An American nurse and her child have both been kidnapped in Haiti amid growing violence and unrest in the country.
Alix Dorsainvil, originally from New Hampshire, was working in Port-au-Prince with a nonprofit organization helping locals as a medical professional.
She is married to its founder and director Sandro Dorsainvil and she was kidnapped along with the couple’s child near Haiti’s capital on Thursday morning.
A spokesman for the organization El Roi Haiti said they were abducted from their location ‘while serving in our community ministry’.
The US State Department said on Saturday it is aware of the kidnapping reports and is contact with the Haitian authorities where it ‘will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners.’
On the same day that Dorsainvil was kidnapped, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of a ‘very deep concern for the situation [in Haiti], particularly with regard to the violence and the activities of the gangs’ during a meeting with his Australian counterpart.
American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her child have both been kidnapped in Haiti amid growing violence and unrest in the country
Dorsainvil, originally from New Hampshire, was working in Port-au-Prince with a nonprofit organization helping locals as a medical professional
Alix and her child were kidnapped on the same day the State Department ordered nonemergency American government employees and families to leave Haiti ‘due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure’.
Christian organization El Roi Haiti said it would be working on their return and added: ‘We continue to work with our partners and trusted relationships to secure their safe return.’
In a statement, the State Department said: ‘The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas.’
Kidnappings could involve ransom negotiations and Americans have previously been physically hurt.
Families have previously been asked to fork out thousands of dollars to see their loved ones again.
Alix, who graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, was described as a ‘deeply compassionate’ and a ‘loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family’ by the nonprofit .
‘Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus,’ it added.
She is married to its founder and director Sandro Dorsainvil (left) and she was kidnapped along with the couple’s child near Haiti’s capital on Thursday morning
Alix and her child were kidnapped on the same day the State Department ordered nonemergency American government employees and families to leave Haiti ‘due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure’
A spokesman for the organization El Roi Haiti said they were abducted from their location ‘while serving in our community ministry’
El Roi Haiti shared a video on Vimeo three years ago which featured Alix and she spoke about how Sandro invited her to Haiti to care for school children.
‘My name is Alix. I’m a nurse from New Hampshire, but now I live in Haiti, Sandro invited me to come to the school to do some nursing for some of the kids. He said that was a big need that they had,’ she said in the clip.
‘At first I didn’t think that there was going to be much of a need there. But when I got there there were so many cases.’
Sandro was raised in a rough part of Port-au-Prince, his El Roi Haiti bio stated. He went to a Christian high school in the United States before he studied at Liberty University in Virginia.
He then returned to Haiti and started the nonprofit on the basis that faith could help solve the country’s issues.
Gang violence has taken over Port au Prince and crime has been widespread.
More than 165,000 Haitians have abandoned their country due to the current climate, according to a United Nations report which was published last month.
‘Gang attacks, extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and gender-based violence have become part of the daily lives of Haitians, forcing locals to flee their homes,’ it said.
Things have gotten so bad some Haitians who are seeking safety have camped next to the US Embassy in the capital.
Haiti has been devastated by two earthquakes and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and it has struggled with political instability, poverty and violence.
