Home from Haiti: Missing Oregonians survive, return to PDX

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Portland man and 10 Beaverton women are finally home this weekend, after days being out of contact in Haiti's destruction.

"Daddy's home," squeals the daughter of Debel Andre, a Portland man visiting Port-au-Prince when Tuesday's quake hit.

After not hearing for them for days, and being glued to countless pictures of the destruction, the families and friends of these returning Oregonians remain worried for the Haitians left behind.

At Portland International Saturday, worrying and waiting through a sea of passengers is all Elange Andre could do. That is, until she saw her husband, Debel, for the first time after seeing him fly off to Haiti.

Debel Andre, meanwhile, is torn between reuniting with family here and the people he had to leave behind. "My heart is still down there," he said.

Andre says his stepmother is hurt, while other friends and family are still unaccounted for: "She's hurt so bad, but she doesn't have a U.S. passport," he said. His American passport is the only reason he says he could leave.

With constant aftershocks, the devastation as first left him not knowing what to do next. "I can't eat; I can't sleep," he recounts. "For almost four days I slept in the concrete."

While people slept in the streets, he said others were being buried there: "They just dig the hole, drop the people, no coffin no nothing," he said. "That's how it is down there."

After bumming a ride on a motorcycle through the crumbled streets, he was able to get to a flight home: "I feel like I'm blessed ... I'm here." Blessed, and happy to be home ... while wondering about the birthplace he left behind.

Elange Andre says her own brother works in security for the Haitian president, whose palace is in ruins. They still had not heard from him and countless others when this story aired.

Meanwhile, the 10 women touched down at the Portland International Airport from Haiti around 11 a.m. Sunday. All 10 are from the Beaverton Christian Church. They were serving as missionaries, working with children in a compound 40 miles west of Port-au-Prince that is now nearly destroyed.

The exodus for two of the women – mother and daughter Shari and Julia Swanson – began with a three-hour bus ride to the capital, and quick text message to Shari's husband Clay: "waiting for the government to fly us home i'll let you know when we're in miami it may be awhile."

Then they waited, six hours before catching a flight on an Air Force cargo plane bound for Miami. We "stood on the tarmac in the sunshine," Shari said. "All the women have sunburns now."

The mother and daughter say it is good to be home, but there's much more work to be done.

"I've never longed for America like I've longed for it now," Shari Swanson said on Saturday as she awaited the military flight home. "Although, the Haitian people and country of Haiti have stolen my heart."

Both mother and daughter said the experience has changed their lives. And they said they would absolutely consider going back to help with the re-building efforts.

"Just knowing we're going back to America..." said Julia Swanson. "We have so much, leaving them behind in so much devastation ... they need so much still."