Christian Ministry in Haiti urges more prayers for kidnapped nurse, gang reportedly wants $1M ransom

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, August 01, 2023

El Roi Haiti, the Christian education ministry in Haiti from which New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped as she did work for the ministry “following in the footsteps of Jesus,” has called for more prayers for her safe return as gang members have reportedly demanded a ransom of $1 million.

“Please continue to pray with us for the protection and freedom of Alix and her daughter. As our hearts break for this situation, we also continue to pray for the country and people of Haiti and for freedom from the suffering they endure daily,” the ministry said in a statement Monday.

The ministry said the New Hampshire mother who married El Roi Haiti founder Sandro Dorsainvil in 2021 after she began her role as school nurse with the organization in 2020, is a committed Christian who has been traveling to Haiti since 2010.

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“She first visited Haiti soon after the 2010 earthquake while she was in college and fell in love with the people. She spent her breaks and summers taking trips back to the country. Once she started working as a nurse, she would save money and then self-fund all of her trips to Haiti, going as often as she could,” El Roi Haiti said.

“She had lived in Haiti for multiple years, showing love and care in a variety of ways before coming on staff with us, but has had a heart for the hurting since she was a child. She seeks people out to show them love and compassion, and no one is excluded from receiving her kindness,” the ministry explained before noting that she had been “following in the footsteps of Jesus” with her work on the Caribbean island.

“Alix lives a life following in the footsteps of Jesus as she obeys the Biblical command found in Mark 12:30 to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength ... and to love your neighbor as yourself,’” El Roi Haiti said.

The ministry further vowed that they will not stop praying until the nurse and her daughter are released.

“We have committed this situation to God knowing that He is good, so until Alix and her daughter are safely returned to us, we will do as it says in Psalm 27:14 ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord,’” the ministry noted.

Alix Dorsainvil was kidnapped from El Roi Haiti’s campus near the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince on July 27. That same day, the State Department issued a travel advisory asking Americans not to travel to Haiti, ordering all U.S. Citizens and non-emergency government employees to leave as soon as possible.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that the New Hampshire nurse was busy caring for patients in a small brick clinic when armed men ambushed the site and took her.

Lormina Louima, a patient who was waiting for a check-up told the news service that one man brandished his gun and told her to relax.

“When I saw the gun, I was so scared,” Louima told the AP. “I said, ‘I don’t want to see this, let me go.’”

Members of the community said the gunmen are asking for a $1 million ransom but neither the U.S. Department of State nor El Roi Haiti have publicly shared any details of the investigation citing the sensitive nature of the situation.

“I will say we are aware of the reports that two U.S. citizens were kidnapped in Haiti.  Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing Monday. “We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners. But because it’s an ongoing law enforcement investigation, there’s not any more detail I can offer.”