Days 97 – 99 (1/21 – 23)

Saturday – Three teams went out this morning - one to Delmas 33; one to Furcy and one to the airport and home. We still have 5 teams in-country. It still amazes me how well Tom and Sarah coordinate all the logistics of moving and providing for these teams.

All of the decision makers for the EMH are busy preparing for their Annual Conference that starts next Monday and continues through the following Monday. Three of my projects are on hold until it’s over. So, I’m taking advantage of the time by setting up inspection and documentation protocol for our job sites. There has been nothing in place and it has been hit or miss up until now. I hope to have a suggested outline ready to present at the EMH Joint Leadership meeting on Feb. 1^st.

It has been a quiet afternoon with all of the teams out and Tom and Wendy having a day of well-deserved R&R. Sarah and Mario have disappeared and I have the office to myself.

Sunday – Tom is preaching this morning, so Mario drove Tom, Wendy and I up to Tomasin for the service. Now I’m not saying that Mario is a bad driver, but I haven’t been that nervous since my first trip in Haiti. 20 years in Florida have not sharpened Mario’s Haitian driving skills. However, we did arrive at the church in one piece – shaken but not bruised. The church in Thomasin is very affluent by Haitian standards and most of the congregation speaks fluent English, French and Creole. So, most people understood Tom’s sermon even before it was translated into French by the Lay Minister. I gave him 2 thumbs up.

We had one team return from Petit Goave in the afternoon. So as soon as Sarah had debriefed them, we went over to the UMCOR house in Paco and watched the 49er – Giants playoff game. As the only west coaster, I was the lone 49er booster and it just wasn’t enough to give them the win. Oh well – maybe next year.

Monday – We got the Bradley team off for Delmas 33 and picked up their replacement team at the airport. The Petit Goave team was also taken to the airport for their journey home; four other teams still in country.

As soon as we got everyone on their way, Tom, Wendy, Oge and I left for Mellier for a meeting with the Site Boss and local Church Committee to try and resolve some issues regarding the new church we are building (our biggest ongoing project in Haiti). The main issue seems to be that the Church Committee feels left out of the design and construction of their church. It is a complicated but common problem. The people in charge feel that they know more than the “little people” and don’t involve them in any part of the decision making process. Sound familiar? What we have to make them understand is that we (UMVIM/UMCOR) are not the people in charge. We do not design or manage the construction of these projects. We simply provide the funds, advice and support. However, Tom agreed to talk to Pastor Fede, the District Superintendent, about opening up communications with the committee and I agreed to talk to Head EMH Engineer LaPlanche about providing a set of plans for their use. We left them somewhat satisfied and returned to Petionville (1 ½ ride with good traffic).

We got back to the Guest House too late for lunch and scrounged around in our office kitchen for some snacks. Then it was back to whatever things had piled up on our desks and in our computers while we were gone. Before we knew it, another day was gone.