Micheline Finds Peace from Gang Violence at Convoy Center

Violence in Haiti has become tragically normal. According to the United Nations, more than 1,100 people were injured or killed in January 2024, more than 150 children were killed or injured by bullets last year, and more than 3 million Haitian children are in desperate need of humanitarian intervention. 

“Children and families are already enduring relentless waves of brutal violence perpetrated by armed groups in their neighborhoods, with each day bringing new horrors, the loss of loved ones, homes being destroyed by fires or bullets, and an ever-present shadow of fear,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF’s representative in Haiti.

Young Micheline is haunted by the violence around her. In December 2022, 12 people were murdered by gangs in a nearby town. The loss shook her to her core. “Every day, I think about the massacre. It remains in my mind like a sick person who never recovers.”

The instability around Micheline affects every part of her life. She and her family do their best, but the ongoing gang violence is tanking Haiti’s economy and making it impossible for people like Micheline’s parents to keep steady work. “The hardest thing I’ve seen my parents deal with is the problem of insecurity,” she says. “They can’t work.”

No work means no money, which means little food. She and her sister do what they can to help, but it’s never enough. “I just feel like I can’t anymore,” Micheline laments, “because I’m in too much pain.”

Thankfully, Micheline goes to a school where she receives both an education and a daily meal from Convoy of Hope. 

Through a partnership with Mission of Hope, Convoy serves more than 125,000 meals a day to children in schools and orphanages throughout Haiti. For many children, a school meal provided by Convoy of Hope may be the only food they receive that day.

For Micheline, it’s the difference between not knowing when her next meal will appear and having the energy to thrive. “It is good food that helps me every day in school and at home. It helps me study very well. I love it when they make it with vegetables. This food gives me motivation to realize my dreams and to study well.”

Micheline has other reasons to celebrate, too. Recently, local gangs moved out of her village. She’s hopeful that the peace she feels while at school will now extend to her entire community. Despite the hardships all around her, she’s hopeful for Haiti’s future.