Fair / 26° F
Niles couple elated 3-year-old Haitian adoptee is OK
Published 11:01am Friday, January 22, 2010By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star
It’s been a long and anxious few days for Ron and Ginny Bishop, former missionaries to Haiti, a country blasted by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake last week.
“It’s been a roller coaster of emotion for us,” Ginny said. “We’ll hear about somebody being OK, and then we’ll hear about somebody who’s missing or has lost everything.”
The couple, who lives in Niles, have been sending out e-mails every day, trying to find out about loved ones in the ravaged country. They now have heard the status of all of their friends, except one.
They have cried for the ones who passed on and rejoiced with those who survived.
But they were elated to hear that one little girl in particular is alive and healthy.
Their 3-year-old soon-to-be adopted granddaughter, Ila, survived and is healthy. Miraculously, all the other 132 orphans at The House of the Children of God orphanage in Port-au-Prince survived. Only one nanny was killed when a wall crashed on top of her.
Ginny’s daughter Christie and her husband David Hubner have been in the adoption process since 2006 and now little Ila will be coming home today.
Dave and Christie will be picking up Ila in Miami today, and Ginny will then meet the three of them this weekend in the Hubner’s hometown of Frederick, Md.
Ginny said the adoption process probably would have taken another year if not for the disaster. But due to pressure from adoptive parents on elected officials, many orphans are being rushed to the United States in the coming weeks.
Ginny got to meet Ila in June when she took a mission team from Community Evangelical Free Church in Niles to Haiti.
“We spent some time at the orphanage. So I got to meet her and hold her and get to know her,” she said. “I am the only family member who has met her. Even her parents haven’t met her yet.”
Ginny speaks Creole and looks forward to getting Ila acclimated to the United States.
The Bishops consider Ila to be a miracle in midst of a lot of pain.
When they first heard the news of the earthquake, they were in shock.
“It was just devastating,” Ron said. “It was very emotional for us, because we knew the situation of the people before this and to think about what they’re going through now is unimaginable.”
The Bishops, who last year formed a group called Tours with a Heart that takes groups to Haiti, are hoping to send a relief group to the country this summer.
“I know we have a limited attention span with things like this,” Ron said. “Probably in another three or four weeks Haiti will be at the bottom of the news again. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
A Passion For Haiti
Ron and Ginny first met as teachers in Haiti in 1993, and their lives have been connected with the country ever since.
“It’s hard to explain (the country), because there’s nothing here in the United States to compare it to,” Ron said. “Even those who have traveled to Mexico or other South American countries, it just doesn’t compare.”
The Bishops often went without water and electricity in their two years of service there.
“We have an emotional connection to the country,” Ron said. “The people are so friendly, so helpful. They impacted us more than we impacted them.”
Ginny has been back to the country 10 times and Ron, six.
