Lt. Col. Randon Draper, originally from Midvale, changes the diaper of an orphan from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on a plane bound for Orlando, Fla. (Jason Henry, for The Deseret News)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A small group of Haitian orphans left for Miami on a C-130 Friday night, and a Midvale native serving in the Air Force found himself in the thick of the action again.
Lt. Col. Randon Draper wasn't trained in the delicate art of foreign adoptions when he was dispatched to Haiti 40 hours after the Jan. 12 earthquake. But he learned quickly how to handle them from his position on the ground at the Port-au-Prince airport. He has emerged as an unsung hero in the efforts to move children from orphanages to homes in the U.S.
"It's been a wild ride," he said.
Last month's quake threw the Haitian adoption process into a governmental tailspin, and put the U.S. military into uncharted territory.
"Moving orphans or adoptive children is not in the Air Force playbook," said Draper, who works with the 621st Contingency Response Wing, which is part of the Joint Task Force/Port Opening comprised of all branches of the service. "It has been a scramble to fill gaps, ensure an efficient and legal process of airlifting these children while waiting for the system to catch up."
Draper's self-made job ranges from coordinating flights with the State Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to managing a busload of orphans at the airport. Making sure flight manifests are accurate is a particular challenge.
Tuesday, he made sure 8-year-old Fabrice boarded a plane for Miami to unite with his adoptive parents, David and Candice Aitken of Eagle Mountain, who had to leave him behind Jan. 29 due to a paperwork oversight.
Draper is an unruffled presence during the chaos that comes with moving dozens of children onto an airplane. Children arrived early for a flight last week and waited in limbo for hours while the Haitian and U.S. governments worked out last-minute details. He moved the children from the tarmac to a tent to shield them from the hot sun and made sure they had water and snacks. He tenderly took scared youngsters into his arms to keep them calm. He even changed a diaper before the flight.
"I find my greatest reward by holding these children," he said. "When I do, the world stands still, my blood pressure drops and I feel peace."
Chareyl Moyes, Wasatch International Adoptions program manager for Haiti, considers Draper key to getting orphaned children out of the country.
"I feel like I have eyes and ears on the ground," she said, noting Draper gives her up-to-the-minute information on what is happening. He often goes back and forth between the airport and the U.S. Embassy to make sure paperwork is complete and children are on the flight list. He helps expedite a process that can easily get bogged down.
Friday proved somewhat of a disappointment as 10 children from the Foyer de Sion orphanage outside Port-au-Prince didn't get to the embassy in time for the bus to the airport. Draper held it up as long as he could, but wasn't able delay the flight. Only eight children were able to leave.
Draper, who graduated from the University of Utah and has a law degree from the University of Idaho, is the father of five children, one attending BYU; one serving an LDS mission in Cambodia; two in high school, including his only daughter; and one in elementary school. He and his wife, Anne, whom he met at Hillcrest High School, have been married for 24 years.
Currently stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, his career has taken him to several states and Japan, Germany and England. His last deployment was to Iraq to work on Saddam Hussein's trial. His duty in Port-au-Prince, which he figures will last at least another month, is unlike any he has done in the Air Force.
"My experience here in Haiti," he said, "has been one of the most satisfying of my life."
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