Buettner finds angels in orphanage

By Trisha Marczak (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Friday, June 6, 2008

While flipping through the channels on her television earlier this year, Rhyan Buettner of Fergus Falls came across a touching and intriguing documentary highlighting the need for help in Haiti.

God’s Little Angels, a Christian organization, runs an orphanage in the mountains above Haiti’s capitol of Port-au-Prince.

The orphanage, which takes care of nearly 180 Haitian children at any given time, provides care to malnourished, premature and abandoned children. Children, once healthy, are placed with Christian adoptive families throughout North America and Europe.

Buettner initially began looking into the adoption side of the organization, but was taken back when she learned they also offered volunteer opportunities. Before she knew it, she was on a plane bound for Haiti.

“It was pretty eye opening,” Buettner said. “To see the way that other people live is kind of amazing to me.”

She spent the month of April working as a personal care giver to nine infant children. It was her responsibility to do what she could to help nurse the children back to health.

Buettner said that although she witnessed children starving and homeless, the most heart-wrenching sight of all was watching families turn their children over to the orphanage for a better life. They were people, Buettner said, that loved their children, but knew that they could not provide them with the necessities.

By the end of her month-long stay, Buettner began to see the improvement in her babies and realized that she was part of something very special.

Her arrival home wasn’t as easy as she expected. Her first memory off the plane was of a woman carrying designer luggage — something that would not have stood out to Buettner prior to her experience.

“It’s definitely mind changing,” she said.

After two weeks of soul searching, Buettner realized she needed to take the next step in her journey, and for her, the only destination that made sense was Haiti.

“I just felt very content where I was when I was there,” she said. “It was the first time that I felt I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.”

Buettner will be leaving for a one-year volunteer stint this September at the orphanage. She’s hoping that her volunteer opportunity will lead to a permanent position in the future.

She plans on spending the summer raising funds to pay her dues while she’s there. She’ll be hosting slide-shows and presentations at area churches throughout the summer to raise community support.