Port-au-Prince teacher Jose Netant once dedicated his life to educating young people in English and Spanish. Now, the 29-year-old has resorted to hiding under his mattress while struggling to survive as violence overtakes his neighborhood in Haiti’s capital.

Netant, who taught at the Institution Mixte Tizanj Ayisyen, lives in Croix-des-Bouquets, once a cherished cultural center in Haiti, that is now gripped by the violent reign of the notorious street gang 400 Mawozo. 

The gang’s activities, including kidnappings and extortion, have forced hundreds of Netant’s neighbors to flee over the last several years. He has observed a decline in school attendance, with many students staying home because of shootings. 

“The small number of people who attend are always under a lot of stress,” he said. “They stress a lot about the condition the country is under, even to this day.”

“I started noticing a rise in gang violence in 2017,” Netant added. “It gave me a lot of headaches. I was in mental pain. I was stressed a lot.”

But more recently, a nearby civil prison was one of several in which gangs overran the prisons, setting off a wave of heightened violence in early March. 

“The bandits destroyed Croix-des-Bouquets,” said Netant, who lives with his wife. “They killed people. They destroyed the prison. They commit a lot of crime. They burned down houses with people in them.”

As the violence worsened, he found himself living in constant fear. “Every time the bandits get to my neighborhood, everyone runs for safety. Some people lie down straight on the floor underneath a bed. That’s what I do,” he said. “The bandits are shooting. Sometimes, they enter people’s homes and kill them. They shoot senselessly.”

Netant has endured the harrowing experience more than 10 times. 

Despite the constant threat of violence, “I haven’t been able to leave the neighborhood,” he said.