The January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti. Described by the UN Secretary-General as “one of the largest, most serious natural disasters in recent decades”, the earthquake unleashed a humanitarian crisis demanding unprecedented international action.1 More than 230,000 people were killed and 300,000 more injured. Large parts of Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and Léogâne and other smaller towns and outlying areas were turned to rubble,
leaving nearly 2 million people homeless.

Sixteen-year-old Blanche left her grandmother's home in the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood at dusk. She went to a nearby square to do her homework.
Like many other schoolchildren living in areas of Port-au-Prince without electricity, she was going to do her homework by the light of one of the only streetlights in the neighborhood still working.

While she was studying, a man approached her. She asked him to leave. He did so, but returned soon after, accompanied by other men who pointed guns at Blanche while the first man tore off her clothes and raped her.