'Dem rape me and my six-year-old pikin'

Warning: Dis tori get accounts of rape and oda kasala wey fit disturb readers.

Helene bin dey 17 years old wen one gang bin attack her neighbourhood for di Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

She dey play wit her baby daughter hair, wey dey sleep for her lap, as she dey describe how armed men bin kidnap her as she bin try to run, dem bin hold der hostage for ova two months.

"Dem bin rape me and beat me evri single day. Plenti different men. I no even sabi dia names, dem no wear mask," na wetin di young woman, wey we change her name to protect her identity tok. "Some of di tins wey dem bin do me too dey painful to tell you."

"I kon get belle, dem continue to tell me say I gatz abort di pregnancy and I say 'no'. Dis pikin fit be di only one I go eva get."

She manage to escape while di gang bin dey fight to maintain dia territory. Now she dey 19 years, she bin spend di past year to raise her daughter for house wey dey safe for di suburb of di city.

Na home to at least 30 girls and young women, wey dey sleep for bunk beds for rooms wey dem really paint am fine wit beta colours.

Helene na di oldest rape survivor hia. Di youngest na just 12 years old. As she dey play and dance for di balcony inside di blue polka dot dress wey she wear, she look much younger dan her age, sake of say she bin don dey suffer from malnutrition bifor. One staff tell us say dem bin don rape her plenti times.

Rape and oda sexual violence dey increase for Haiti, as armed gangs dey expand dia control across Port-au-Prince and beyond.

Di Caribbean island nation dey inside gang violence since jaguda pipo bin assassinate di former President Jovenel Moïse for 2021.

E dey hard to measure di scale of sexual violence. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) dey run clinic for central Port-au-Prince for women wey bin don experience sexual abuse.

Data wey dem don share exclusively wit di BBC show say patient numbers don nearly triple since 2021.

Di gangs dey known for sweeping into neighbourhoods and dem go kill dozens of pipo.

MSF say multiple gang rapes of women and girls na part of dis large-scale attacks evritime. From survivors accounts, e dey clear say gangs dey use rape to terrorise and oppress di whole community wey dey around.

Di BBC dey challenge gang leaders about accounts of killings and rapes. One bin tok say gang members "dey do tins wey dem no suppose do". Anoda one say dem get "duty" to fight di state, and "wen we dey fight we dey possessed - we no be human again".

"Patients don begin share veri, veri difficult stories since 2021," na wetin Diana Manilla Arroyo, di charity head of mission for Haiti, tok.

"Survivors tok about two or four or seven, or up to 20 aggressors," she tok, she add say more women now dey tok say di gangs dey threaten dem wit weapons or dem go make dem unconscious.

Women dey also report more and more say di gang pipo wey dey rape dem neva reach 18 years, she add.

For one drop-in centre for anoda part of di city, four women - wey dia age dey between late 20s to 70 – describe say dem dey attack dem in front of dia children and husbands.

"Dem bin attack our area, I bin go back house only to see say, my papa, my sister, dem don kill all of dem. Dem kill dem and dem burn di house down, and dem dey inside," one woman tok.

Afta she look her home wey dem don destroy, she bin wan comot from di area wen she jam di gang members. "Dem rape me - I bin carry my six-year-old pikin wit me. Dem rape her too." She continue: "Den dem kill my younger broda for our front."

"Anytime my daughter look me, she dey sad and she go dey cry."

Di oda women recount attacks wey be similar pattern - murder, rape and arson.

Sexual violence na just one element of di crisis wey dey worry Haiti. UN agencies say more dan a tenth of di population - 1.3 million pipo - don run comot from dia homes and half di population dey face serious hunger.

Haiti neva elect any leadership since dem bin assassinate Moïse. One transitional Presidential Council, and series of prime ministers wey dem bin appoint, dey tasked wit running di kontri and to organise election.

Rival gangs don form collabo - dem dey turn dia weapons on di Haitian state, instead of each oda.

Since di last time wey we bin visit for December, di situation don worse. Hundreds of thousands more pipo dey displaced. More dan 4,000 pipo don die for di first half of 2025, compared to 5,400 for di whole of 2024, according to di UN.

Di gangs dey estimated to increase dia control from 85% to 90% of di capital, as dem dey seize key neighbourhoods, trade routes and public infrastructure, despite efforts by di Kenyan-led, UN-backed security force.

We join di international force as dem patrol di area wey di gangs dey control but within minutes, dem shoot one of di tyres on dia armoured vehicle and di operation end.

Members of di force no dey always comot from dia armoured vehicles. Experts say di gangs dey continue to get powerful weapons and maintain di upper hand.

In recent months, di Haitian authorities don contract mercenaries to help dem take back control.

One source inside di Haitian security force bin tell di BBC say private military companies, including one from di US, dey on ground dey operate, dem dey use drones to attack gang leaders.

Im show us drone video wey im say na one of di gang leader, Ti Lapli, wey dem bin target for di explosion. Im say Ti Lapli bin dey in critical condition, though di BBC neva fit confam am.

But around di city, pipo still dey fear di gangs. For many areas, vigilante groups don dey do security by diasef, and e dey also increase di numbers of young men wit weapons for street.

"We no go allow dem [di gangs] to come hia come kill us - tiff evritin wey we get, burn cars, burn houses, kill children," na wetin one man wey dey use di name "Mike", tok.

Im tok say im dey operate wit one group for Croix-des-Prés, one busy market area wey dey close to di areas wey di gang dey control.

As gunfire ring out from far, nobodi dey shake. Pipo for hia don dey used to am.

Im say di gangs dey pay young boys to join, and set up checkpoints wia dem dey collect money from residents wey dey pass through.

"Of course evribodi dey fear," im tell us. "We feel alone as we dey try to protect di women and children. As di gangs continue to spread, we know say our area fit be next."

Humanitarian agencies say di situation dey worse and women dey among di hardest hit, as many of dem dey face di double trauma of sexual violence and displacement.

Lola Castro, di regional director of di UN World Food Programme say Port-au-Prince "na di worst place for di world to be woman".

Women for here dey likely to feel di impact of cuts to humanitarian aid programmes, she add.

Haiti na one of di largest recipients of funding from di US Agency for International Development (USAID), wey President Donald Trump don cut, as im say e dey "wasteful".

Wen we bin visit for June, Ms Castro say di WFP bin dey distribute dia last stocks of US-funded food aid.

Food provision dey protect women, she explain, becos e dey save dem from going out to di streets to beg or look for food.

Humanitarian workers for hia dey also fear say cuts fit affect support for victims of violence for places like di safe house wia Helene dey live veri soon.

And Ms Manilla Arroyo from MSF say funding for contraception don also reduce. "Many of our patients already get children. Many of dem dey under di age of 18 wit children. Di risk of pregnancy dey represent many, many new challenges for dem," she tok.

Helene and oda women for di safe house dey sit and chat togeda evritime for di balcony wey dey look out across Port-au-Prince, but many of dem dey fear to comot from di security of di walls.

She no know how she go support her young daughter as she dey grow up.

"I bin dey always dream of going to school, to learn and to make somtin of mysef," she tok. "I bin always know say I go get children, but no be for dis veri young age."