Days 44 & 45 (11/28 -29)

Friday – Mornings in Haiti continue to be the best part of the day. The air is the cleanest; the temperature the coolest and the coffee the freshest. I enjoyed sitting on the patio having breakfast with our departing teams and hearing the stories of their mission experiences. They are all different, but somehow the same. Every experience is weighed and filtered through each individuals set of values, life experiences and preconceived expectations. The commonality is everyone recognizing that they have been profoundly affected by the experience. After saying my goodbyes, it was back to work.

My goal this morning was to assemble and install a new ceiling fan and light in the Haitian staff area behind the kitchen at the Guest House. The conditions there are not great to begin with and no one could remember how long the old one had been broken. Now you would think that this would be a relative simple task – I’ve installed hundreds of these in my career. However, one must never forget that this is Haiti. The old fixture came down fairly easily, but I then discovered that the new one that I bought yesterday only came with screws for wood frame installation. There were no machine screws to install it to the ceiling box. Now if I were home, it would be a 15 minute trip to Home Depot to pick up a couple of 10x32 machine screws. However, in Haiti nothing is 15 minutes away and there are no Home Depots. Fortunately, Tom and Sarah were heading to the gym for a workout and had a vehicle and driver. So, I rode along. While they were at the gym, Spana, the driver, and I went in search for 2 – 10x32 machine screws. Two hours and four stores later we finally struck gold. By the time we picked up Tom and Sarah and got back to the Guest House, not only was I worn out, it was too dark to see. Have I mentioned that it gets dark by 5:30 down here?

A new team arrived this afternoon, so after dinner, while the rest of the staff did orientation, I retired to the office and caught up on emails and this blog – then went to bed.

Saturday – We got our new team off to Mellier and received two more this morning. This is one busy place.

After lunch, I got back to my ceiling fan project and with my newly procured machine screws got it securely fastened to the ceiling. I made the electrical connections and threw the switch – no joy. So, I got out my circuit tester and begin going through the rat’s nest of wiring and came to the conclusion that the switch was bad. Did I mention that nothing is easy in Haiti? I know that the switch I need is available at the little store where I found the machine screws. It will probably have to wait until Monday.

Loren James, from UMCOR came over with UMCOR hats and shirts for John, Sarah and I. We have volunteered to join some of the UMCOR staff at the Carter Work Project in Leogane next week. There will be several hundred Habitat for Humanity volunteers working including, of course, Jimmy Carter. Who knows? There might be a photo op.

Tonight was pizza night and pool at a local establishment. It was also a farewell for Deanna Hawkins and her daughter who have been visiting for a week. Deanna was the financial administrator before John.