"I found our fourth child, if God is willing and you are"

Everything you are about to read is a true story, of how my family fell in love, and adopted my brother. Its quite a long story, but its one that I love to tell. This was the article that made the Toronto Star on Friday, August 13th, 2010. This is the story of Jonathan Alcirin Smith.

'Earthquake had a silver lining for waiting orphan'

Jonathan Smith loves popcorn and drive-in movies, can eat an entire steak himself and ride a tricycle.
He’s got a mommy and daddy, shares a bedroom with a sister and says, “I love you” in perfect English. These are some of the new experiences in the 4-year-old’s life since he left Haiti in the first days after an earthquake ravaged his country Jan. 12.
What a journey it has been — from the cement floor of a homeless shelter to a cash-strapped orphanage to the comforts of a Canadian home.
Jonathan is one of 203 Haitian orphans adopted by Canadian families — many like the Smiths who had been working for years within the maddeningly slow Haiti system — since the earthquake. Only 10 came to Ontario, with the largest number going to Quebec.
Vincenza Smith first set eyes on Jonathan at a medical clinic in Port-au-Prince in 2007. “His skin looked like he’d been chewed by rats.”
Smith had gone to Haiti with a Niagara Falls Brethren in Christ church group to build homes and community buildings. Working in the clinic where she helped a pharmacist distribute medication, she met Jonathan and his 12-year-old mother
They lived in a homeless shelter where they slept on a cement floor. There was no running water or plumbing and Jonathan had a skin infection from lying naked on the dirty floor, says Smith.
Although he was provided with new clothes, they soon disappeared, says Smith, “probably sold to buy food.
Smith hadn’t the slightest intention of adopting when she embarked on her two-week mission. “I went down there wanting to help,” she recalls tearing in her Port Colborne living room.
“I thought maybe I’ll build a house, give someone a quality of life, “she says. “We have so much in Canada that we take for granted.”
But when she learned that Jonathan was being given up for adoption by his young mother, herself a child with no home or supports, Smith thought “I want that child.”
(Jonathan’s mother lived in the charity-run homeless shelter until it was destroyed by the earthquake and hasn’t been heard from since.)
The chef, who is married to real estate agent Michael and mother to Nicholas, 19, Carlie, 16 and Julia, 7, got the her family’s approval before moving ahead to get Jonathan.
Michael got an email that said, “I found our fourth child if God is willing and you are.”
He talked it over with the two older children and they were all in favour.
What followed was three years of waiting, paperwork, home studies and the collapse of the agency they’d been using for the international adoption. The orphanage asked them to send $100 a month to feed Jonathan as more and more children kept arriving and the adoptions were few.
Sometimes Smith agonized “it was not meant to be.” She didn’t go on a subsequent trip to Haiti with her church group because she couldn’t handle the pain of seeing the child who might never be hers.
Their case had just been revived when the earthquake struck and suddenly what was a slow-moving process jumped ahead at warp speed. It’s ironic that the earthquake had some “good,” says the family.
Although the Canadian government initiated Operation Stork to fast-track the adoptions of Haitian orphans already matched with parents and approved for adoption, Jonathan left Haiti in an evacuation by the American military that landed him in Florida.
Once the mix-up was discovered, the Smiths received approval to pick up Jonathan in the U.S. where they were on holiday with Julia and Nicholas.
There are signs of his difficult early years including a fear of military-style uniforms, being alone and abandonment.
One of Jonathan’s first North American experiences was a trip to Disneyland where he loved the attractions but reacted strongly to security guards or “anything that appears to be military,” says Smith. They presume this is a result of having been taken from the orphanage by military personnel.
He also didn’t want to have anything to do with his newly-decorated bedroom, vacated when Nicholas went off to university.
“I’d put a stuffed tiger on the bed,” says Smith, “I thought at first it had scared him. But, he was used to living with 15 to 20 people.”
So, they bought another single bed and popped him into Julia’s room. The two siblings are so close in age they’ve made wonderful playmates, says Smith.
In the early days after his arrival, Jonathan also suffered separation anxiety when any member of the family left.
He found it difficult to watch Julia “get on the yellow school bus” to go to school, says Michael. “If I went out to get a paper, he was in a panic.”
The couple worked at giving Jonathan a sense of permanence and an understanding that, if people go out of the house, they are not gone forever.
“I would go to work and come back every two hours,” to reassure him, says Michael.
Smith has taken a year’s leave from work to spend time with Jonathan while he adjusts to Canada.
Jonathan arrived only speaking Creole — a mixture of French and Spanish – but quickly picked up English from Smith, who armed herself with a Haitian dictionary “which was my best friend for the first four months of our time together”.
“Jonathan was like a sponge. Whenever I spoke to him, I would repeat the word in English. This past month I have not used any Creole or French.”
He’s getting ready to go to all-day kindergarten in the fall at the same school Julia attends and Smith is confident he’s got the English skills to thrive there.
Jonathan has fallen into a familiar routine, Smith says. The two youngest children start the day by making their beds and putting dirty laundry in the hamper. Other chores include setting the table and clearing the dishes.
“He enjoys watching Dora, Calliou and Barney,” says Smith, adding that he spends afternoons in the family pool where he is learning to swim.
“He was hesitant at first but now he goes under water, down the slide and jumps off the diving board.”
He’s doing all the typical summer activities enjoyed by any Canadian child from riding his bike and drawing pictures on the driveway to hide-and-seek. He got a remote control car for his fourth birthday in July, says Smith, which is his “favourite” toy so far.
During the interview, the two youngest are inseparable, buzzing around their parents in the living room before guzzling a yogurt drink and happily going off to watch a movie and eat popcorn.
Nicholas, who was used to playing with his much-younger little sister, says he adjusted to Jonathan quickly. One thing Nicholas noticed is that, although he was affectionate and liked to cuddle, “he didn’t know how to hug.”
He’s been teaching Jonathan to hang onto to him monkey-style with his legs and arms while being carried about on Nicholas’ hip.

Photo taken by me!

Says Smith, “We’ll be out grocery shopping, or doing something, and he’ll grab my hand and give it a kiss and say, “Mommy, I love you” just out of the blue, completely unexpected. He definitely welcomes all our hugs and kisses, too.”
And best of all, says Smith, “He’s really a happy-go-lucky kid.”

 Jonathan is now 5 years old, and is constantly buzzing around and keeping busy. He has a beautiful smile, and an energetic personality. He definitely stands out from the crowd, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am more than blessed to have been raised in the family that I am in, and am nothing but proud of my mom and the decisions and trials that she has been through in her life. I love my family more than anything, and wouldn't change them for the world.