Generally cited anonymously when requested, or simply identified by their first name, with some indication of their age or place of origin, the displaced are not reduced to that. 

Fathers and mothers, professionals in various fields, merchants, students or schoolchildren, those who are today's displaced had a life before leaving their homes. Children, young people and the elderly, they come from all categories. In this article, Le Nouvelliste has painted a portrait - albeit incomplete - of those living in displacement camps.

Victor lives on the site of the former Fusion political party headquarters with his wife and three children. Under his shelter made of sheet metal and plastic sheeting, where he has already spent six months, Victor has built a makeshift bed for his children to sleep. He and his wife sleep on the ground. All around his shelter, Victor has dug channels to keep water out of this improvised dwelling. Two years ago, his life turned into a nightmare.

A former resident of the Savane Pistache neighborhood in Carrefour-Feuilles, Victor is also known for having been an ice cream vendor in Carrefour Saintus. "I sold ice wholesale to retailers," he says proudly, standing at the entrance to his shelter. This business provided him with a decent living. When bandits invaded Carrefour-Feuilles in the summer of 2023, Victor fled his home and lost virtually everything. "I lived for several months in a camp in the capital, then thanks to money provided by an NGO working in the field, I was able to rent a house for shelter," says Victor. However, the new house he rented was located in Nazon. In November 2024, other bandits attacked his new neighborhood, Victor and his family fled again and now have to squat in this camp with thousands of other people.

"Now, I have no work. I survive thanks to the help of some members of my family and the little aid that arrives at the camp," he reports. Two of his children, who used to be in school, no longer go to school due to lack of funds, like many children who flee gang violence with their parents.

Adlène is 25 years old and must care for her 5-year-old daughter alone. The child's father has shirked his responsibilities, Adlène explains. Together, they live in the camp, housed in the premises of the République de Colombie school in Bourdon. This Thursday, May 15, her daughter, who is in third-grade preschool, is not going to school. "I haven't paid the school fees, and I was warned that without them, she won't have access to the classroom," says the mother, as she styles her daughter's hair.

Before leaving her neighborhood and her home, Adlène made a living selling beauty products. Today, without her livelihood, Adlène relies on God, the little money she occasionally receives from her mother who lives in Pestel, and... begging when there are no other options.

Her neighbor at the camp, Françoise, mother of two daughters, lives with her 74-year-old mother, who suffers from hypertension, and her husband, a former carpenter who is now unemployed. Françoise still remembers the time when her grocery business was still thriving and she was able to support her mother and daughters. "Here, we don't live. We're not sheltered from the rain or the sun. When it rains, we have to wait for the rain to stop before the ground dries so we can go to sleep," says Françoise.

Despite the poor living conditions, Françoise wants her children to continue their schooling. This year, Françoise is happy that her daughters are still going to school, but regrets that they can't maintain the performance they once had. Françoise's eldest daughter is preparing to take her ninth-grade exams at the end of the school year; her youngest is in fifth grade.

Safilia, 65, also lives at the Republic of Colombia National School camp. Having suffered a stroke four years ago, the sixty-year-old is accompanied by a grandson who helps her with some daily tasks. Safilia, despite her particular health condition, does not receive any special assistance. Safilia, like other people with special needs living in these camps, must manage to find enough to eat on a daily basis.

Berline, 19, lives with her family in the Citizen Protection Office (OPC), and despite the problems, she continues to go to school. A student at the Daniel Fignolé high school, relocated to Delmas 33, Berline will have to take her final exams next July. "I'm confident I'll succeed. Despite everything, I continue to work to get there," she says. Berline faces adversity to continue her education. Every day, to get to the new high school premises, she has to walk there and back.

Briana, a young shopkeeper, runs a boutique at the KID camp. In her boutique-bedroom tent, she lives with her mother, who was injured during the escape from Solino in November 2024, and her daughter. Her husband, a police officer, cannot live with them in this camp and finds refuge with a friend in Delmas. In Solino, Briana ran her boutique and led a good life. Today, the picture is completely different. With her small business, she struggles to make ends meet. Her daughter, who frequents