‘Free Gena,’ plead colleagues of kidnapped Irish missionary in Haiti

Staff of a charity serving Haiti are pleading for the return of a kidnapped Irish lay missionary and her companions — including a 3-year-old child — taken by armed gunmen who stormed an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, amid the Caribbean nation’s long-running armed gang violence and political instability.

“We raise our voices today to demand freedom for our colleague and friend Gena Heraty,” said Jameson Camille, an administrator at Kay St. Germaine, one of several outpatient rehabilitation centers for children and adults with neurological disabilities.

The site is part of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, or NPH, an international outreach founded by Father William Wasson to serve vulnerable children. The network of charities — expanded in 1995 to include Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs, or NPFS — supports 3,200 children in Bolivia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

Heraty — an acclaimed humanitarian and Viatores Christi missionary volunteer, who moved from her native Ireland to Haiti in 1993 — was among several people seized in the early hours of Aug. 3, after attackers breached NPFS’s Saint-Hélène Foyer orphanage in Kenscoff, near Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. The 15-acre site, which Heraty directs, is home to over 200 children, with cottages, a chapel, a clinic and school open to the community.

Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported the attackers were believed to be gang members.

Both the NPFS and NPH offices issued statements on the abductions, with the former describing the situation as “evolving” and “delicate.”

In a joint Aug. 3 statement, NPFS Haiti and the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti — a Catholic nonprofit that collaborates with NPFS — announced that two of their respective hospitals, St. Damien Pediatric Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital, adjacently located in Tabarre — “will remain closed until the individuals have been safely released.”

St. Damien is Haiti’s only dedicated pediatric and prenatal care hospital in Haiti, while St. Luke’s Hospital offers emergency and critical care as well as surgeries, radiology and cholera treatment.

Simon Hall, Ireland’s Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and foreign affairs minister, said in an Aug. 5 X post that he had spoken about the attack with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security and vice president of the European Commission.

Hall said he was “grateful for the EU’s assistance and solidarity,” adding, “My team will link closely with the EU Delegation Office in Haiti.”

In a separate X Aug. 5 post, he said he contacted the Haitian foreign minister regarding the “distressing” and “extremely sensitive” situation.

Camille, who grew up in Kenscoff, said in a message NPH shared with OSV News Aug. 5, “Gena is a warm-hearted woman who dedicates her life to helping Haitian children with disabilities and our society’s most vulnerable.

“It’s not just a job for Gena — it’s a vocation and her true mission in life,” he wrote. “Every child she meets, she gives them hope — hope for a better future.”

Camille stressed that Heraty is “a vital and valued member of our community — always there in times of need, always with an open door and heart to help others, never asking for anything in return.”

He added, “Such a person should never meet with violence or crime.”

“We ask with all due respect, free Gena,” said Camille. “Let her return to her vital mission, where she continues to serve humanity with love and compassion. We believe in human dignity and respect for those who serve others.”

Camille said he and his colleagues “seek justice for Gena and a safe return for all those taken as soon as possible.”

“We appeal to the humanity of her captors to make this happen,” said Camille in his message. “Free Gena. Restore the hope and love she brings in true service of Haiti.”

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