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">January 18th, 2010 @ 9:55pm
By Sandra Yi
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two women who survived the earthquake in Haiti last week were evacuated and returned home to Utah Monday morning. Back with their families again, Carol Smith and Mandi McBride were overcome with emotion.
"Oh, it's wonderful. I didn't know that we would be here, so I'm really glad," Smith said.
The women, both from Logan, caught a military flight to Orlando, and then flew to Salt Lake. They are grateful to be home but are also torn because their hearts are with the people of Haiti.
"I know that they need me there, but I can't be there forever, and I have a lot of responsibilities here," McBride said, fighting back tears.
The friends went to serve a 10-day humanitarian mission at the Ruuska Village orphanage, located 7 miles outside Port-au-Prince. They had been there only 24 hours when the earthquake hit.
"I just slid on the ground, and babies were flying all over the place, and I just grabbed as many as I could and just covered them and tried to protect them; and thank God they made it," McBride said.
The women took pictures of the damage they saw around them. The photos are reminders that they were some of the lucky ones. Still, they say the worst pictures don't capture the devastation they saw firsthand in Haiti.
"I've never seen such horrible things, ever," Smith said.
"It's just indescribable," McBride said. "There's just so many people in survival mode and just desperate to get to the states, and desperate to get help, and desperate to find their loved ones because there are so many people that have not heard anything."
McBride, who has two adopted children from Haiti, has been to the country many times. This was Smith's first trip there, and it won't be her last.
"They need help there, so bad," Smith said.
"Just keep praying for these people. It's the most important thing right now," McBride added.
McBride hopes to return to Haiti in a month.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
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