In the afterglow of love

This is a tender tale of hope as well as tragedy.

Finding Chika is an intimate, heartwarming and deeply personal story, one that will make both your heart and eyes tear up. Yes, it’s a sad book, yet it is full of hope. And only Mitch Albom can make the two co exist. He always writes with compassion and a deep understanding of the human condition in such beautiful prose that his stories eventually help us learn and grow along with him and become better humans.

The lessons I learned with Morrie, an old professor, in Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom’s earlier bestseller, are very different from the ones I learn from Chika, a young girl on whose life Finding Chika is based.

Chika was born three days before the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and after spending her early years in desperate poverty, when her mother dies giving birth to her baby brother, she is brought to an orphanage that Albom runs in Haiti.

Child of their heart

He and his wife Janine take her to their home in Michigan when they realise that five-year-old Chika needs medical attention that isn’t available in Haiti, hoping to find a cure for her debilitating condition — a rare brain tumour. What follows is a fight to save this little girl who becomes a child of their heart.

This is an awe-inspiring, touching telling of a child’s life and that of parents who loved her and did whatever they could to try and save her. Mitch Albom is brutally honest and pulls no punches when telling this story — and that is why this story will stay with you for a long time.

When they lose her, tragically, and the couple are grieving, Chika begins to appear to Albom, urging him to share the story. Their story. Mitch tells the story as if he is talking to Chika and sharing his memories (as lessons learnt) with her. There is such a vivid description of characters, places and experiences that it makes you feel like you knew Chika, the vivacious, spunky little girl and you too were a part of her life. Plus, there is wisdom and quotes to last a lifetime, strewn in between these pages.

This book has heartbreaking moments, but it also is heartwarming, tender and inspiring. And yes, the lessons Albom learns and shares are very real. Lessons about caring for a special needs child, the definition of family, unconditional love, loss and grief. In Mitch Albom’s words: ‘What we carry defines who we are. And the effort we make is our legacy’. The final words: “It is only when someone you love dies that you understand what it means to have lived,” will bring out the tears. This one can be difficult to read at times. And despite knowing how it ends, you can’t help but hope the story will turn out differently. Take my advice, keep some tissues handy as you read this one.

And finally, I suggest buy this one and don’t borrow as all profits from the sale of Finding Chika go to the support of the Have Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

Kavita Devgan