Mikayela’s Story of Hope

In 2017, Haitian child services called Helping Haitian Angels (HHA) to receive an 18-month-old girl. Her name is Mikayela and she came to HHA in good health and with all necessary documents (which doesn’t happen often). She didn’t have many belongings, but she had clearly come from a loving home. Immediately after she came to HHA we began searching for her family because we knew she had been well-loved.

Mikayela was brought to HHA by her mother’s friends. Makayela’s mom, Geraldine, left Mikayela with a family friend while she went to Cuba searching for opportunity. The situation in Haiti is dire and Geraldine did the only thing she could by leaving her baby girl with a friend and making the difficult journey to Cuba in hopes of finding work to support her daughter. However, it is extremely difficult for Haitian people to find work in other countries without the necessary skills and education. Geraldine struggled.

After a year and a half Geraldine returned to Haiti after speaking with HHA on the phone multiple times. We met with Geraldine many times to decide how we could help support her so she could stay in Haiti and take Mikayela home. Geraldine was thrilled and could not wait to bring Mikayela home. Mikayela was entered into our Family Strengthening program. Her mom went through a three-month parental training class before Mikayela returned home with her and HHA helped her find a job. HHA still pays for Mikayela’s school, but Geraldine is now able to fully support her family thanks to HHA. These two could not be happier!