EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – A small group of Tri-State men are back home after a mission trip to Haiti unlike any other.
They are from a collection of area Catholic churches. Joe Wildeman goes to St. Francis in Poseyville.
In the hours ahead of their flight back to the states, Haiti’s President Jovenel Moises was assassinated. His wife was also shot.
The group was then forced to stay in the Caribbean Island Nation during the political crisis.
[Power vacuum rattles Haiti in wake of president’s killing]
Their flight out was scheduled the day after the shootings, but airports were closed and boarders were shut down.
“When we went to the airport with our tickets in hand, we’re informed that no, there are no flights going,” said Wildeman.
The men set out with two main missions. One of those was to rebuild a failed water well system that now provides fresh water to the local community.
They also worked on a new school that was built in recent years after a natural disaster. The extra four to five days in Haiti allowed them to work on it longer.
“They have nothing. Many of them live in a little hut that may have block walls, may have cardboard walls, and may have a little tin roof over their heads. They’re the happiest people we’ve found. They’re smiling, they love to see us. When you find these people, it just breaks your heart,” said Wideman
This was Wildeman’s eleventh trip to Haiti.
“People know us when we come in. We have friends come from all around hollering our names down there. They’re friends of ours.”
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