Renowned book author Mitch Albom known best for his novels “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and “Tuesdays with Morrie” has released a new book!
“Finding Chika” is Albom’s latest memoir and tells the story of a girl named Chika Jeune, whom he met at the Have Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage in Port-au-Prince, which Albom directs and visits regularly. Chika was born only days after the 2010 Haitian earthquake and was given to the orphanage by her family three years later after her mother died in childbirth with her brother.
Since he and his wife, Janine, had no children of their own, the kids of the Have Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage became their family, including the then three-year-old Chika whose presence quickly touched the lives of those around her.
However, when she turns five-years-old, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Having been told that no one in Haiti will be able to help her, Albom and his wife bring Chika to the United States to receive treatment.
(ALSO READ: Mitch Albom Mentions UST & Manila in New Book)
According to Albom, this experience of taking care of Chika completely changed his perspective on parenthood and his priorities.
“I realized families are like pieces of art: They can be made from many materials. Sometimes they are from birth, sometimes they are melded, sometimes they are forcibly constructed, and sometimes they are merely the confluence of time and circumstance, mixing together, like eggs being scrambled in a Michigan kitchen,” he wrote in the Detroit Free Press. “But they are all real. Chika was a daughter to a number of people. And for the last two years, she was ours, gloriously ours… We did not lose a child. We were given one.”
Better have that tissue box ready when you’re reading this book! Tears are 100% guaranteed to be shed.
(ALSO READ: You Can Now Read an Excerpt from the ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Sequel)
Do you have a story for the WhenInManila.com Team? Email us at story.wheninmanila@gmail.com or send us a direct message at WhenInManila.com Facebook Page. Interact with the team and join the WhenInManila.com Community at WIM Squad!
