A winning story of hope in Haiti

Roopinder Singh

Courage, compassion, commitment and, above all, love are the warp and weft of this extraordinary story of a couple that changed the life of a little girl from Haiti and of how she changed them. Mitch Albom has dug deep into his personal life to narrate the story of the girl who endured much yet spread joy around her.

Albom is a celebrated sportswriter, best-selling author and television personality. His classic Tuesdays with Morrie (1997) gave us life lessons, derived from his interactions with the person who taught him — Professor Morrie Schwartz. The two reconnected after a gap of 16 years. “At that time, I was 35 and working five jobs, newspapers, TV, radio, books, freelance. I never said no to anything for fear that I would not be asked again,” he says.

Albom, whose frenetic pace at work came to an abrupt halt when his co-workers went on strike at a Detroit newspaper, was taught the importance of happiness over success. In time, Albom turned his weekly meetings with his teacher into the best-selling book (1.7 crore copies in 50 editions and going strong).

Tuesdays with Morrie made Albom introspect about his life and decisions. The book was started as an endeavour to help pay the professor’s medical bills, but the meetings and the book paved the way for his personal journey. He would go on to write many other best-selling books thereafter, and also find means to help fund the less fortunate.

One of the endeavours was to run the Have Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, after an earthquake. It was there that the writer and his wife Jenine met the three-year-old Chika Jeune, formally Medjerda, whose mother had died while giving birth to her brother, who survived. Chika was born days after the tranbleman te, or earthquake, which left over one lakh people dead. The feisty youngster left an immediate impression.

Two years later, the precocious child is diagnosed with a brain tumour, which is inoperable in a town that has the only MRI machine in the country. The couple takes her to their home in the US so that they have access to medical assistance unavailable in Haiti. The book attempts to recreate her story before she met Alboms and gives an account of her mighty struggle to get better.

A day after her arrival, they go for tests at Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbour. When asked about the relationship, Albom replied “legal guardian”, but the badge that the hospital worker handed him read “Parent”. Perceptive, if not technically correct.

The couple, who did not have children of their own, became parents to Chika. For the next two years she was to spend with them, they were a family. They learned to set their life’s pace to the child’s, and spent much time visiting hospitals for treatment, with a trip to Disneyland thrown in.

The scene in a New York hospital comes to mind:

“That night in the hotel room, as we readied for bed, I found myself studying Chika, thinking of the worst: What if something goes wrong? What if this is the last night we can speak to her?

‘Mister Mitch, why are you looking at me?’ Chika finally asked. I couldn’t tell her the truth; that I was trying to rememorise her, that I was thinking we had been blessed with the best possible child under the worst possible circumstances.

Instead, I shrugged and mumbled. ‘Sorry.’

She shook her head with her lips pursed, as if tasting those invisible lemons.

‘It’s OK,’ she decided. ‘You can look.’”

Albom is an accomplished writer. In this age of toxic masculinity, it is hard to find male writers who lay bare their emotions, and remind us of the good that is inherent in humankind. The remarkable story of how Jenine and Mitch made Chika’s battles their own has many sub-strands, but they are all united in a manner in which they ignite hope and goodness.

Chika is no longer little, her personality shines through the book — a relatable youngster who is in caring hands. Hope comes in the form of the infectious spirit this young girl shows while battling the odds.

We relate to the desperation of the Alboms as they seek medical help away from home, in the US and then in Germany. The promise of medicine, and its limitations. We see the triumph of the human spirit through Chika’s struggle, and her parent’s fight to give her the best for as long as they can.

Chika and the story return to Haiti where she meets her biological father, and where she will be buried. The Alboms will continue with their philanthropic work, but she will have left her imprint on those who met her directly, or through the book.