A group of Quebec school children have arrived safe and sound in Montreal after returning early from a trip to Haiti.
The students are from Victoriaville and had been volunteering in rural parts of the country for the past few days.
They used Facebook to stay in touch with their parents.
“Every night. We wrote to the parents, sending them pictures and videos” said Francine Boivin of Commission Scolaires des Bois-Francs.
Boivin said that they were told to leave on Sunday because there were fewer people in the streets.
"Before leaving [Sunday] we had scouts go and make the route and then they came back and said everything was fine. We left at 5:30. We travelled everywhere in Haitian trucks so we were incognito," said Boivin
Their journey started at 5:30 a.m., with the students being transported by a special convoy to the airport.
“We were really far from Port-au-Prince, so we were in no danger,” said Maude Chabot, a student who got off the plane to be greeted by cheering family members at Trudeau Airport.
“Since there were political problems, we needed to leave because the Canadian embassy told us it was too dangerous to stay.”
Despite the safety and security of being back home, she had mixed emotions about returning early.
Prior to leaving Quebec, the students raised money for people in Haiti through various initiatives, including by selling bread.
Their efforts yielded over $30,000 for Haitians.
“People we met had nothing to do with the problems over there,” she said. “People were so happy, nice, and smiling.”
“Leaving them is really sad, because we know we’re safe here.”
Several government employees and missionaries were also aboard the flight.
