Days 111 – 112 (2/04 – 06)

Saturday – Today the Guest House looked like a bus station on Thanksgiving. We loaded up 2 teams for the airport and 2 teams going out to sites. One team (a non-VIM team) had 14 people which is way over our limit for team size. The reason for the limit was obvious when we had to squeeze 18 people (including interpreters and cooks), 30+ suitcases and large duffles, a stove, wheelbarrow, large tool box, food, water and charcoal for 18 people for a week, 20 cots and about 40 backpacks and carry-on bags into a van and a Kia 4x4 truck. To make matters worse, there were some pretty large people in this group. However, we got everybody and everything on board and they left the Guest House looking like the Beverly Hillbillies and the vehicles riding on the axels. After all of the people and activity, when the last truck leaves the compound the silence is deafening and you just want to find a shady spot to collapse.

After a cold shower (the only kind available here) and fresh t-shirt and shorts, it was already lunchtime. The post lunch afternoon was spent in the office working on some reports. Sarah had a great idea for dinner. We told the staff that they didn’t have to fix dinner and we brought in pizza for everybody. It was a great idea and it was fun to spend some down time with our Haitian staff.

Sunday – There were no teams at the Guest House and none scheduled to come in today. So – it’s an R&R day for the Haiti Response Plan Team. Our friend Jenn from Haiti Health Ministries in Leogaine came in and joined us for a day around the pool at the Hotel Karibe. The Karibe is one of our favorite get-a-way places and we try to get there once a month to decompress. We left the Karibe around 5:00 PM and went over to the newly rebuilt Caribbean Market and stocked up on hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, etc., and headed over to the UMCOR house in Paco to watch the Super Bowl. Lauren James was our hostess and she had also invited some of her Haitian neighbors. It was a great game and party – even though the 49ers weren’t (but should have been) playing.

Monday - The team schedule is allowing us to sort of ease into the new week. We only have 1 team coming in from the states this afternoon. I don’t have any meetings scheduled for today either. I’m not sure how I got so lucky, but I’ll take it. This gives me an opportunity to finish up a RFP (Request for Proposal) to give to 2 Haitian contractors that I’m meeting with tomorrow. We want to get bids and proposals on 10 more houses in Carre Four. All of the sites in Carre Four are very difficult. They are small lots, irregular shapes and difficult to get to. We will have to visit them all with the contractors.

Tom and I are trying to schedule site visits to all 30 of our sites over the next few weeks so we can assess the current status of each of them. We have limited resources, both in money and available teams, and need to strategize how we’re going to complete them. It will be very interesting.