Sask. missionaries home after emergency flight from Haiti

A Saskatchewan couple is nearly home after a hurried departure from Haiti.

Wade and Marilyn Fitzpatrick had been working as missionaries with the Arise Haiti group.

But they decided to leave the country amid weeks of violent protests.

“We had a team of 22 there and we spent five days trying to get them out and as it just got worse we thought we should probably be leaving with them,” Wade said.

While violence never reached the couple’s mission, the protests shut down vital roads, choking off supplies like food and fuel.

“I think we started getting a little nervous that we simply would run out of things that we needed to survive with,” Wade said.

The couple found themselves whisked by helicopter Saturday to the capital of Port au Prince, where they were able to board a plane.

Tuesday morning saw the Fitzpatricks just arriving in Regina, en route to their home in Weyburn.

Wade said they’d be going back once it was safe.

“We got to get out. There’s 11 million people that are still there and they’re hungry and they’re thirsty and they’re really in a bad spot,” he said.

—With files from 650 CKOM’s Erin Mcnutt