Bestselling author Mitch Albom describes ‘harrowing’ helicopter escape from volatility in Haiti

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic — Bestselling author and award-winning journalist Mitch Albom said he was trapped in chaos-ridden Haiti and had to flee in the dead of night on a helicopter with nine others, including his wife.

Albom, the author of the blockbuster book, “Tuesdays With Morrie,” said in an interview with NBC News’ Gabe Guiterrez that a visit to an orphanage he established in Haiti turned terrifying when prisoners were freed, setting off bedlam on the troubled island.

“The country fell into great turmoil,” Albom said Wednesday in a Zoom interview. “The airports were closed. The ports were taken over. The borders were closed. The streets were blocked.”

The orphanage, called Have Faith Haiti, is run by a nonprofit founded by Albom. He and the volunteers there found themselves stuck in Port-au-Prince, the capital, as the nation descended into violence by armed rebels and militias in recent weeks. Routes out of Haiti had been cut off, stranding the group.

Albom said a private helicopter was arranged by two congressional members — Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who was tapped by Michigan Republican Rep. Lisa McClain — to help his group escape on Tuesday. After “a couple of failed attempts,” Albom and crew were able to fly “from an undisclosed location,” he said, to the Dominican Republic.

They could take their passports, but no other belongings.. He had expected a 12-seat helicopter, but the one that arrived held only four. But Albom, eight volunteers and his wife Janine piled in anyway.

Albom said that, as he ran to the helicopter, “what was going through my head was ‘please don’t hear gunfire. And please don’t let anybody be filming this that can somehow trace it back to the location we were.’ . . I had this big lump in my chest that we were leaving our children and what’s going to happen to them.””

The helicopter experienced mechanical issues and had to land “in the middle of nowhere” in the Dominican Republic. Albom said they trekked quite a while to find cars for their escape and then traveled through multiple airports to arrive home in Michigan.

Albom said he has visited Haiti and his orphanage, which has 60 children and 40 staff members, each year for the last 14 years. He said he was there in 2021 when President Jovenel Moise was assassinated and the country was shut down.

“We’ve seen it and been through that experience,” Albom said. “It’s very harrowing. The way that we felt for the last eight days — you can’t go anywhere. You’re not allowed to leave. You can’t get out. That’s how Haitians live every single day. … So what we went through is nothing compared to what the Haitians go through.”

He said he is “constantly” asking the United States to “get involved and help. This is a neighboring country. We occupied Haiti for 15 years in the early 1900s. We wrote their constitution. We have an obligation to help them more than what we are doing.”

Despite the close encounter, Albom said he would visit Haiti again. “The minute they open it up, we’re going back,” he said. “That’s where our hearts are now.”