Six months after a massive earthquake shook Haiti, one British Columbia family continues its work to bring orphans to Canada for a new life.
Jessica Guerrier was in an orphanage when the 7.0-magnitude quake struck on January 12.
"When the earthquake happened…my brother said, ‘What is this?' (Our teacher) said ‘That's an airplane,'" Jessica told CTV News.
But the shaking seemed too strong for an airplane. "Is that an airplane? Is everybody going to die now?" she recalled thinking.
One month later, Jessica moved to Canada, where Chilliwack resident Esther King is in the process of adopting the nine-year-old. King is the CEO of King's Kids Worldwide, a charity that helps orphanages in Haiti.
"To say that January 12 changed our lives is an understatement," she said.
King is also caring for a little boy named Sebastien, who is blind. He was trapped with his mother inside a pile of rubble for two days after the quake, and is now in Canada to receive specialized health care he wouldn't get at home.
"He's going to stay with us for two years, and our hope is that he will grow and learn while he's here then eventually that he'll be re-united with his mom again," King said.
Sebastien's mother is currently living in one of Haiti's many tent cities while the slow progress of reconstruction continues.
Besides caring for her children -- including two other adopted Haitians -- King stays in touch with her husband and two oldest kids, who are in Haiti helping with relief.
"Today when he called, they had no power and no water, and it was 42 degrees," she said.
Despite aid from countries around the world, King says that things have only gotten worse. There are 1,000s of abandoned and orphaned children -- so many that her small organization has had to turn them away.
"That's really hard because we know the outcome of that. You know that they're not going to eat today; they're not going to be safe," she said.
And her frustration over the bureaucracy involved in sending aid is growing.
"We sent a 45-foot container on April 16, full of donated tents and supplies for people in Haiti, and we can't get it out of customs," King said.
Her worst fear is that the outside world will forget the people of Haiti, but King says she'll keep trying to help, one child at a time.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Norma Reid