“When a child goes to school, a door to hope opens” — the Catholic sister protecting 3,500 children in Haiti

Photo caption — The Kizito Family provides free education to children in Cité Soleil, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where gang violence has forced many families to flee their homes. Photo courtesy of the Kizito Family.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When Sister Paësie leaves her community at 6:30 a.m. to go to Mass, she often finds women and children waiting at the gate. They carry bags of clothes, sometimes the only possessions they managed to save before fleeing gang violence. With nowhere safe to spend the night, they turn to the sister for help. A little farther down the road, other women and children line up at a well for water. These scenes play out regularly in Cité Soleil, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, where insecurity has made even ordinary tasks such as leaving home, going to work or getting to school a daily challenge.

“In the morning, when I leave at 6:30 to go to Mass in the neighborhood, I often find women and children waiting at the gate with bags of clothes. They’ve had to flee gang attacks, and they really have nowhere to sleep,” the French missionary said in an exclusive interview with Press Crux. Sister Paësie arrived in Haiti in 1999 and founded the Kizito Family in 2017. She has devoted her life to supporting children in the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Her account shows what the statistics can miss as families lose their homes, children are forced out of school and mothers look for ways to feed and protect their children each day.

A crisis that has forced thousands of families to flee

The scenes Sister Paësie describes are unfolding amid one of the most severe humanitarian emergencies in the Americas. On Sept. 25, 2026, Reuters reported, citing the International Organization for Migration, that violence had displaced nearly 1.5 million people within Haiti. About 80% were outside Port-au-Prince, reflecting the spread of armed groups into other regions. On Oct. 19, the United Nations told the Security Council that gang-related violence had killed 1,123 people and injured 440 between July and early October. The U.N. also reported that more than 740,000 children were among those displaced. Insecurity continued to disrupt government institutions and had contributed to the indefinite postponement of elections scheduled for December.

The crisis has also left millions struggling to get enough to eat and put children’s futures at risk. The Associated Press reported in late October, citing a U.N.-backed assessment, that about 5.94 million Haitians faced acute food insecurity, with nearly 2 million experiencing emergency levels of hunger. Children also face the threat of recruitment. Citing UNICEF, the AP reported that the recruitment of children by armed groups tripled in 2025. Poverty, displacement and interrupted schooling have left thousands of children vulnerable to gangs that exploit families’ hardship by offering money, food or promises of protection.

A school forced to move

Sister Paësie said the effects of the violence vary from one neighborhood to the next. She recalled what happened in Forto, a section of Cité Soleil where a rival gang moved in and forced residents to flee. They still have been unable to return. For several weeks after the attack, the Kizito Family took in displaced children while their parents looked for shelter elsewhere in Cité Soleil. The families lost virtually everything they had left behind. Among the institutions affected was Saint-Bernadette School, one of the community’s schools.

“We took in children for a few weeks after the attack. Then their parents settled in another part of Cité Soleil. They’re living in a neighborhood that isn’t their own, and they’ve lost everything because they can’t go back to their homes to get their belongings,” she said. The community moved Saint-Bernadette School closer to where the children had found refuge. The move took several weeks, and students missed part of September before they could return to class. For Sister Paësie, reopening the school gave children a safe place to learn and a familiar routine at a time when violence had disrupted nearly every part of their lives.

Ten schools and support for 3,500 children

Despite the difficulties, the Kizito Family has kept 10 tuition-free schools open, serving about 2,200 students. One way it has kept them running is by hiring young people who live in the neighborhoods the schools serve, including some who have yet to complete their professional training. That means teachers can get to school without traveling across the capital on roads that may be dangerous or blocked by armed clashes.

“Our schools are in the neighborhood, and our teachers live there, too. We decided to hire young people who may have less training but who live in the same neighborhood. That allows us to keep working,” Sister Paësie said. In addition to its schools, the community provides residential care for about 200 children and young people and offers catechesis, music, soccer and other educational activities. Altogether, a staff of 220 helps the Kizito Family serve about 3,500 children.

Education as an alternative to gang recruitment

Sister Paësie believes that giving children a real alternative to gang recruitment starts with meeting their basic needs. Children need a home, food and safety before they can begin making plans for the future, she said. Education is especially important because it lets them imagine possibilities that would otherwise seem out of reach.

“For children to imagine a future beyond being recruited by gangs, their basic needs must first be met. They need a place to call home, food and, above all, schooling. When a child goes to school, a door opens right away to a future and to the hope of training for a profession,” she said.

The community gives priority to children who missed the chance to start school at the usual age. Its tuition-free schools prioritize children ages 9 and older who have never attended school. For many, it is their first opportunity to learn to read and write and to be in a place where others recognize what they can do and what they might become. The program has particular significance in a country where poverty and violence have disrupted the education of thousands of children for years.

Sister Paësie also emphasized how much children still depend on family ties. In her experience, mothers and grandmothers remain central to their care, even as many families contend with absent fathers and extreme poverty that makes it difficult to provide safety and stability. “Family ties are there. We mostly speak with mothers or grandmothers because women are the ones caring for the children. Many fathers are absent, with some exceptions. But because of extreme poverty, parents often feel powerless to meet their children’s basic needs,” she said.

Hope begins with children

Years of insecurity have forced Cité Soleil residents to live with gunfire, struggle to find food and pay rent, and wonder whether those who leave for work will make it home. Sister Paësie said families have endured many of these hardships for years. She sees the Church’s mission as staying with those families and giving children opportunities that can help keep them safe from violence.

In a crisis that has robbed so many families of the safety of their homes, the Kizito Family’s work shows how education can protect children and help them regain a sense of hope. For Sister Paësie, every school that opens and every child who returns to class is a chance for a new generation to choose a future beyond the one gangs would impose on them.

In the second part of this interview, Sister Paësie explains how she shares the faith with children who have experienced violence, the role of forgiveness and the Eucharist in her mission, and why she believes that seeds of holiness still run deep in Haiti, even amid suffering.

Photo caption — Sister Paësie, founder of the Kizito Family, has dedicated her mission to protecting and educating Haiti’s most vulnerable children and sharing the Catholic faith with them. Photo courtesy of the Kizito Family.

Photo caption — Sister Paësie, founder of the Kizito Family, has dedicated her mission to protecting and educating Haiti’s most vulnerable children and sharing the Catholic faith with them. Photo courtesy of the Kizito Family.

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