On April 8, 2025, five children were evacuated from the University Hospital of Mirebalais (HUM) following armed attacks that forced the partial evacuation of the facility. The children had been abandoned. They had no family to accompany them, and no immediate solution for their care.
The transfer was quickly organized between the Zanmi Lasante crisis unit and the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), which played an essential role in transporting them to Saint-Marc. This type of coordination has become essential in the current context in Haiti, where instability makes any intervention more difficult.
On arrival at Hôpital Saint-Nicolas (HSN), the children were welcomed by the medical and administrative teams. They were fed, cared for and settled in a secure area. The staff did what was necessary, with the means available. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t easy, but nobody left them out.
In the following days, five other children, also abandoned in similar circumstances, were found and transferred in turn to Saint-Marc. In all, ten children were sheltered on site for several days.
During this period, they received minimal but stable care: a bed, meals, care, and an adult presence around them. Some were very young, others already old enough to understand what they’d been through. It wasn’t a place made to welcome children for the long term, but, in the emergency, the essentials were assured.
On April 13, they were transferred to Port-au-Prince, to Zanmi Beni. That’s where they are today. There, they receive appropriate support: medical care, psychological support, schooling for those who can keep up, and above all a stable environment in which to rebuild.
What this story shows is not a heroic act, nor a perfect operation. It’s a human and concrete response to an unacceptable situation. Teams worked together, despite the pressure, despite the insecurity, to do the right thing.
These children have been lifted out of a situation of great vulnerability. They are no longer alone. And even if their future remains fragile, they now have a starting point.