Medjerda “Chika” Jeune

Finding Chika focuses on Medjerda “Chika” Jeune. She is the biological daughter of Resilia and Fedner Jeune. Chika was born in Haiti on January 9, 2010. On January 12, a destructive earthquake killed nearly three percent of the population. The house where Chika and her mother were sleeping was destroyed. Although the roof fell off and the walls cracked open, neither Resilia nor her mother was injured. As an infant, Chika slept with her mother in sugarcane fields for days after the earthquake because they had no place to stay.

When Chika was almost two years old, her mother died in childbirth. Her father was too overcome with grief to take care of the children. Chika went to live for a short time with her godmother, Herzulia. When Herzulia realized she could not properly care for Chika, she sent her to an orphanage.

When Chika was 5, Alain, the...