PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: Chilling details have to come to light in the case of the abduction of the nurse, Alix Dorsainvil, and her daughter in Haiti. Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped from a clinic she was working in on Thursday, July 27. According to witnesses who were present in the clinic at that time, the kidnappers asked for $1M in ransom.
Another witness, a patient named Lormina Louima, reportedly said, “When I saw the gun, I was so scared,” adding that one of the armed men even asked her to relax. She continued, “I said, ‘I don’t want to see this, let me go.'” As per people in the community, $1M was what armed gang members usually asked for as ransom in the area, per the New York Post.
On the day of her kidnapping, Dorsainvil was working in a clinic run by the Christian ministry El Roi Haiti near Port-au-Prince. The director of the non-profit is Dorsainvil’s husband, Sandro. The non-profit provided basic education and healthcare to the people in the Port-au-Prince area.
Who is Alix Dorsanvil's husband??
The story of the director of El Roi Haiti, Sandro, is nothing short of spectacular and inspiring. Growing up in a poverty and violence-stricken area of Cite Soleil area in Port-au-Prince, Sandro had to battle immense hardships as his single mother tried hard to provide food for the family. He struggled with poverty and hunger, and often spent months just on sugar water and dry bread as his mother could not afford food.
Sandro also could not stick in one school for a long time as he could not pay tuition fees. Then he had to go to a public school five miles away. Despite being notorious for gang violence, the school helped him build his character. He spent three years there and between Grades 8 and 9, he taught himself English and Spanish, and took up odd jobs including translating for adoption agencies.
As it is said, Providence helps the people who help themselves, Sandro’s work as the translator got him an opportunity that changed his life. A couple, for whom he worked, lived in a small Montana town that had a boarding school for international students. When the couple invited him to go to the US, Sandro -though skeptical at first - went on to finish his school education at Lustre Christian High School. After earning his high school diploma in 2014, he went on to study at Liberty University and graduated in 2018 with a degree in Developmental Psychology & Biblical Counseling, per El Roi Haiti’s official website. A firm believer in Christianity, he founded El Roi Haiti through which he works for the betterment of those less fortunate. Sandro got married to New Hampshire nurse Dorsainvil in 2021 and the couple have a daughter, who was also kidnapped.
'If they leave, everything will shut down'
While witnesses claimed that the kidnappers demanded a ransom, the US State Department declined to comment as spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority. We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities. We’ll continue to work with them and our US government interagency partners, but because it’s an ongoing law enforcement investigation, there’s not more detail I can offer.”
With their selfless good work, El Roi Haiti has earned love and support of the Haitians as almost 200 people marched on the roads of Port-au-Prince, demanding Dorsainvil and her daughter's release. Per the New York Post, one protester’s poster read, “She is doing good work in the community, free her.”
Another protester Jean Ronald said, “If they leave, everything [the non-profit initiatives including healthcare and education] will shut down. The money [the kidnappers] are asking for, we don’t have it.”
On Thursday, the US State Department issued a warning to citizens and urged them not to travel to Haiti because of “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure." The non-emergency American workers were also asked to leave the country as threats of abductions were abundant.
