53 BRESMA Orphans from Haiti Are Airlifted to Pittsburgh

On Tuesday morning, 53 children from the BRESMA orphanage in Haiti arrived in Pittsburgh, safe at last.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on January 19 2010

For thousands of other orphaned Haitian children, fates remain uncertain—but 53 children from the Brebis de Saint-Michel de L’Attalaye (BRESMA) orphanage received a stroke of luck on Tuesday morning. After flying for a full night, the group of children arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport on a donated plane, accompanied by the two sisters who run the orphanage, Jamie and Ali McMutrie.

The orphanage, based in Port-au-Prince, had been badly damaged in the earthquake, and the McMurtie sisters and the children had spent the last week living in the orphanage’s courtyard, with provisions running scarce. They used cell phones to request water, and their pleas were echoed on Twitter and across the Internet. Their story soon reached the ears of Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who set plans in motion to bring the sisters and their orphan charges to Pittsburgh. But it wasn’t easy.

“There were many times we thought we were coming back with no one,” Gov. Rendell told the New York Times.

Many of the children had already been matched with adoptive parents. Those parents were all waiting tearfully at the airport to finally bring home their children.

Seven of the children had not yet been matched with adoptive parents, and Haitian officials initially refused to let them leave the country. But the McMutrie sisters refused to leave without all of the children, and so Gov. Rendell went to the White House to pressure the Haitian officials into letting the children go. Finally, all 53 children were allowed to board the plane, and arrived safely in Pittsburgh.

To learn more about the BRESMA orphans and the courageous sisters who helped them, visit thatschurch.com.

Filed under: General Interest, Heroes, Non-Profits,

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