The classrooms of the Anénor Firmin school in Hinche in the center of Haiti are no longer carefully silent.
Once a place of learning, it now resonates with the sounds of crying babies, the water containers that collapsed and voices whispening at night.
More than 700 people moved by violence are piled up in the ruined complex, sleeping on the soils where children once solved mathematical problems.
Among them is Edens Désir, a former teacher, who continues to believe that education should be the key to a more prosperous and peaceful future for this besieged caribbean nation.
Edens Désir teaches a class at Aténor Firmin school.
Qualified accountant and former secondary school teacher, his life was turned upside down by the violent clashes that broke out in March 2025 in Saut-d’Eau and Mirebalais, two small cities south of Hinche.
Like 6,000 others, he fled massacres, rape, criminal fire and looting.
“Everything I built, little by little, was destroyed,” he said. “I left without anything.”
The gangs at war have long checked most of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, at around 30 miles (48 km).
It is only recently that their sphere of influence has moved to more rural areas of the Center department where Hinche and Saut-d’Eau are located.
Edens Désir, found refuge at the school where he once studied, a place now stripped of his goal. The offices have become beds. The classrooms have turned into shelters. Families are packed in rooms that never wanted to host them.
A classroom of the Antenor Firmin school in Hinche is now used for both shelter and an informal learning space for displaced children.
Even in these crowded rooms, he found a way to start again. Not for himself, but for children around him. With a whiteboard, a marker and a silent determination, he brought meaning to lives that have been thrown.
“Since I was a child, I liked to teach,” he said. “This is what matters most to me. I prefer to be in front of a course than to do nothing. For these children, school is the only real chance they have. ”
Living in limbo
Once on the verge of expanding a small business, Mr. Désir now lives in limbo. “This plan has disappeared. Violence has made sure. My only option now is to leave and try to start again elsewhere. But as long as I am here, I will continue to share what I know. »»
These days, he takes life one day at a time. “I can no longer make plans,” he said. “Every day, I just understand things as they come. Every night, I wonder if there will be food tomorrow. ”
Clean water is rare. Long queues extend to distribution points, where women and children wait patiently, balancing heavy containers.
Hygiene conditions are disastrous. With few latrines and showers available, hundreds are found without intimacy or sanitation. Health risks increases, especially for the most vulnerable.
The food is just as uncertain. “There are nights that I’m going to sleep without eating,” he said. “But I continue to teach because the children are there.”
IOM staff and a civil protection agent assess the needs of displaced people
Offering a help to the displaced is not an easy task. The main road between Port-au-Prince and Hinche remains blocked by insecurity, reducing supply routes and insulating entire communities.
Despite the obstacles, the International Organization for United Nations Migration (Iom) has reached more than 800 families on 17 travel sites, providing emergency items such as refuge kits, covers, kitchen sets and jerrycans.
IOM teams continue to work directly with displaced families, reception communities and local authorities to assess needs and relieve.
Site committees and civil protection teams are trained to better manage shelters. The most fragile sites are being moved to safer areas and mental health support is offered to people affected by violence.
Protect the vulnerable
These efforts aim to protect the most vulnerable children, especially children, from a crisis they have not chosen but are now forced to navigate.
Edens Désir believes that knowledge is the best defense against dehumanization. When violence tears everything, forcing children to move, divide families and cut access to education, teaching becomes an act of resistance.
Even when the days feel heavy, he continues to present himself to children who still believe in him.
“If we want things to change, we need people who become better citizens,” he said. “I don’t know if what I do is enough for it to happen, but it gives me a goal. It breaks my heart to know that one day I should leave them behind and look for a better future. ”
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
