Skip to content

UPDATED: In Haiti, with the Children of the House of God Orphanage

On January 12, as he heard about the Haiti earthquake, Tim Wolfer, a student at Pacific Union College, posted a message on Facebook: “Anyone want to help a poor documentary filmmaker get to Haiti?”

One can still see the Facebook comments. Friends offered to donate $20 here and there. Then an anonymous donor contacted Tim through an intermediary and gave him two round trip tickets. Within days, Tim (pictured on right) and his friend, Ivan LaBianca (pictured on left), a student at Andrews University, were on their way to the Dominican Republic whence they crossed the border into Haiti.

They are currently helping at the Maison des Enfants de Dieu (Children of the House of God) orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

Picture by Ivan LaBianca. He writes, “Gerdy Verne feeds one of the younger orphans at the House of the Children of God Orphanage. Both have American families waiting for them, but they have not been able to get visa clearance to be evacuated.”

CNN’s Larry King and Fox News have been covering the story of that orphanage, where the future of over one hundred children has been in limbo.

In addition, Fox News Field Producer Kathleen Foster has been providing brief updates on the status of the orphans at Maison des Enfants de Dieu.

For His Glory Adoption Outreach tells us they are now heading to customs to be processed. It could still be a while before they come face to face with their parents, but for these 82 kids the hardest part is over. 30 more to go tomorrow!

Here is a picture taken by Ivan LaBianca of Tim Wolfer filming during a Larry King Live uplink with Soledad O’Brien at the orphanage.

And via a live Skype connection, here’s Tim and Ivan being interviewed on The Harvest Show, a Christian television program.

The most recent news is that eight-two of the orphans will be airlifted out.

Kim Harmon, President of For His Glory, a Texas-based ministry that runs the orphanage, writes:

All paperwork has been completed for 82 children from the Maison des Enfants de Dieu (Children of the House of God) orphanage and they have clearance to travel to the United States. These 82 children are scheduled to depart Port-au-Prince airport on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at around 11:00 a.m. on an aircraft bound for Florida. Those children with Colorado adoptive parents in this first group, will continue on to Colorado, accompanied by a medical team from the Colorado Children’s Hospital. Orphanage staff and representatives of the U.S. ministry, For His Glory Adoption Outreach (FHG) will continue to work with U.S. Embassy officials for humanitarian parole and travel clearance for the remaining eligible children. FHG hopes that these children will receive their clearance sometime on Saturday, January 23, 2010, with a departure date and time still to be determined

UPDATE:

On Saturday night, Tim Wolfer and Ivan LaBianca arrived in Orlando, along with eighty two orphans.

Subscribe to our newsletter
Spectrum Newsletter: The latest Adventist news at your fingertips.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.