Who We Are

Infant Home Photos

In October of 1999 We were invited to come to Haiti by Esperandieu Pierre. We had already started Children of the Promise as a non-profit organization to help infants and young children in need overseas. We took two of our daughters to spend a week in Cap-Haitien. In those few days we were offered 3 babies on 3 separate occasions. We were overwhelmed by the need of these babies who were orphaned or very ill. We felt this was a call of God that we could not ignore. Three months later we bought land just outside of Cap-Haitien to build an infant care center.

In June 2000 I, Jan, and my daughter Robin and two other volunteers moved to Haiti. We rented a very small house in town and within 2 weeks we had our first baby brought to the gate. Two weeks later we had 4 babies. We had very little money, no electricity and often no running water. We moved to a larger house in Cap-Haitien a couple months later and continued to have abandoned, orphaned or ill babies brought to our gate.

In Aug. of 2001 we moved to an abandoned compound next door to the land we had bought hoping to build our own facility while we lived next to it. We could only build when we had extra cash, and with 30 babies by this time, it wasn't very often. It was a struggle caring for so many babies with virtually no electricity and sometimes not much water.

God was faithful through all of this and we saw more and more babies recover in spite of the circumstances. And in Aug. 2003 we moved into our new baby house. It wasn't quite complete, but it was 'home'.

As we've been faithful to care for these babies as God had called us, he blessed us. We see his hand on the lives of our nannies and other Haitian staff, which now number over 70. Our community of Lagossette has grown and thrives with new houses as a result of so many jobs. We sponsor COTP "grads" for school as well as their siblings. Many families who want to keep their babies, we help with an infant formula program. By taking care of the infants, we see more than just their lives changed.

The need for help for infants has only .grown. We see more infants and more desperate families than ever before. We believe that every child can change their world. We want to give them that chance.

Bud and Jan Bonnema

	Name: Jamie and Jenny Groen Position: Field Director and Volunteer Coordinator Location: Haiti		Name: Maria O'Donovan Positions: Field Director Location: Haiti
	Name: Antonio and Paulaine Jean-Louis Position: Adoption Liaisons Location: Haiti		Name: Amy Syres Position: On-site nurse Location: Haiti
	Name: Herns Position: Adoption Liaison Location: Haiti		Name: Robin Knight Positions: Adoption Coordinator Website Maintenance Location: Texas
	Name: Marcia Roorda Positions: Bookkeeper Location: Minnesota		Name: Mary DeJong Position: Canadian Bookkeeper Location: Ontario
			Name: Mary Young Position: Sponsorship Coordinator Location: South Carolina