PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Students often throw up or wet themselves when gunfire erupts outside their school in northern Port-au-Prince.
When they do, school director Roseline Ceragui Louis finds there’s only one way to try to calm the children and keep them safe: getting them to lie on the classroom floor while she sings softly.
“You can’t work in that environment,” she said. “It’s catastrophic. They’re traumatized.”
Haiti’s capital is under the onslaught of powerful gangs that control 80% of of the city.
FILE - Girls holding hands are led past a burnt car blocking the street as they evacuate the Delmas 22 neighborhood to escape gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
On Feb. 29, gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting key infrastructure. The attacks have left more than 2,500 people dead or wounded in the first three months of the year. Now, in a bid to help save Haiti’s youngest generation, the country is undergoing a wider push to dispel a long-standing taboo on seeking therapy and talking about mental health.
GETTING HELP
At a recent training session in a relatively safe section of Port-au-Prince, parents learned games to put a smile on their children’s faces. The parents are often so distraught and discouraged they don’t have energy to care for the kids, said Yasmine Déroche, who trains adults to help children overcome trauma inflicted by persistent gang violence.