Coming together to care for two young orphans

Photo courtesy of Haiti Bible Mission.

The last two months of operational flying have been a bit of a blur – my logbook says 94 flights, 6079.8 miles, 40,985 pounds of pax (passengers) and cargo. But I am not sure that’s the best way to measure it. Instead, what I want to share about was only 0.0006% of that – 28 pounds.

Last week we received a call for a medevac from a missionary who had discovered two abandoned children in need of immediate medical attention, one of them weakened to paralysis. The preceding details are cloudy, but it seems that an orphanage had closed, leaving no one to look after them. After configuring the aircraft as an air ambulance we departed Port-au-Prince (PAP) with a paramedic, bound for Jeremie, 107 miles west of PAP.

There was a large group of people waiting for us when we landed. As the children were carried over, I overheard someone telling the medic that the boy was smiling because of the sunshine. It was the first time he had been outside in over a year.

After helping secure him lengthwise on a pillow, I was handed the flight manifest to sign.

Name: Jackson Age: 5 Weight: 28 lbs.

Standing back while the medic began her work, I was particularly struck by how many people cared for these two children; from the missionary’s daughter who cared enough to visit an orphanage to sing to children and found them there, to the woman who had made arrangements then flew across the country to oversee their immediate care and safe transition to permanent homes, to the medic who used vacation time to come down to Haiti and volunteer, to the airstrip guards, rifles slung and armor on, peering unguarded through the back window of the aircraft watching as an IV was started.

One of the orphans being secured for the flight to Port-au-Prince

In the Kingdom each person plays their part, as the Father invites the ninety-nine to join him in pursuit of the one who is lost. He ransomed two more in a town on the edge of an island by moving the hearts of his children from around the world to come bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty to the captives and those forgotten. And each of you has a part in this story too, because we wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for making it possible for us to serve in Haiti! Apart from Him we can do nothing, but together we can beat back the darkness bit by bit.

Back in PAP, both children were taken to a malnutrition clinic and are recovering well, with families looking forward to when they are healthy enough to come home. Special thanks to HERO, Haiti Bible Mission, One Child, and Jerry House, who worked together for this.

Story by one of our pilots in Haiti. Name omitted for security reasons.