Whatever happened to....Couple still helping Haitians long after earthquake

Whatever happened to....Couple still helping Haitians long after earthquake

By David Wickert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When an earthquake killed more than 230,000 Haitians in January, many in this country wondered how they could help.

Dan and Sheila Lynch of Marietta didn’t have to wonder. They’d already spent nearly a decade helping Haitian families escape crushing poverty. So with a borrowed plane and other assistance, they flew medical supplies to the Caribbean nation.

But it’s what they tried to bring out of Haiti that made headlines. In a land where thousands had suddenly become orphans, they targeted 22 children whose adoptions already were pending when the earthquake struck Jan. 12.

Today, 20 of those children are with their new parents in the U.S. The Lynches are still keeping track of the other two.

It’s that kind of focus – concentrate on helping a few people – that has guided the couple since they founded God’s Plumbline Ministries 11 years ago. The organization gets its name from the Bible, from the book of Amos, chapter seven: “Then the Lord said, `Look, I am setting a plumbline among my people.’”

Builders used plumb lines to show vertical direction. Dan and Sheila Lynch try to give direction to Haitian families by teaching skills that translate into income.

The ministry consists of Dan and Sheila and their three children. Working with other groups, they provide health education and vocational training to Haitians. In February 2008, they started a sewing school that helps women earn a living. It’s grown from 15 women to 57.

“We wanted to be part of a solution,” Sheila said. “Our solution was to help children. The best way to help a child was to help his mother and to keep a family intact.”

The ministry grew out of a church mission trip to Haiti in 2000. Sheila saw a child die on that trip and saw many others who were severely malnourished.

“I realized I was less than two hours from the United States,” she said.

When the earthquake struck, they used a corporate jet donated by Duluth-based Kids ‘R’ Kids child care centers to fly $75,000 worth of medical and other supplies to Haiti.

They twice tried to bring those 22 children to their adoptive parents. But they were turned away as Haitian authorities became concerned about child trafficking in the wake of the disaster. Authorities later arrested 10 Americans for trying to smuggle 33 children out of the county.

Eventually most of the children Dan and Sheila Lynch tried to transport made it out of Haiti by other means.

“Many children are doing well,” Sheila said. “Many children, however, are struggling with a lot of trauma issues.”

The same can be said for Haiti, where hundreds of thousands remain homeless. Sheila has visited six times since the earthquake.

“It’s almost criminal to me that there are still people sleeping in tents,” she said. “It seems so cruel to me that the whole world has donated so much and it’s still so broken.”