Violence is traumatizing Haitian children. Now the country’s breaking its taboo on mental health services. Young Haitians are increasingly exposed to relentless sounds of violence and sidestep bodies in the streets. In the community of Bon Repos in northern Port-au-Prince, young students routinely throw up or wet themselves in class when gunfire erupts outside. The gang violence in Haiti’s capital has left more than 2,500 people dead or wounded in the first three months of the year. Some 900 schools have closed across Port-au-Prince as shootings and kidnappings continue. That has an estimated 200,000 children with a limited education.
