Hinche, Teaching Through the Pain: The Strength of a Displaced Educator

The crumbling compound of school Anténor Firmin in Hinche is now an improvised shelter for over 700 displaced people, a solitary figure draws the eye. The face of Edens Désir bears the mark of sleepless nights, still haunted by the brutal memories of gang violence that tore through his neighborhood. But he refuses to collapse under the weight of trauma. Instead, he offers himself as a beacon of hope to children whose education is under siege.

Edens, a trained accountant and former secondary‐school teacher, saw his life upended by the violent clashes that erupted in March 2025 in Saut-d’Eau and Mirebalais. Similarly to 6,000 other people, he fled massacres, arson, rapes, and lootings. “Everything I built step by step was destroyed. I left with nothing.”

A School Turned Shelter, a Teacher Turned Anchor

Edens found refuge in the school where he once studied, which is no longer a space for learning. Desks are now beds, and the classrooms have become crowded shelters with everyone sleeping side by side. Dozens of families now live there, packed into rooms never meant to become sleeping quarters.

Amid this tumult, Edens buildsconnection from the rubble. Armed with a whiteboard, a marker, a handful of youth, and a great deal of patience, he teaches displaced children, themselves uprooted from any sense of normalcy.

“Ever since I was a kid, I loved teaching. Teaching is what I care about the most. I would rather be in front of a class than doing nothing. For these kids, school is the only real chance they have”.

Building Amid Uncertainty

“I was preparing to expand my business. Violence said no. Now, my only plan is to leave and try somewhere else. But as long as I’m here, I will share what I know.”

Like many young Haitians, Edens had dared to believe he could create something from his skills, education, and hard work. But in a context where guns speak louder than dreams, everything vanished in flames, violence, and forced displacement.

Today, he lives in a suspended reality. The past is painful, the present unstable, and the future unclear. “I can’t plan anything anymore,” he says. “Each day is improvised. Each night carries the question of whether there will be food tomorrow.”

Living in Utter Precarity

Clean water is scarce. Every day, women and children queue at distribution points to fill their containers. Hygiene needs are dire, with only a few latrines and showers functioning, forcing hundreds to use facilities that offer little privacy or sanitation. The health risks are rising, especially for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

Meals are infrequent and depend on humanitarian aid or solidarity from the host community in Hinche. “Sometimes I go to bed without eating,” Edens confesses, “but I keep teaching, because the kids are here.”

IOM Steps in Despite Challenges

Helping the displaced comes with heavy logistical challenges. The main road between Port-au-Prince and Hinche remains inaccessible due to rising insecurity, blocking humanitarian deliveries and depriving thousands of basic necessities.

Yet these challenges have not stopped IOM. The Organization provided emergency relief to over 800 families across 17 sites including shelter kits, blankets, kitchen sets, and jerrycans. The support could have been expanded, if not for access constraints.

IOM teams are on the ground, talking with displaced families, host communities, and local authorities to assess needs. They’re also training site committees and Civil Protection teams to manage the sites. The Organization is also working to relocate the most fragile displacement sites to safer locations and is offering essential psychosocial support for those traumatized by the violence.

These efforts aim to protect the most vulnerable, especially children, caught in a crisis too vast for them to understand, but already shaping their futures in tragic ways. For Edens, teaching science and a culture of peace is a strategy to break the cycle that funnels uneducated, desperate youth into the arms of senseless violence.

“We need better citizens to make a difference,” he says. “I don’t think my contribution is enough to bring about that change, but I feel useful doing it. And it breaks my heart to know that one day I will have to leave them behind to seek better horizons.”

Rising After the Fall

Edens believes that knowledge is a defense against dehumanization. When violence tears everything apart, forcing children into displacement, splitting families, disrupting access to education, teaching becomes an act of resistance. Between bitterness and determination, Edens embodies a generation trapped in chronic instability.

One of IOM's ultimate goal is to reduce the pressure that pushes young people like Edens to leave their homeland. But this vision remains difficult to achieve. Needs are growing exponentially, while resources continue to shrink. The international community must stand by Haiti, so it can endure this painful chapter in its national history and ensure that people like Edens can remain standing, with dignity, on the soil they love.

Humanitarian aid provided by IOM, with the support of partners like the European Commission - ECHO, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, offers an initial lifeline. Meanwhile, other programs aiming at driving solutions to forced displacement, backed by the French Embassy Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Affaires mondiales Canada | Global Affairs Canada, and the United Nations Peacebuilding, work to strengthen public institutions, rebuild infrastructure, and foster social cohesion.