Days 83 – 85 (12/06 – 12/08)

Tuesday – No teams out this morning, just 1 team returning from Arcahaie. The crowd is beginning to thin - we will only have 3 teams at the Guest House tonight.

I met with the EMH Head Engineer, Roger LaPlanche this morning to go over my plans for resolving the ongoing issues we’re having with gray water sewage and rain water run-off. It involves building some curb walls and ramps in the back parking area; building a catchment basin and running a line to a gravel percolation bed on the lower end of the property. Roger liked the ideas and will draw-up a plan and estimate. I hope to be able to get the work scheduled before I leave next week. Roger also had completed the estimate for the 8 unit Guest House addition and presented it to Pastor Paul, the EMH President for his review and approval. It would be great to have everything in place to start when I return after the Holidays. The Guest House could be a real construction zone in January.

Wednesday – We sent 2 teams off to the airport this morning to fly home. This leaves us with just 1 team working locally and staying at the Guest House. Tom and Sarah left for a site visit to Leveque leaving Mario and I minding the fort – not a big deal with no one here until tonight.

Today was my day to deal with some issues with the EMH Pilot Project. The contractor for 8 of the houses in Mellier is a U.S. based non-profit called Homes 4 Haitians. We’re finding it extremely difficult to coordinate with out of country businesses. There are all kinds of hurdles to overcome that not everyone was aware of. You need a patent, which is like a business license. You need a NIF number, which is like a tax number. Both of which cost money and take time. You have problems with exorbitant customs fees (up to 35% of value) and import fees (10% of value). By the time you add in shipping and handling fees, the cost of materials can more than double. H4H started 2 houses without any of these things in place and now they’re scrambling, long distance, to try and take care of everything. Since I am in-country and on the EMH Pilot Project management team, a lot of it is falling in my lap. So, part of my job, in an effort to keep projects moving forward, is trying to find solutions and smoothing ruffled feathers. It makes life interesting.

Thursday – This morning Tom and I once again attacked the tools and supplies storage issue. Things seem to gravitate to our office and every few weeks we find ourselves walking around boxes, bins and suitcases. I think the only answer is to build an additional cabinet in the carport area (and get rid of some of the junk).You seldom have to throw anything away down here. You just leave it out and it disappears. Nothing goes to waste. So – design and material procurement are going to be my tasks for today. We seldom lack for things to do.

I got handed another assignment just before lunch. I had to go look at a church on Delmas 33 (not too far from the Guest House) that suffered some earthquake damage. One of the EMH Engineers did a cost estimate on the repairs and I needed to evaluate whether it is a site that we can send teams to do some of the work. It happened to be the church that Madame Lou Lou attends. Lou Lou is one of our cooks and was the cook for my team in Thomas. Lou Lou met Oge and I at the church and gave us the tour. (Slideshow #21)