PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: An American nurse, Alix Dorsainvil, and her daughter were kidnapped near the Haitian capital on Thursday, July 27, morning. The non-profit organization where Alix works, El Roi Haiti, published a statement on their website to inform about the incident. Originally from New Hampshire, Alix traveled to Haiti after she was invited by Sandro to provide medical care to the children of a local school.
The US authorities have been aware of the kidnapping and are working with their Haitian counterparts to facilitate the safe return of the duo. In a statement, they said, "The US Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas," as per CNN.
Who is Alix Dorsainvil?
Alix is an American nurse who graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts and considers Haiti as her home and the Haitian people to be her family and friends. She originally hails from New Hampshire but was working at Port-au-Prince for a non-profit organization named El Roi Haiti as a nurse to help the locals get medical help.
She is described to be "deeply compassionate" by the organization in its statement, which also said, "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." Alix is married to the organization's founder, Sandro, and the couple share a child. Sandro was raised in the difficult parts of Port-au-Prince and later traveled to the US to study at a Christian high school and subsequently graduated from Liberty University in Virginia, as per the El Roi Haiti website. After completing his studies, Sandro returned to Haiti to alleviate the issues of the Haitians through his non-profit.
About three years ago, the organization shared a video where Alix can be heard narrating how she came to Haiti as she states, "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." "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," added Alix.
El Roi Haiti wrote, "We continue to work with our partners and trusted relationships to secure their safe return," in its statement.
US State Department's statement on Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter's kidnapping
It is imperative to note that Alix's supposed abduction happened the very day on which the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a meeting with the Australian counterpart, raised a "very deep concern for the situation [in Haiti], particularly with regard to the violence and the activities of the gangs." On the same day, the State Department also issued an order for the nonemergency American government employees and families to leave Haiti "due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure." Such crimes are not new as previously, such instances of kidnapping have been seen, and the abductees were allegedly not released until a hefty sum of money had been given as a ransom. Regarding Alix and her daughter's abduction, the US government said that they are working with the Haitian government and "will continue to work with them and our US government interagency partners " for the mother and the child’s safe return, according to the Daily Mail.
