INDIANAPOLIS — “There’s kids who are suffering, parents who are suffering, not having enough food, not having enough water.”
Fifteen-year-old Mika Wise is talking about the images he’s seeing coming out of Haiti after an earthquake hit there last weekend, killing hundreds and injuring thousands.
Mika can’t look away or ignore them.
“'Cause that’s my home country and it’s my place and that’s a place where I grew up,” he explained.
Mika was just 4 years old and living in an orphanage when another massive earthquake ravaged Haiti more than a decade ago. He doesn’t remember much from that time, but his mother Kimberly certainly does.
“This is the first picture that we ever saw of him when we knew we matched up as a family,” said Kimberly Phail, pointing to a photo of then-baby Mika in the pages of a scrapbook that documents his parents’ long journey to adopt him.
Even after his adoption was final, Mika’s parents waited more than two years for his passport to be processed so they could bring him to the U.S.
When the earthquake hit, lawmakers helped the family get Mika here faster because of the deteriorating conditions in Haiti.
“Seeing they had another earthquake just brought all that back, and it made me feel such a burden for those parents who are in the same boat that we were, waiting for their kids to come home and not knowing where they’re at or if they’re OK,” Kimberly said.
Now, more than decade later, Mika is a high school freshman, busy with schoolwork and basketball.
Even still, it’s just having the basics for life of which Mika is acutely aware.
“I’m happy that I’m here and have plenty of water and plenty of food,” he said, knowing there are people in Haiti right now with much less, fighting to survive.
“I really wish I was there to help,” Mika said.
For now, he just wants others to pay attention and understand that people in his home country are suffering and need help.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t really see Haiti as important as it is. I’ll try to make it more important,” Mika said.
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