Days 116 & 117 (2/09 & 10)

Thursday – This morning we sent one team off to PetitGoave and then I had a meeting with Engineer LaPlanch, Engineer Derly and Constantine with World Hand Alliance (WHA), one of our EMH Pilot Project contractors. Derly had stopped WHA’s work in Mellier because the stem walls they were building didn’t conform to the plans that he had. He did the right thing and was performing his job as the Project Engineer. Constantine explained that the plans that Derly had were for a slab on grade and not for a raised foundation that we have to have in Mellier because of the flood plain. I asked Constantine to provide Derly with a corrected set of drawings, which he did, and work will restart tomorrow. Communication is a wonderful thing.

I spent the afternoon preparing for a meeting of the Guest House Board or officially “Reunion Du Conseil D’Administration Du Guest House” tomorrow morning. We then had one team return from La Tremblay and one new team arrive from the states. Every day there are lots of new faces.

Friday – Two teams went out this morning - one team to the airport and home and one team off for Les Cayes. Then I was supposed to have a walk around the Guest House complex (#4 or 5) with Pastor Paul and Engineer Laplanche to discuss the Renovation Project (again). But, since he scheduled the Guest House Board meeting for exactly the same time, it didn’t happen.

You haven’t lived until you’ve attended a Haitian Board meeting or Management meeting or Joint Leadership Team meeting or – or …… it seems as though my life has become an endless series of meetings. As I’ve said before, we have meetings about meetings. It wouldn’t be so bad if you walked away from them feeling like you’ve accomplished something – but that feeling is very elusive down here. And this meeting was no exemption. The Board consists of EMH leadership, Guest House management and VIM staff. I am not an official member of the Board but was asked to attend by Pastor Paul. After the usual scripture reading and prayer by Pastor Paul and the reading and discussion of the minutes from the last meeting, we got into the first real business which was the financial report. Mario, our VIM Financial Administrator and MBA accountant, had a real issue with the format and content of the report. Being Haitian, he has no qualms about arguing his point. The debate went on for some time until Pastor Paul rapped his desk and declared “Enough”. Of course the whole meeting to this point has been in Creole so, although I can only follow bits and pieces, I don’t think there was any resolution to the debate. The next item was security. The EMH has a security guard at the main gate at the Delmas 95 entrance who watches people coming in and rolls back the gate to allow vehicles in. At the last meeting Pastor Paul was upset because several times when he has come to the compound at night there was no one there to open the gate for him. So, they decided to hire a night guard. The problem is that there still doesn’t seem to be anyone around to open the gate at night. The solution seemed to be to buy him a uniform shirt and a hat. I love Haiti!  

The next item on the agenda was construction and the reason I was there. In deference to the “blan” this part of the meeting was conducted in English. Engineer LaPlanche led off by explaining that I had done a survey of the Guest House complex and put together a report and cost estimate (it has been sitting on Pastor Paul’s desk for 3 months) and that he (LaPlanche) agreed with the proposal and thought that we should proceed with the plan. He then talked about the planned addition of 8 more units for a Guest House expansion and 4 units for staff housing that LaPlanche and I put together and has been sitting on Pastor Paul’s desk for 2 months. Pastor Paul said that we should build the 8 units first so we had a place to put guests while the renovation was being done. Madame Ruth, the Guest House manager, disagreed and said that the renovation must be done first. Pastor Paul turned to me and said “Bill, why would you suggest such a thing?” Me? I didn’t say a word – it was your idea! Want to know the outcome? We’re going to have another meeting. I love Haiti! 

After that 3 hour marathon we got back to the Guest House in time to welcome one new team from the states and our returning 14 member team from Banique. Life goes on for the Haiti Response Plan staff.