Marrainage

Only about a quarter of Haitian Women who have suffered physical or sexual violence say they sought help. The organizations that receive them follow a standard medical, legal and psychological protocol, and many Women abandon it along the way: relatives, institutions and people close to the aggressor all press in one direction, and daily material reality makes giving up on justice the easier road. Standard accompaniment needed something alongside it, a bond that is closer, more intimate and more constant, so that a Woman can go the whole way.

That is the marrainage. A Woman who has survived violence is paired with a marraine, herself a survivor. They get to know each other, share their histories and their experience, and help each other through the long work of rebuilding. The method covers every form of violence, and it also accompanies Women who choose to end a pregnancy, before, during and after, in a country where abortion is still illegal.

Survivors become actors against violence in their turn, bound by solidarity and by what they have lived. Together they reclaim their story and draw on their own power to protect themselves, rebuild, and make their path a tool of resistance.