Child psychologists and educators working in Haiti during the 2019 crisis turned to art therapy as one of the most accessible and culturally appropriate tools for helping children process the fear, confusion, and trauma of growing up in a country convulsed by political violence and economic hardship. Drawing programs offered in community centers, churches, and makeshift classrooms produced a window into the inner world of Haitian children navigating extraordinary circumstances.
The drawings children produced were often startlingly direct. Images of burning barricades, armed men, empty plates, and crying mothers appeared alongside more hopeful images of schools, families together, and landscapes of natural beauty. Therapists noted that the act of giving visual form to frightening experiences could help children gain a sense of control over material that otherwise felt overwhelming.
Some of the most powerful work came from older children who had witnessed specific incidents of violence or whose daily routines had been most severely disrupted. These children’s drawings often had a reportorial quality, documenting what they had seen with a precision that both impressed and saddened the adults who worked with them.
International children’s organizations used the drawings in advocacy efforts, arguing that the crisis required international attention and resources proportionate to its impact on the most vulnerable members of Haitian society. The drawings put human faces — small, specific, unforgettable faces — on statistics that were otherwise too large to feel real.