Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Mitch and his wife, Janine operate. Chika’s arrival made a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, she delighted the other kids and teachers. But at age five, Chika was diagnosed with a terminal disease that no doctor in Haiti could help with. Mitch and Janine took Chika to America, hoping that treatment there would enable her to go back home. Instead, Chika became a permanent part of their lives, as they embarked on a two-year, around-the-world journey to find a cure. As Chika’s optimism and humour taught Mitch the joys of caring for a child, he learnt that a relationship built on love, no matter what blows it takes, can never be lost.