Faculties destroyed by gang attacks in downtown Port-au-Prince

“We have lost thousands of books, more than thirty computers and sophisticated equipment. The damage is estimated at several thousand dollars,” the dean of the INSFSF revealed to AyiboPost

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The building of the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives (INSFSF) is nothing more than a pile of walls and partitions charred by devastating flames after it was looted by bandits in July.

Broken glass is strewn all over the courtyard. The metal pipes that were the building’s plumbing have been ripped out and washed away.

The library of the only educational institution in this field, located on Rue de la Réunion in Port-au-Prince, full of books, was set on fire.

The library of the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

“We have lost thousands of books, more than 30 computers and state-of-the-art equipment. The damage is estimated at several thousand dollars,” Nadège Daudier, dean of the institution since 2022, told AyiboPost.

Image of the extent of the damage at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

Since March, the bandits have attacked several colleges in the region.

According to several interviews conducted by AyiboPost with officials from different agencies, these institutions are still unable to paint a picture of the damage caused by the bandits who continuously raise their guns in the lower areas of the town.

In early August, AyiboPost visited the INSFSF together with a midwifery student.

Image of the extent of the damage at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

The simulation rooms, the training dummies and the newborn resuscitation rooms were looted or burned.

In the aisles of the building, blocks of masonry, torn apart by the flames, lie on the ground amid the charred mosaics.

Mutilated mannequins and broken bay windows complete the picture of desolation.

According to Daudier, the institution’s dean, six vehicles belonging to the institution were stolen in an initial attack in March 2024, including two pickup trucks and four minivans.

During this period, several employees were taken hostage by armed bandits on the INSFSF premises.

Image of the extent of the damage at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

Fito Voltaire, 50, is the manager of the establishment. He last visited the space in April.

On his way to feed a flock of chickens he kept on the premises, he was attacked when three armed bandits almost came upon him. One of the thugs gave the order to shoot him. Voltaire’s life was saved thanks to a mentally unstable person who told the attackers that he was one of the faculty’s guards. But his chickens were taken by the thugs.

Batistin, another manager, was less fortunate.

The man lived within the walls of the faculty. He still remembers that four heavily armed bandits almost broke into the institute in April. The 65-year-old janitor was held at gunpoint, dragged mercilessly through the building’s fence and robbed of the keys to the institute under a barrage of threats.

In shock, Batistin spent several days after the incident with frequent diarrhea and migraines. “I was not used to experiencing this kind of thing, and it’s been 22 years since I joined the faculty,” he says..

Image of the extent of the damage at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

Ronaldo Jeanty, a third-year student at the institute, says he has only regrets.

“After all these years of studying, it is difficult to see our dream and our alma mater in such a deplorable state because of the slowness of the state authorities to guarantee security in the country. It is unthinkable that education and books in Haiti are being attacked,” he laments.

Ronaldo Jeanty, third-year student at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

Since the first attacks on the Institute early this year, Nadège Daudier told AyiboPost that she had called for help from various police patrols several times to assess the damage, but the officers strongly advised her against going to the lower part of the city.

The INSFSF was established on February 21, 2018 in Port-au-Prince with the aim of training qualified midwives to meet the maternal and child health needs of the country.

In 2021, the structure was integrated into the State University of Haiti (UEH) with training programs in the West, North and South to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Haiti.

Since the attacks, the faculty, which has more than a hundred students, has been trying to function by organizing sessions for students of the Professional Association of Midwives of Haiti (APSH) in Delmas.

But many students are unable to continue their studies due to security risks in the country in recent months, Daudier said.

Image of the extent of the damage at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives in August 2024.

More than a month after Kenyan troops landed in Haiti, gangs are still active in the metropolitan area and in several provincial towns.

According to the United Nations (UN), political instability and escalating violence have forced 578,074 people to leave their homes in 2024, including more than 310,000 women and girls and 180,000 children.

Since the outbreak of hostilities in February, other educational institutions in the lower part of the city have also been looted by armed gangs.

The list includes the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy (FMP), the Faculty of Sciences (FDS) and the National School of Arts (ENARTS).

The parking lot of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in August 2024.

During AyiboPost’s visit in early August, a bus was parked just a stone’s throw from what was left of a burnt-out car and the building’s main metal gate was off and lying on the floor of the Faculty of Medicine.

The walls of the establishment bear the expression of the criminal drunkenness of the bandits. Gaping bullet holes can be seen almost everywhere on the walls, along with obscene inscriptions left as a record of their passage. The metal locks on almost every door have been blown open, leaving most of the rooms wide open. In the hallways, piles of cluttered files paint the picture of an abandoned establishment.

One of the walls of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.

A few meters away, on the front facade of the courtyard overlooking the Faculty of Dentistry (FO) of the State University of Haiti, is the library.

If the books were not destroyed by the flames, they were plundered, and most of them were left scattered on the floor of the room.

The library of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.

The Faculty of Sciences (FDS), an entity of the UEH, has also been the victim of regular looting since the height of insecurity in the lower part of the city in February last year. AyiboPost tried in vain to contact an official of the institution.

ENARTS, one of the few art schools in the country, was looted earlier this year. Almost five months later, there has still been no inventory of the damage carried out by those responsible, who are still afraid for the lower part of the city.

Yves Penel, Director General of the institution, tells AyiboPost over the phone that many student files, important books and accounting documents have gone missing.

One of the corridors of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.

The walls were breached and televisions used for training, as well as several batteries and inverters that supplied the building with electricity, were taken by the bandits.

For now, the institution is trying to keep its courses online, but the official said several students dropped out.

In the last round of admissions for the 2023-2024 academic year, ENARTS welcomed 108 students. Currently, this number has been reduced to 80, the official said.

“The attack on schools and universities in Haiti is illogical,” Penel said. “To attack these institutions is to kill the hope of the country.”

By means of Junior Legrand

Cover photo: Ronaldo Jeanty, third-year student at the National Higher Institute for the Training of Midwives. | Photo: Junior Legrand

Photos by Ronaldo Jeanty and Junior Legrand.

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