'Dem rape me and my six-year-old pikin'

BBC News

4 days ago

Warning: Dis tori get accounts of rape and oda kasala wey fit disturb readers.
Helene bin dey 17 years old wen one gang bin attack her neighbourhood for di Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
She dey play wit her baby daughter hair, wey dey sleep for her lap, as she dey describe how armed men bin kidnap her as she bin try to run, dem bin hold der hostage her for over two months.
"Dem bin rape me and beat me evri single day. Plenti different men. I no even sabi dia names, dem no wear mask," na wetin di young woman, wey we change her name to protect her identity tok. "Some of di tins wey dem bin do me too dey painful to tell you."
"I kon get belle, dem continue to tell me say I must abort di pregnancy and I say 'no'. Dis pikin fit be di only one I go eva get."
She manage to escape while di gang bin dey fight to maintain dia territory. Now she dey 19 years, she bin spend di past year to raise her daughter for house wey dey safe for di suburb of di city.
Na home to at least 30 girls and young women, wey dey sleep for bunk beds for rooms wey dem really paint am finew wit beta colours.
Helene na di oldest rape survivor hia. Di youngest na just 12 years old. As she dey play and dance for di balcony inside di blue polka dot dress wey she wear, she look much younger dan her age, sake of say she bin don dey suffer from malnutrition bifor. One staff tell us sy dem bin don rape her plenti times.
Rape and other sexual violence dey increase for Haiti, as armed gangs dey expand dia control across Port-au-Prince and beyond.
Di Caribbean island nation dey inside gang violence since jaguda pipo bin assassination di former President Jovenel Moïse for 2021.
E dey hard to measure di scale of sexual violence. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) dey run clinic for central Port-au-Prince for women wey bin don experience sexual abuse.
Data wey dem don share exclusively wit di BBC show say patient numbers don nearly tripled since 2021.
Di gangs dey known for sweeping into neighbourhoods and dem go kill dozens of pipo.
MSF say multiple gang rapes of women and girls na part of dis large-scale attacks evritime. From survivors' accounts, e dey clear say gangs dey use rape to terrorise and oppress di whole community wey dey around.
Di BBC dey challenge gang leaders about accounts of killings and rapes. One bin tok say gang members "dey do tins wey dem no suppose do". Anoda one say dem get "duty" to fight di state, and "wen we dey fight we dey possessed - we no be human again".
"Patients don begin share veri, veri difficult stories since 2021," na wetin Diana Manilla Arroyo, di charity head of mission for Haiti tok.
"Survivors tok about two or four or seven, or up to 20 aggressors," she tok, she add say more women now dey tok say di gangs dey threaten dem wit weapons or dem go make dem unconscious.
Women dey also report more and more say di gang pipo wey dey rape dem neva reach 18 years, she add.
For one drop-in centre for anoda part of di city, four women - wey dia age dey between late 20s to 70 – describe say dem dey attack dem in front of dia children and husbands.
"Dem bin attack our area, I go back house only to see say, my papa, my sister, dem don kill all of dem. Dem kill dem and dem burn di house down, and dem dey inside," one woman tok.
Afta she look her home wey dem don destroy, she bin wan comot from di area wen she jam di gang members. "Dem rape me - I bin carry my six-year-old pikin wit me. Dem rape her too," she continue. "Den dem kill my younger broda for our front".
"Anytime my daughter look me, she dey sad and she go dey cry."
Di oda women recount attacks wey dey similar pattern - murder, rape and arson.
Sexual violence na just one element of di crisis wey dey worry Haiti. UN agencies say more dan a tenth of di population - 1.3 million pipo - don run comot from dia homes and half di population dey faces serious hunger.
Haiti neva elect any leadership since dem bin assassinate Moïse. One transitional Presidential Council, and series of prime ministers wey dem bin appoint, dey tasked wit running di kontri and to organise election.
Rival gangs don form collabo, dem dey turn dia weapons on di Haitian state, instead of each oda.
Since we di last time wey we bin visit for December, di situation don worse. Hundreds of thousands more pipo dey displaced. More dan 4,000 pipo don die for di first half of 2025, compared to 5,400 for di whole of 2024, according to di UN.