U.S. nurse kidnapped in Haiti speaks publicly for first time since her release: "I hold no grudges against you"
The American nurse kidnapped with her daughter in Haiti last month has said she "holds no grudges" against her captors, and that her clinic doors remain always open to them.
"I want you to know that I hold no grudges against you in my heart. That doesn't mean I agree with what you are doing. Especially what you are doing against your own Haitian brothers and sisters," Alix Dorsainvil said in her first public remarks since she was released by her captors earlier this month.
Dorsainvil addressed both her captors and the people of Haiti in a video posted on the website of El Roi Haiti, the nonprofit Christian ministry where she was working at the time of her July kidnapping.
"I want you guys to know that everything I said during my time in captivity was sincere," Dorsainvil said, addressing her abductors. "They were not the manipulative words of someone desperate to escape, but simply the truth. Especially when I told you my clinic doors are always open to you or anyone in need, when you're sick, or wounded, without any problem."
She assured her captors that if it were up to her, "I would care for you without any prejudice and receive you with open arms," while also warning them against filling the "void in your hearts" with money, power and status.
"I want you to know that those things will never truly satisfy you," she said.
Alix Dorsainvil of New Hampshire was working for El Roi Haiti when she and her young daughter were seized in late July. She is the wife of the group's founder, Sandro Dorsainvil.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Dorsainvil was working in the organization's small brick clinic when armed men burst in and seized her on July 27.
The kidnapping — one of many in the crime-ridden Haitian capital, much of which has been controlled by heavily armed criminal gangs for months — quickly drew anger from the local community that Dorsainvil was there to help. About 200 Haitians marched through Port-au-Prince several days after the abduction to vent their anger and demand the kidnappers release the American nurse and her daughter.
At one point during her time in captivity, Dorsainvil said she was approached by a gang member who said, "Nurse Alix, the people of Duvivier are marching for you."
"This encouraged me a lot because I knew you were standing with me during that difficult time," Dorsainvil said of her friends and supporters. "It took a lot of courage for you to do that."
El Roi Haiti confirmed the pair's release in a blog post on Aug. 10.
"It is with a heart of gratitude and immense joy that we at El Roi Haiti confirm the safe release of our staff member and friend, Alix Dorsainvil and her child who were held hostage in Port au Prince," the organization wrote, without providing any information about how the pair's release was secured.
Dorsainvil ended her video message by saying to the Haitian people that while she wishes she were back at the clinic, she needs time to heal from her trauma.
"My love for you, all my love for Haiti, has not changed or gone away," she said.
—Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
