Finding Chika

C hika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, C hika was brought to the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Mitch and his wife, Janine operate.

C hika's arrival made a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, even as a three-yearold, she delighted the other kids and teachers. But at age five, C hika was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal disease that no doctor in Haiti could help with.

Mitch and Janine took C hika to America, hoping that treatment there would enable her to go back home. Instead, C hika became a permanent part of their lives, as they embarked on a two-year, around-the-world journey to find a cure. As C hika's boundless optimism and humour taught Mitch the joys of caring for a child, he learnt that a relationship built on love, no matter what blows it takes, can never be lost.

This is Mitch Albom at his most poignant, powerful and personal. Chika is a celebration of a girl, her adoptive guardians, and the incredible bond they formed - a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.