As Haiti descends deeper into lawlessness, a group of orphans has found safety in the mountains of the country’s north after fleeing relentless gang violence in Port-au-Prince that has displaced over a million Haitians.
Didi Ananda, a 61-year-old nun originally from Spain, led the evacuation of 33 children in her care as armed groups closed in on their neighborhood.
“At one moment, I said, ‘Let’s move,’” she told Scripps News. “And I don’t regret it.”
Her children’s home, rooted in a yoga-based spiritual tradition, places music at its core — every child learns to play an instrument.
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“For them, music has been a healing thing,” Ananda said. “A way to restore rhythm and joy when the world falls apart.”
So when it came time to flee, Ananda knew what mattered most.
“The main priority was to bring the children to safety,” she said. “And the material things—the priority was the instruments.”
They now live in a remote hillside village seven hours from the capital, in what she calls “a place of peace — but with little else.” Their temporary shelter lacks many basic comforts, but they brought their most precious belongings: musical instruments donated by BLUME Haiti, a nonprofit based in Wisconsin that promotes music education throughout Haiti.
“For them, music has been a healing thing,” Ananda said.
Lolita, a 17-year-old who has lived at the orphanage since infancy, plays violin, trumpet and viola. She said she felt relief when they fled Port-au-Prince — and has grown to love the new place they now call home.
“It has a patio, beautiful trees, wind, freshness,” she said. “That’s what makes me love it now.”
The displacement of this orphanage is part of a much larger crisis unfolding across Haiti. On Monday, the U.N.’s top official in the country, María Isabel Salvador, warned the Security Council that Haiti is approaching a “point of no return.” She said gang violence is overwhelming the country’s fragile security forces and could plunge Haiti into “total chaos” without urgent international support.
Armed groups now control roughly 85% of Port-au-Prince and have begun expanding into surrounding regions. In recent weeks, gangs overtook the central city of Mirebalais and freed over 500 prisoners in a coordinated attack — the fifth prison break in under a year.
Salvador urged the international community to bolster the Kenya-led multinational force assisting Haiti’s police, warning that without timely and concrete aid, “the security situation in Haiti may not change.”
Ananda says many of those carrying guns are barely older than the children she protects.
“Most of the people with the guns, they are young,” she said. “But you know how is a human mind — once you go out of control, you don’t have the sense of humanity.”
In the countryside, Ananda has begun laying the groundwork for a new children’s home. She has purchased land but says construction hasn’t started; it’s just dirt and dreams.
For now, the children sleep in close quarters and study in improvised classrooms — but they play music every day.
“I feel at ease,” Lolita said, “I’m happy.”
