Military rescues stranded Canadians from remote Haitian town

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Canadian soldiers came to the rescue of a group of stranded B.C. teenagers and their chaperones Sunday, retrieving them from a remote town outside Port-au-Prince and bringing them back to the relative safety of the Canadian Embassy before they were to return home.

“I am shaking. My emotions are crazy. I don’t know what to feel,” said Brooklyn Malakoff, 17, as she arrived back in the Haitian capital. “I am really happy to go home, and see my mom, and give her a hug and a kiss, and tell her I love her.”

Sunday evening the group was scheduled to leave the country from Port-au-Prince’s busy airport.

The group faced an increasingly “desperate” situation in recent days, a teacher recalled, as food and water started to run out while the threat of violence and looting increased nearby.

A military helicopter first picked up two adults who needed medical attention from the Grand Goave compound where the group had gone to do humanitarian work.

The group from the Slocan Valley in southeastern British Columbia arrived Tuesday, a mere 45 minutes before a massive earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.

The Griffon helicopter flew the pair to the airport, before taking them to the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Military personnel then went to the site in three buses, gathering the 17 teens and their remaining seven chaperones from the scene, about 45 kilometres from the Haitian capital.

The buses arrived back in Port-au-Prince early Sunday afternoon, and all the Canadians seemed to be in good shape.

“It has been a hell of an experience,” said Sue Rebitt, 59, one of the two people who were airlifted back.

The school secretary was in a bathroom when the quake hit and a mirror fell on her. She suffered broken ribs.

“It is life-changing,” said Rebitt, who’s from Crescent Valley, B.C., of the ordeal.

The other airlifted person was a man who did not have medications for a previous medical condition.

The buses also retrieved some non-Canadians who had been in the vicinity, bringing the total number of people rescued to 17 teens, 17 adults and one infant.

The group had come to Haiti to help set up a goat farm.

In the days following the quake, which struck as they were beginning to unpack, the group had started to run out of food and water. Organizers of the trip said the Canadians had been sleeping in a barn without walls, and there were concerns of looting and potential violence outside their compound.

Following the quake, the group also discovered that $10,000 US was stolen from their compound, money that had been raised to help fund the aid project in Haiti.

“At first the students decided we should all cut down to two meals a day, but the food line just got bigger and bigger,” said teacher Don Warthe. “After a while we were desperate to get out because food was getting really scarce and we were also running out of diesel for the pump that drew water from the well.”

The 57-year-old math teacher said the students and local residents came to depend on each other.

“What was amazing was how profoundly helpful the Haitian people have been. They gave us shelter, water, food and safety,” Warthe said.

The Canadians also pooled their money to help out the Haitians, buying some $2,200 worth of rice.

“The kids got the local police to go around every store that was still open in the area to buy rice, and then they began distributing it to people in need,” said Warthe.

“So what started as a community service for them ended as their own little humanitarian aid operation.”

Through the hardship, some of the youngsters recalled moments of communion they said they would never forget.

“(The night of the quake) It was so surreal, I sang all night in a field and we all held hands and sang together,” recalled Sage Fouquette, 17, of Slocan, B.C. “We were with the Haitians and they were all singing.

“It was so hard to leave them I was crying, they took such good care of us it was hard to say goodbye. They took more care of us than for themselves. When I go home my first priority will be to help them.”

Pastor Jim Reimer, who made his way to a nearby mission project that had a satellite and could receive e-mails to get in touch with Canadian officials, said he was thankful for Ottawa’s response.

“I was able to get in touch with our MP Stockwell Day. He really helped us. He personally got involved and got our sick person out, as far as I know he organized the buses, all the way up to Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper, I just gave them thanks and all the people back home.”

Worried parents of the teens had expressed frustration at the Canadian government in the days following the quake for not retrieving the group — and said Saturday they were ready to pay a U.S. firm to bring the youngsters home.

As word of the rescue reached parents at home in B.C. on Sunday, they responded with relief and gratitude for the efforts of the military.

“As parents we were a little frustrated by the delays, but we thank the Canadian government for responding when there was a window of opportunity,” Norm Ouellett said Sunday. His 17-year-old son, Blake, was with the group.

The families of some teens had gathered at the local high school to wait for word.

“Parents are ecstatic, as you can imagine,” principal Glenn Campbell said.

“It’s emotionally very positive and uplifting. The weight has been lifted off the room. I don’t think we’re all the way there, there is still some trepidation, but the mood in the room has turned 180 degrees from yesterday.

“I think we will all be relieved when they are on a plane heading home.”

Patricia Dooley, superintendent of the Kootenay Lake School District, said the children would be offered psychological support and at least two parents have had phone calls from their children.

“One child has passed on that he has seen horrendous things and he is shaken up but they are fine,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to getting them home and supporting them with some counselling,” said Dooley.

“We anticipate there will be some post-traumatic stress for sure.”

With files from Mark Iype, Canwest News Service and the Vancouver Province