Day 8 & 9 (9/22 -23)

Thursday – I can’t believe that today starts my 2^nd week in Haiti. The days, although 12 to 14 hours long, seem to fly by. And although there is a lot of work to do, I don’t feel the stress and pressure that I probably would at home. Things just move at a different pace here.

Tom, the VIM Coordinator in Haiti, returned from his week vacation at home. We are once again fully staffed – at least for a couple of weeks until Sarah leaves on her vacation. So – I won’t have to help as much with the teams coming and going.

Once again the plans I made yesterday didn’t materialize today. The remainder of the interviews that I wanted to do didn’t happen. Trying to get people together down here is sometimes like herding chickens – which, by the way, are running wild all over the compound. (I’d like to find that rooster that sits underneath my window and starts crowing at 4:30 every morning).I’ll try again tomorrow. I did, however, get my interviews from yesterday typed up and prioritized and worked on a couple of floor plan ideas for the Guest House renovation. Not a bad day.

Friday – The tropical storm that blew through last night was short lived (a couple of hours) but spectacular - lots of thunder and lightning and heavy rain. I loved it, but felt sorry for the thousands still living under tarps and tents. Many of them have to stand up all night because they can’t lay down with the water running through their shelters. Much work yet to do.

I got most of my remaining interviews done today. 2 more to do tomorrow and I’ll be done. I’ll start the site visits and evaluations next week. I should have more pictures to share then. I’m fortunate to have a truck and a driver/interpreter to take me wherever I need to go. I would not even attempt to drive down here. It’s chaotic.