom I work: teachers, scholarship students, artists and peasant friends.

And now, what does all of this mean to the Haitian people? 41 of the Little Sisters’ 42 Missions are still open. Most missions have at least an elementary school and a chapel or church. Some larger missions also have a clinic, secondary school, agriculture, some adult education, professional school for young women, orphans, etc. The schools or clinics are only open when the roads are safe enough for the students, parents, and teachers to travel on them. The Sisters do not pay the gangsters for safe passage because this would only encourage the gangsters and they don’t have money to do that anyway. There are also a few instances where the Sisters know some of the gangsters because they taught them when they were younger. The Sisters have even been asked to open a school so that gang’s children can attend. When the gangs move out of the area, the school is opened.

Some Sisters say they feel like captives within their walled mission. In years past, most of them would return to the Congregation’s Motherhouse in Riviere Froide in the summer for rest, spiritual and material nourishment, medical appointments in the city, and to purchase necessities for their mission’s school and convent before returning to their mission out in the countryside in September. This has not been possible for several years. They cannot travel except in a dire emergency. I know of at least one Sister who died recently because she was not able to go out to receive medical treatment. I’m sure she is not the only one. Now just think about all the Haitians living and dying both in the cities or countryside.

I remember talking with some young adults before all this happened. They told me that they were a good student before some sort of disturbance happened in past years. After that, they said, they were not able to learn as easily as before the insecurity. I cannot even imagine how many children are being affected by this multi-year person-made disaster. Our older scholarship students have continued with their studies whenever possible. Some have changed to schools that were closer to them. Most have arranged with trusted motorcycle drivers to get them back and forth to school. Those students have great courage and the drivers are heroes. The younger scholarship students attend school only when it is safe to be on the roads.

Some of you might remember the Handicapped Orphanage (Alta Visita) the Little Sisters have at Riviere Froide (outside the wall). After about the first year of the gang violence, many of the children had returned to their family’s huts because there was not enough food or personnel to care for them. A few months later, gangsters came and threw the handicapped children who were left and those caring for them out on the road. They stole everything they could carry away. Now, after 2 years, Sr. Therese is trying to restart Alta Visita. A few of the parents are helping to care for the children. They are using a room in kind of like a little basement area of the Motherhouse. They are in desperate need of food and money to pay for personnel to care for them. Eventually they will try to refurbish Alta Visita either in the old building or a new one. In the meantime, they will continue to try to care for as many of the children as possible.

You can imagine living in these circumstances for a month or so, but for year after year, it seems impossible. In the past, I have used the nickname “loaves and fishes Sisters”. How the Little Sisters could keep as many programs up and running is a mystery to me. Now, with the gangs continuing to wreak havoc in so many places in the country, they try to do what they were founded to do – help the poor in Haiti. I once asked them if they ever thought of leaving their country and going someplace safer. Their response was perfect, “Oh dear no, God wouldn’t want us to do that.” So, the Little Sisters continue to do what God wants them to do. And the students are continuing to learn. The parents are continuing to protect their children and help them grow. There are also Haitians who love their country and try to help in whatever way they can. Some by providing shelter to others who have lost theirs to gangsters; giving food to those with none; showing comfort to those who have lost family members to violence; leading prayer groups to strengthen others; providing transportation in an emergency; generally, just finding ways to take care of themselves, their families, neighbors, and strangers.

We are still getting some donations but truthfully, less than in times past. Some remarkable religious Congregations have continued giving some support to the Little Sisters in Haiti. There are a few generous individuals who have continued to send some donations. Maybe more people are not helping because they are afraid that the gangsters will get the money. I can assure you that this is not the case. The Little Sisters are notified when a wire transfer arrives in their account in Haiti and then a person arranges a rendezvous (usually at the back door of the bank) when he knows that the area is safe enough for them to come. Also, every cent that has been sent has been used to help the poor in Haiti. The money is used for scholarship students, food (people have always come to the Little Sisters’ doors asking for food, but now that number has more than doubled, some gang members even ask for food at their door), transportation, water purification (cholera is still present), solar power (90% of Haiti has no electricity), and medical assistance, housing (the Little Sisters’ have many more orphans living with them in all of their missions now).

I do not know how long this insecurity will continue. When I ask Haitians what will turn things around in Haiti, I repeatedly hear: security, jobs, food, health, education, and housing. I do know that the Little Sisters and so many of my Haitian friends do not give up. Franketienne, a Haitian artist and writer died in Feb. 2025. It was said of him, ”His love for Haiti was so deep that sometimes he had to invent words to express it.”

Sorry for going on for so long. I just wanted you to know what is going on in Haiti and how the Little Sisters and Haitians are doing. Thank you for your interest in and care for Haiti.

Barbara Wander