American Nurse and Her Young Daughter Freed, Nearly Two Weeks after Abduction in Haiti

American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, according to aid organization El Roi Haiti.

The Christian group founded by Dorsainvil’s husband asked that neither she nor her family be contacted: “There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation,” the group said in a statement.

The group added that it confirmed the safe release “with a heart of gratitude and immense joy.” No other details were immediately available, including whether any ransom was paid.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that armed men seized the New Hampshire native and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works.

The Christian group has offered medical care, education and other basic services to people in the country’s poorest areas.

Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Gang members regularly killed, rape and hold residents for ransom. A local nonprofit has documented 539 kidnappings since January, a significant rise over previous years.

In a video posted on the El Roi Haiti website, Dorsainvil describes Haitians as “full of joy, and life and love,” people she was blessed to know.

In a blog post, El Roi Haiti said Dorsainvil fell in love with Haiti’s people on a visit there after the devastating 2010 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation.

Dorsainvil graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where a program supports nursing education in Haiti.