Days 23 & 24 (10/07 – 08)

Friday – Today I got to look at 3 more home sites. All of them were in the hills behind Petionville. The first one belonged to Oge who is our main Driver and also the work site liason. We went way up the mountain – past ex- president Preval’s home past Baby Doc’s home and then put the truck in 4 wheel drive and got serious. Amazingly, even on this bad rural road there were some huge estate-like homes. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Haiti is huge. Oge has got a foundation in place for a nice house in the middle of some farm land. But, like everyone else, it seems, doesn’t have the money to go any further.

The second site belonged to Eric and Lise. Eric is a Driver and head mechanic and maintenance man at the Guest House and has worked there for 40 years. His wife Lise is the dishwasher and has worked there 23 years. Their home is among a warren of homes built on a steep hillside. You have to walk down very narrow steps and alleyways to get there. It was a 2 story house until the earthquake completely demolished the top floor. Eric salvaged what useable blocks he could from the rubble, but doesn’t have the money to rebuild.

The 3^rd house belonged to Renette the Head Cook and a 31 year employee of the Guest House. It happens to be right next door to Eric and Lise. Her house is very small and although not structurally damaged did suffer some minor damage. The biggest problem is the roof. The tin roof has more holes than tin and is covered in tarps. I’m going to try to get her a new roof under this program.

It has been an incredible experience, so far, to be able to visit some of these sites that not many non-Haitians have the opportunity to see. It also has been incredible to get to know some of these amazing people.

Saturday – Shopping in and around Port Au Prince is not a simple task. With 5 teams in the field this week, we were running out of equipment and needed to restock - cots, ice chests, gas cans, shovels, etc. etc. We found a pretty decent building supply store down by the American Embassy – not quite a Home Depot, but pretty well stocked for Haiti. But, naturally, they didn’t have everything we needed. So, it was off to another store a couple of miles away. In Haiti that translates to an hour of driving. A shopping trip that would have taken an hour in the States took 4 ½ hours.

We got back to the Guest House just in time to welcome 2 new teams. Just another day in Paradise. J