Episode details

World Service,4 mins
Haiti: How a nun shelters hundreds of children from a humanitarian crisis
NewshourAvailable for over a year
Haiti, already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is in the grip of growing economic, political and gang crises. Shortages of fuel, food and water, as well as civil unrest and an outbreak of cholera, have led to an ongoing humanitarian "catastrophe" - according to the country's UN envoy. Civil unrest has escalated since Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced an end to government fuel subsidies on 11 September, which sent petrol and diesel prices skyrocketing. Sister Paesie, a nun who runs a humanitarian charity in the Cite Soleil area of Port au Prince, has been taking care of hundreds of local children. She says many of the children she currently houses "have seen terrible things, seen their parents killed, some have been raped.... we try to create an oasis where they feel safe." (Photo: People walk past a burning street barricade. Credit: Ralph Tedy Erol via Reuters)
Programme Website