Haitian children to call Colorado home

Haitian children to call Colorado home

Story By: David Tauchen
Source: KOAA

 

For information about For His Glory Adoption Outreach click here.

 

Soon 23 Haitian children will call Colorado Springs home. They're being adopted into families here, their lives possibly spared, thanks to the compassion of perfect strangers thousands of miles away.

"Every child deserves a home," said Linda Kohn of Colorado Springs who has adopted two children from Haiti.

A few years ago Kohn was in the process of adopting a daughter from the small Caribbean country when the orphanage she was working through shut down. "There were about 300 kids in it and the rent wasn't paid. There was no food, staff hadn't been paid or anything. It was in pretty dire straights."

Kohn eventually refinanced her home twice, then sold it, all of the money going to support the orphanage for a period of time.

And she has no regrets.

In Haiti, children whose parents can't afford to care for them sometimes are taken out with the trash. Literally. Kohn's adopted daughter almost was one of them.

"[Her mother] was going to wrap [her] in a trash bag and throw her in the river because she had no way to care for her," said Kohn. "You can't metabolize something like that."

Her concern moved her to start a non-profit to support Haitian adoptions. It's called For His Glory Adoption Outreach. She operates it from Colorado Springs.

That same concern also inspired dozens of people to gather and Colorado Springs Christian School in Colorado Springs Saturday for a benefit concert.

"We want to care for them and show them the same kind of love and support that our parents showed us here in America," said Ryan McGinty who played the bass guitar.

They hope it raises awareness and perhaps even inspires other parents to consider adopting children from Haiti.