A missions team with three Airdrie residents a part of it, and others from Carstairs, Didsbury and Olds has been safely evacuated from Haiti and are now on their way to Calgary.  

The group with Haiti ARISE were evacuated by helicopter from their compound in Grand Goave yesterday (February 16) and taken to the Port Au Prince airport to wait for flights out of the country.  Communications Manager Tammy Love reports that they flew out yesterday to Miami and were to leave first thing this morning on an American Airlines flight to Dallas and then to Calgary.  They're scheduled to land in the city at 1:49 pm today.

The group were doing missions work in Haiti but were caught in the civil unrest which has gripped the country.  Protests over price hikes, rampant inflation, and a plunging Haitian currency have broken out as calls for the resignation of the country's President rang out.  Schools and businesses are closed and food, water, and diesel fuel are running short.  Gangs of people have set up roadblocks throughout Haiti which have made travel by road virtually impossible.  Several people have died in the violence.  

Haiti ARISE was established in 2000 by Marc and Lisa Honorat from Airdrie who are on the team along with their daughter Meisha.  Lisa and Meisha are with the evacuated group but Marc is staying in the country at the Haiti ARISE compound.  Their other children are nervously waiting for their mom and sister to return.  

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