More than 40 people waved signs and rushed in for hugs Friday night at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to welcome home Helen Little and a dozen other volunteers returning from a mission trip to Haiti.
Little, 79, who lives in Clayton, was one of 13 people from North Carolina who flew to Haiti on Monday. She was on a bus, having just returned to the mission's base camp, when the earthquake hit.
In the wake of the devastation, she and the other volunteers distributed clothing and medical supplies to the victims. Once those were gone, "we were just another burden on the country," she said, and it was time to come home and gather more supplies.
"I'd go back tomorrow," said Little, who has visited Haiti nearly 50 times.
As the volunteers and supplies flood into Haiti, information on loved ones is trickling its way back to the Triangle.Every static-filled phone call that makes it through to Haiti provides another bit of news to be shared instantly with family all over the world.
Karl-Henry Saint Jean, a native of Haiti who drives a cab in Raleigh, heard nothing from his six brothers and sisters for two days after the earthquake. On Thursday, he managed to get through to his brother.
The conversation lasted only a minute before the connection was lost, but the message his brother delivered, "I'm alive, I'm alive!" got through. It wasn't until Friday, when a nephew in Spain told Saint Jean every member of his immediate family had survived, that he felt true relief. His mother suffered a broken leg.
In a dramatic rescue at Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, the Rev. Sam Dixon of Roanoke Rapids was pulled out alive Friday from the collapsed building. Dixon, who works with The United Methodist Committee on Relief, suffered leg injuries. It was not immediately known when he might return to the U.S.
Wayne Graham of Apex spent "the worst 24 hours of my life" just after the quake, waiting to hear from his wife, Linda, who had traveled to Haiti on Tuesday with three other Triangle women to volunteer at an orphanage and school. Graham figures he tried calling his wife more than 100 times before he got an answer.
"I just prayed the hardest prayer I've ever prayed," he said, "and my wife picked up."
The women, who landed in Haiti a little more than an hour before the quake, spent the first night on a soccer field adjacent to a hospital, tending to the wounded. Linda Graham helped deliver two babies that evening.
Wayne Graham is amazed that his wife, who he hopes will fly home today, played such a vital role. Her story of bringing new life into the world will be one she shares for the rest of her own.
