Days 233 -237 (6/20 – 24)

Wednesday – We sent one team off to the airport early this morning for their flight home and our new team off to their work site in Leveque. Then Tom and I had to run to an 8:00 AM meeting of the EMH Housing Project Management Team. The team consists of Engs. Derly Charles and Roger Laplanche, Pastor Jacob, Jim Gulley, Lauren James, Tom and me. Lauren was away on vacation but everyone else was there. Eng. Derly gave us a status report on the 20 home sites in Mellier and the 3 that have been started in Carrefour. Homes for Haitians has 5 homes finished and should have their other 5 completed by the end of July. World Hand Alliance is still having block production problems and probably won’t have their homes completed until September. Pasto Paul wants to have a dedication ceremony for the completed homes on July 17^th. So – we decided to schedule a site inspection of all 20 of the Mellier home sites for 6/29 to determine which homes will be dedicated. The contracts for the 2 new contractors that will be building 10 homes in Carrefour were reviewed in both their French and English versions. The funding requests are in New York and we should have the money in place for a contract signing on 6/29.

Two more teams arrived from the State this afternoon. Tom and I staged their equipment and supplies after  dinner so that we get them on their way to their sites early in the morning.

Thursday – We got the new team on the road for their 3 ½ hour ride to Les Cayes and then loaded up the team that will be working locally at Delma 33. I then had a meeting with Eng. Laplanche and an electrical contractor to go over the electrical work I wanted to get done on the main electrical service to both the Guest House and the Swiss House. Over the years boxes have been added, circuits rewired, wrong material used and we’ve ended up with a jumbled mess. My goal is to rip everything out and start all over with new service boxes and switches. It won’t be an easy job and I wanted to make sure the contractor fully understood the scope before he prepared an estimate.

This afternoon I still had some work to do on the 2^nd draw request for the HHAP grant. I gave it my best shot and sent it off to New York before dinner.

Friday – Our only team this morning is our team staying at the Guest House and working at Delmas 33. Since they don’t have to load equipment and supplies every morning they can get out very quickly after breakfast.

With no teams to shepherd, Danette, Mario, Spana and I left in the D-Max for Carrefour and the workshop of Einstein Albert. Einstein Albert is a Haitian wood craftsman and designer whose hand-made pieces are sold all over the world at places like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales and Saks Fifth Avenue. I have purchased a couple of his bowls and fell in love with his work. This was my first opportunity to visit his workshop. His workshop is on a backstreet in Carrefour and there are no signs identifying it. If you didn’t know where it was, you would never find it. You enter through a door in the security wall into a covered outdoor work area where a dozen women are staining and finishing various sizes and designs of bowls. Further out in the yard are a couple of men cutting and carving 3 compartment serving bowls. All of the pieces are made from Ochebe wood. The bowls go through a 16 step process to become the beautiful works of art that they are. The old house on the property houses the final finishing process and the merchandise display. The merchandise display is limited to whatever product is currently being made. With the export demand, there is not a lot of stock on hand. However, I found plenty that I liked and walked out with my arms full.

This afternoon Tom and I continued on our project of analyzing the status of our project sites. We have 5 or 6 sites that are very near completion and either reached their budget limits or are at a stage where they are no longer team friendly. That is, there is no longer unskilled labor work to do or the sites have become to confined to work with large numbers of people. We’ve visited most of the sites recently and are familiar with the stage of construction and have received estimates from the site engineers on completion costs. I’m getting more adept at reading and understanding estimates written in French or Creole. I’ve also gotten a better understanding of costs of construction in Haiti. This makes the process a whole lot easier than it was 6 months ago.

This afternoon we welcomed a new team arriving from the states.

Saturday – Our new team was loaded up and sent on their way to Arcahaie. They will probably be the last team sent to this site. Our Delmas 33 team left shortly after for their site and will probably be the last team sent there. After we got the teams out, I escaped the confines of the Guest House and went for a long walk before it got too hot. Saturday is market day in Petionville and it’s a great time to see all of the street vendors and crowds of people. I had lunch when I was out and about and returned to the Guest House in time to greet Wendy Vencuss’s team newly arrived from the States.

Sunday – We got Wendy’s team loaded up early so that they could get up to their site in Furcy in time for church. The Delmas 33 team left for church at – where else – Delmas 33 and then for a day of sightseeing.

Today is Father’s Day in Haiti and I had been invited by Pastor Marco to go to College Bird for a special Father’s Day service. I decided not to go and attended the service here on the Frere Campus. I later found out that the College Bird service lasted 4 ½ hours. I think I made a good choice. The rest of my day was a day of rest and relaxation and trying to stay cool.

Days 226 – 228 (6/13 – 15)

Wednesday – While I was in the Dominican, Danette Seagroves arrived in Haiti. Danette will be taking Sarah’s place as the new VIM Team Coordinator. She is an experienced team leader, having led 3 teams to Haiti since the earthquake and this experience will serve her well. She thoroughly understands the process and Sarah is training her in the nitty- gritty details of the job. I think she will be a good fit with the team.

I’m back in Haiti and still filled with disbelief over the contrasts between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Sharing the same island and separated only by a range of mountains, they are like night and day. It validates the theory that Haiti has not suffered from a lack of resources; it has suffered from a lack of leadership. They are 100 years behind in economic and social development.

We sent one new team off to La Tremblay early this morning. Then I had a meeting with Roger Laplanche. Roger was supposed to meet me in Santo Domingo to visit the factory but never made it. He said that some last minute things had come up that prevented him from going. So – I spent a good part of the morning going over the things that I had learned and sharing pictures and literature with him. I then showed him the estimate that I had gotten for the wall and roof panels for the second story of the GH Staff Annex. He was very surprised, as I was when I first saw it. It was very reasonable and when all factors were considered, no more expensive than conventional masonry. We both agreed that we should go ahead and use these panels on our project. I then called Frank Brugal in Santo Domingo and placed the order. I had a list of questions that I wanted Frank and his engineer Edwin to answer. I also asked if it was possible to get some technical assistance when the material arrived and we began erection. This will be completely new technology for our work force. Frank agreed to send Edwin to us for 3 or 4 days to help train. I also talked with Doug Ahfeld with Homes for Haitians who is building homes for us in Mellier under the EMH Pilot Project. Doug is the one that introduced me to Frank and will be using the panels himself on a school and clinic he is building in Merlet. We discussed combining our shipments to save on freight and import fees and about sharing equipment and technical assistance. We both feel strongly that this is a very viable building system and could speed up the shelter reconstruction process in Haiti without increasing cost.

This afternoon we had one team return from Thor and a new team arrived from the States. After dinner I watched Danette give an orientation to the new team.  Her experience as a team leader was evident and she did a great job.

Thursday – This morning I had another meeting with Roger and Engineer Roos, the GH Site Engineer. I was concerned that a couple of our Guest House Renovation projects had not progressed while I was gone – specifically the grey water septic system and the ground water drainage canal. Roos said that the work had stopped because they ran out of funds. I explained to him that I couldn’t read his mind. If he needed more funds, he had to come to me (hopefully in advance) and bring me receipts for the previous funds advanced and tell me how much he was going to need for the next phase of work. I don’t know why that is such a difficult concept.

This afternoon I was able to get the 1^st draw checks out to the last three beneficiaries of the Haiti Home Assistance Program. They finally got all of their paper work in. I also reviewed the progress of the homes already under construction and discovered that there were several ready for their 2^nd draw. I scheduled several inspections for tomorrow. The Haiti Partnership team returned from their week in Hinche very tired but fulfilled. They will probably be the last reconstruction team we send out there. Future teams will be community development oriented and specialized in health, water, agriculture and micro-enterprise projects. And – Mario left for 5 days of R & R at home in Florida.

Friday – We sent the somewhat refreshed Haiti Partnership team off for a day of sightseeing around Port-au-Prince. Then I left with OJ and Tom to inspect some of the HHAP projects. The first site was Jean Claudes in Carrefour. His house is being rebuilt as a second story to a family members existing home. As in most sites in Carrefour, you can’t drive up to the front door. You have to walk through a rabbit warren of streets and alleyways. Jean Claude has poured a new floor and has all the structural rebar in place for the columns and walls. There is a push to get the walls and roof up because his entire family, including his elderly mother is sleeping in the open on the concrete slab. When it rains everything gets wet, including them.

The second site visited was Oge’s. Like Jean Claude, he is building on top of his in-laws home. Their site is in the hills behind Petionville and like Jean Claude you have to walk a ways to get there. Oge’s house is coming along very well and he has all the walls up and is ready for a roof.

The third site was Gerda’s. Her lot is also up in the hills behind Petionville on a steep slope. She also has all her walls up and is about ready for a roof. Unlike Jean Claude and Oge, she is not on top of someone else. Since we were at Gerda’s we decided to take a look at Johnny’s site which was very close by. He has the trenches dug for his footings and should have a foundation in by the end of next week.

The fourth site was Nicola and Antoinette’s. However, once again, the Haitian staff wouldn’t let me go see it. In order to get there you have to go through Cite Soleil. According to Wikipedia – “The area is generally regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere and is one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere”. So – discretion being the better part of valor, I gave them my camera and sent them on their way. The pictures of the site are beautiful and their new house (the walls are half way up) is surrounded by banana trees. I really would like to see it.

By dinner time we had one team in from Leveque, one team in from Mellier, Haiti Partnership back from sightseeing and Wendy, Tom’s wife, in from the States. We have 47 people plus staff at the Guest House tonight.

Days 224 &225 (6/11 – 12)

Monday – This morning I was picked up by Frank Brugal the President of EHIsotex and taken to their new factory in an industrial park on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. EHIsotex manufactures Styrofoam floor, wall and roof systems and a system of Styrofoam concrete forms. I am familiar with the concrete forms called ICFs (insulated concrete forms) as we used them on 10 houses in Mellier. However, the fact that they are now being manufactured in the Dominican will make a significant difference in the transportation and importation costs. But the real purpose of my visit is to learn more about their panel products.

My first impression of the factory was - it’s huge. It was 12,000 square meters or over 130,000 square feet. Being brand new, it was spotlessly clean and modern. Frank was a perfect host and walked me through the entire manufacturing process.

The raw material, polymeric expandable beads, comes in 2520 kg bags (5,544 lbs.) and looks like sugar crystals. Through a heat curing process that allows the styrene gas to expand in the crystals, blocks of Styrofoam are formed. These blocks are 3’ x 4’ x 8’. They can be made in different densities depending on the type of product to be produced. These blocks are then sliced and diced into various shapes by automated “hot wire” cutters.

The wall panels that I’m interested in have a Styrofoam core from 4” to 10” thick with wire mesh attached to both sides. They are then set in place; tied to rebar; openings and corners reinforced with more mesh and then given a 2 coat plaster finish on both sides. The walls become a monolithic unit and can be stacked four or five stories high without having to use any other structural component like columns or beams. They have automated machines at the factory that fabricate the wire mesh from rolls of wire that are cut and welded. A robotic arm then lays 1 layer of mesh, a Styrofoam panel, then another layer of mesh on a machine that feeds it through another welding process that welds the 2 layers of mesh together.

The roof panels are fabricated on a machine that is about 500 feet long. It glues sandwich panels together. The bottom layer is an epoxy coated steel sheet for interior finish; a 4” to 8” Styrofoam panel and then a prefinished formed steel roof panel. They can span up to 3.3 meters (about 11 feet) without any additional structural support which reduces construction costs. They also add insulation value. I’m very impressed with the factory and the products.

Tuesday – Today Frank’s head engineer, Edwin Cadena, took me on a tour of several large commercial projects that were under construction and using their products. It was very interesting. There were more high rise buildings going up in Santo Domingo than I’ve seen in any U.S. city in the last 10 years. We toured 4 different sites with buildings from 15 to 33 stories. They were all reinforced concrete or structural steel frames but they were using the paneled floor systems, some with cantilevered decks and the exterior and interior wall panels. It was great to be able to see the products being used and by starting at the top of the buildings and working your way down, you could see the whole process – from the erection of the panels to the finished product. Once again I was impressed.

I must say, however, that there was no doubt that these were not projects being built in the U.S. Safety considerations (other than hard hats on 2 sites) were not a factor. OSHA would have had a heart attack at the lack of safety railings, open shafts and countless other considerations were used to seeing. My spookiest experience was walking down an exterior staircase 25 stories in the air with no railings.

I got back to the factory after lunch and met with Frank’s partner, Thomas Pollehne. Thomas is from Venezuela and has factories in Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as this new one in the Dominican. He showed me pictures of projects that have been built all over Central and South America. The most interesting one was his own house that he just recently completed on a steep hillside overlooking the city and bay in Caracas. It is spectacular!

All good things must come to an end, so I said my goodbyes and hitched a ride to the airport. The exit process through Imigration, Customs and security were the most lax of any I have encountered. The ride back was a little bumpy because of thunderstorms gathering over Haiti, but otherwise uneventful. Customs and Imigration on the Haiti side was a little more thorough, but not bad. Spana met me with the D-Max and we arrived at the Guest House just in time for dinner. Timing…..

Days 221 ½ - 223 (6/08 – 6/10)

Friday – The Dominican Republic occupies 2/3 of the island of Hispanola – Haiti being the remaining 1/3 – separated by a tall range of mountains. Santo Domingo is the largest city and  with a population of 3 million, it is approximately the same size as Port-au-Prince. Santo Domingo’s main claim to fame is that it is where Columbus purportedly first set foot in the new world. The Dominicans are very proud of this and lay claim to many “first in the Americas” accomplishments.

My flight landed at La Isabela International Airport and I was impressed at how clean and modern it was. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this was the commuter airport and Las Americas International Airport where all the major airlines landed was even bigger and better. I purchased my $10 tourist card, went through Immigration and Customs and took a $35 cab ride to my hotel. The ride into the city was very nice on well-maintained, divided, 4 lane boulevards. The drivers seemed to be following normal rules of the road and there was no horn honking. There were modern high rise buildings, brand name stores, luxury car dealerships – even an Ikea. I kept thinking – “I can’t possibly be on the same island”. I suffered more culture shock than I do when returning to the U.S. It was just the thought that just across those mountains was so much poverty, incompetence and devastation.

I had picked out my hotel on the internet – making the selection based on price and location. I chose the Hotel Palacio because it was located in the Colonial Zone, the old part of the city, and it was only $94, including a full breakfast and free wifi internet. It sounded nice. However, when you buy something sight unseen, you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. So – when we pulled up to a very unassuming building on a side street, I held my breath. But when I entered the lobby, I knew I had made the right choice. It was perfect. It was very clean and exuded “old world” charm. The staff was very pleasant and checked me in right away. When I opened the door to my room, I had to step back to make sure I had the right room number. It was a huge suite – about 1000 square feet with 15 foot ceilings. The front room had a sectional couch and table at one end, a round table and chairs in the middle and a desk with a computer and a mini bar at the other end. The bedroom had a king sized bed, a large armoire and a built-in chest of drawers/entertainment center with a digital safe and a flat screen TV. The bathroom was actually 2 rooms separated by the entertainment center. One room had a toilet and sink. The other had a shower, vanity with sink and a huge whirlpool tub. Did I mention fluffy, white terry cloth robes, HOT WATER and AIR CONDITIONING? Every once in a while you win one and this was my once.

The hotel was located a half of block off of the Calle El Conde a 10 block long pedestrian mall filled on both sides by shops, outdoor restaurants and vendors of all sorts. At one end of the mall was a beautiful plaza with the Cathedral de Santa Maria – the first cathedral built in the Americas. The cornerstone was laid in 1522. Columbus’s daughter-in-law petitioned the Spanish monarchy and had his bones returned to Santo Domingo and they laid in rest in the cathedral until 1992, the 500^th anniversary of his arrival, when they were moved to the Light House.

Saturday – Sunday – I spent the next two days playing tourist. I walked up and down the mall and window shopped and actually bought a couple of things. I went through the cathedral with a guide that the Ministry of Tourism provides at all the historical sites. I think he must have been a history teacher during the week because he kept giving me tests – “Now how many times did I tell you that the Pope has visited?” “Uh, Three?” “That’s right. When was the first time?” “Uh, I don’t remember.” “Well you need to pay attention.” I gave him a good tip.

Mostly I walked. I love exploring and seeing interesting architecture and historical sites. One of the interesting things I saw was the Light House that now houses Columbus’s bones. It is a huge monument that was built for the 500^th anniversary . The shrine itself is located in a large high ceilinged room with entrances on 3 sides. Behind the shrine is an enclosed mall about 1000 feet long with rooms along both sides. On one side the rooms hold displays from most of the countries in the Americas. On the other side the rooms have displays from other countries around the world. I figured I walked about 10 miles that day, but being curious, I plotted my route out on Google maps and it came to a little over 14. No wonder I was a little sore that night.

 I also got taken for a ride by the gypsy taxi drivers. At the end of the day I was still a ways from the hotel, so I thought I’d grab a taxi. Now the gypsy cabs look like they’ve been in a demolition derby and lost. But they are everywhere and easy to flag down. I told the driver I wanted to go to the Hotel Palacio and he said yes and it would be 100 pesos – about $2.50. He drove for about 10 minutes and got into heavy downtown traffic. He finally pulled to the curb and told me to get out – he couldn’t go any further. I said “I paid you to take me to the Hotel”. He said “The hotel is just over there. The traffic is too heavy.” Keep in mind that this conversation is in high school Spanish and pigeon English. So – I got out. However, I had no idea where I was and after wandering around for a little while finally asked a policeman parked at the curb if he knew how to get to the Hotel Palacio. After some communication confusion I finally realized that he thought I was looking for the police station “policia”. I then said the Hard Rock Café which was just down the street from the hotel. He knew immediately where that was and told me to take a taxi. So – what the heck. I’ll give it another try. I told the driver I wanted to go to the Hard Rock Café. “Si, Si – 100 pesos”. So off we went picking up several other passengers along the way. Pretty soon I sensed we were going in the wrong direction. I asked again “Hard Rock Cafe?” “Si, Si”. I figured he was just dropping off the other passengers and would then turn around and take me to the Hard Rock. Wrong! After driving for about a half an hour, picking up and dropping off other passengers, he did turn around. But he then pulled over to the side of the road and told me to get out – that this as far as he went. I said that I paid him to take me to the hotel and this wasn’t it. I refused to get out of the taxi and we got into a shouting match. Pretty soon a crowd had gathered and I figured I’d better get out. When I got out another guy came up to me, who spoke a little English, and asked me where I wanted to go. I told him – the Hard Rock Café. He said he would take me there for 500 pesos. I said it only cost a hundred to get here. He said “Senior, it’s a long way”. So, all in all, it cost me 700 pesos and about an hour and a half to go about 10 blocks.

Days 219 – 221 ½  (6/05 – 08)

Tuesday – Our local team was on the road to Pui Blan by 8:00 AM. That left me a couple of hours to finish up my documentation for the Joint Leadership Team meeting. Just for review, the JLT is composed of Pastors Gesner Paul, President and Marco Depestre, Secretary of the EMH; Elizabeth Petheo, Head of Mission and Lauren James, Church Liason for UMCOR; and Tom and I for UMVIM. Jim Gulley for GBGM attended via telephone. Everyone reports on their program progress for the last month and outlines their plan for the current month. This enables us to better coordinate with one another. I presented my construction documentation proposal and everyone thought it was a good idea. However, now it will be up to me to implement it. I doubt that I’ll get much help from the EMH side.

This afternoon we had a team come in from Cabaret and a new one in from the States. With our Puit Blan team we had 3 teams at dinner.

Wednesday – It was a busy morning. We got the Cabaret team off to the airport and home; the new team loaded up and off to their week in Furcy and our local team off for their work day in Pui Blan.  I was planning on doing some site visitations today, but with the Nissan down because of the accident damage, our D-Max has been pressed into service for team transportation. So – I was grounded and spent the day on the computer. There never seems an end to “paperwork”, although that term seems strange when it’s all on the computer. We did have another team arrive late in the afternoon.

Thursday – The new team was sent on their way to Thor and our Puit Blan team departed early. I had a meeting with Engineers Laplanche and Derly and the two new contractors for houses in Carrefour. It was contract signing day. We will now have 3 contractors starting on the 20 houses in Carrefour. This will be very challenging work compared to the Mellier houses. The lots are small, on steep terrain and most have limited access – meaning that all the materials will have to be hand carried. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had very little rain so far this rainy season. But when it finally comes it will be an additional challenge. Even with the difficulties we’re hoping for an October completion on all 20 houses.

And the teams keep coming – thank you Lord. We had two new arrivals from the States this afternoon. Tom and I got all the equipment and supplies pre-staged for the teams going to Hinche and Leveque in the morning because I have to leave early for the airport.

Friday – This morning I will fly to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I have to visit a factory that is manufacturing Styrofoam floor, wall and roof panels on Monday and Tuesday. So – I decided to take advantage and be a tourist over the weekend. I am flying on a commuter airline called Tortug Air. My first surprise was that I had to pay a $55 departure tax. I’ve never had to pay that before. I guess American Airlines includes it in their ticket price. But, along with the included airport fees and taxes, it effectively doubled the cost of an already expensive ticket for a 45 minute plane ride. The plane was an Air Jet turbo prop slightly larger than the King Air 100 I flew when I toured with Mickey Gilley. It held 30 passengers – 1 seat left and 2 seats right. I sat in the front middle seat so I had a clear view of the cockpit. I enjoyed watching the flight instruments and pilots. It was an older plane and not as well equipped as Gilley’s King Air, but was well maintained and everything worked the way it was supposed to. I thoroughly enjoyed the flight. To be continued.

Days 215 – 218 (6/01 – 04)

Friday – This morning Spana picked me up at 8:00 and took me to my appointment at the U.S. Embassy. They called Wednesday to tell me that my new passport had arrived. There wasn’t too much traffic so we got there a little early and I had to wait about 15 minutes for my appointment. But even so I was in and out in 45 minutes. I’m amazed at the efficiency. However, the scores of Haitians waiting in line for Visas don’t appear to be as lucky. My new passport is kind of cool because it was issued by the U.S. State Department and not one of the passport agencies.

Spana and I then drove to the airport, about 15 minutes away and met John Alcorn, the previous VIM Financial Administrator and office mate, and his team from Colorado. We had the Kia tap tap and a van there to meet them and take them directly to their worksite in Mellier. In our usual game of “musical vehicles”, Sarah had ridden in the van to the airport to meet her friend Tarig Ahmad and they are riding back to the Guest House with Spana and me. Tarig is the Director of Recruiting for Rutgers University’s football program and has been to Haiti several times – in fact he had been here in March with 11 members of the Rutgers football team.

This afternoon we had a team arriving from Oklahoma and our medical team returning from their mission in Torbeck.

Saturday – Our medical team left early with “Maxo” in the Nissan van for the airport and their flight home. Then Maxo picked up an incoming team to take them directly to their worksite in Torbeck. Our Oklahoma team is staying at the Guest House and commuting every day to their worksite in Pui Blans. So – with all the teams out and accounted for, Spana, Sarah, Tarig and I grabbed our swim suits and took off in the DMax for Caye Jacmel. On the way we picked up 2 little Haitian girls that Tarig sponsors – they had never been to the ocean before and they can see it from where they live. We met our friends Jenn and Jean Jean in Leogain and caravanned over the mountain to Caye Jacmel. Of all the places that I’ve been to in Haiti, this is by far my favorite. It is absolutely beautiful. The beaches, the Caribbean ocean, the food – can’t be beat. We spent the day soaking it all up.

While we were eating lunch, Sarah got a phone call from Tom. Maxo and our van full of team members had been in an accident. Fortunately, none of our people were hurt, but the motorcycle driver and passenger that hit the van head-on were in critical condition. The police took Maxo to the station but let him go when it was established that he was not at fault. Our other drivers said that it was a good thing the motorcycle driver and passenger weren’t killed because the crowds have been known to beat up the drivers and burn their vehicles. The van was damaged but drivable, so Maxo took the team on to Torbeck and then drove all the way back to Petionville  - arriving about 9:00 PM. Poor guy – what a day for him.

Sunday – This morning Tom, Sarah, Tarig and I went to church in Thomasin. It was communion Sunday and Tom was officiating. I like Tom’s sermons for several reasons: they’re in English (with French translation); they’re real life based, and he uses humor. After church we drove to the airport to drop Tarig off for his flight back to New Jersey and Rutgers. He’s a great guy and I hope he comes back soon. I said “we” drove – actually Tom drove and it was his first excursion behind the wheel out of the immediate Petionville area. We all had been to the airport enough times that we were able to navigate without much difficulty. Tom is a much more conservative driver than Spana, so it took a little longer – but he did fine. After we dropped Tarig off we stopped at a sandwich shop by the airport and had a late lunch. Tom took a little different route home and we arrived at the Guest House without incident.

Monday – We still only have our local team at the Guest House and we had them off to Pui Blan by 8:00 AM. Tomorrow is the Joint Leadership Team meeting with the EMH, UMCOR and UMVIM. I want to present my construction document proposal for acceptance, so my day was spent refining the sample documents and procedures and having Sarah translate them into Creole.

Days 210 -214 (05/27 – 31)

Sunday – Today is Haiti’s Mothers’ Day. Mario took it upon himself to organize a Mothers’ Day celebration for all of the Guest House staff. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised at what he put together. He scrounged up a bar-b-que grill and put a makeshift grill on a charcoal cooker; enlisted Ysmeus, Nicola and a couple of Haitian neighbors as cooks; and had them cook chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. He had potato chips, drinks and all the trimmings. Several of the staff brought their children and we had a pretty good crowd. Mario had a DJ set up a “jury rigged” sound system by the pool and he provided Haitian music the way they like it – LOUD. There was lots of dancing and then everybody went swimming. Some of the staff said that they had worked here for years and this was the first time they had ever been in the pool. Mama Bruno was the queen of the event and she was decked out in her Sunday best – hat included. She lives here at the Guest House and 2 of her sons, Eric and Nicola, work here. She told me that she had had 15 children but 8 of them had died in infancy. One of her daughters who lives nearby also joined the celebration. It was very fun to see the staff who work so hard have a day off and really enjoy themselves.

Monday – Today is Memorial Day in the States, but not a holiday in Haiti, so it’s work as usual. We had no teams to send out, but Tom and I had an 8:00 AM meeting of the EMH Housing Committee. This committee consists of Lauren James and Jim Gulley from UMCOR; Roger Laplanche and Charles Derly the EMH engineers; representatives from World Hand Alliance and Hands for Haitians the 2 Pilot Project contractors; and Tom and I. The purpose of the monthly meetings is to get progress reports on all of the houses; discuss current problems and issues and get updated schedules on the 40 houses in Mellier and Carrefour. The good news is that the 20 houses in Mellier should be finished by mid-July and construction has started on the 20 houses in Carrefour.

Tom, Jim, Lauren and I had just enough time to walk from the Housing meeting at the Guest House to the meeting of the IDT (Inter-Disciplinary Team) at the EMH Resource and Development offices on the other end of the campus. This team consists of the Haitian leaders and technicians of UMCOR’s Water, Agriculture, Livelihood, Community Garden and Health programs and also includes Pastor Edzair Paul the head of EMH Education. These are the people that go out into the communities and help organize development projects in their areas of expertise. It was an interesting meeting in that we discussed possible ways to integrate VIM teams into this development process.

We had two teams come in from the States late in the afternoon.

Tuesday – We sent one new team off to their work site in Cabaret. This may be the last team to go there as it is nearing completion. The second team is a medical team made up of a dentist and his assistant, several nurses, a couple of medical assistants, an EMT and a couple of “civilians” who came along to help support the team. They are going to our site in Torbeck which is just outside of Les Cayes.

I spent most of my day working on the HHAP (Haiti Home Assistance Program). I have 3 recipients that still need help getting all of their documentation together – 3 out of 15 is not too bad.

Late in the afternoon the California/Nevada team from Placerville returned from their week of working in Hinche. It was nice to visit with folks from home.

Wednesday – We got our Cal/Nev team off to the airport to catch their early morning flight home. It was another paperwork marathon for the rest of my day.

This afternoon Jeff Baker’s team returned from Arcahaie where they have been distributing bio-sand water filters. To date his teams have distributed over 200 filters to households in the Arcahaie area. Besides providing the filters, they are training the people how to use them properly and are also setting up a follow-up program to monitor the use of the filters. There is a great need for this type of program.

Thursday – This morning we said goodbye to Jeff and his team. Then Tom, Lauren and I left in a couple of vehicles with the entire IDT team for a meeting in Cabaret. We had a meeting with leading  members of the communities of Cababret, Thomas, Leveque and Moire to discuss their community development needs; find out what programs they may already have in place; and introduce them to the IDT. It was an informative meeting for everyone and will help accelerate all of the community development programs in these communities.

This afternoon we had 1 team return from Mellier.

Days 208 & 209 (05/25 & 26)

Friday – Only one team to get out this morning. We got them on their way to Mellier by 8:00 AM. We won’t have any more teams at the Guest House until Monday. Tom and I then went to a meeting of the Inter-Disciplinary Team. This is the Hatian program coordinators put together by UMCOR to oversee the Water, Health, Agricultural, Community Garden and Micro-credit programs. Jim Gulley and Lauren James who chair the ID Team asked Tom and I to attend to discuss how VIM teams might aid in the implementation of some of these community development projects. This is a direct result of our Orlando conference.

After the IDT meeting, Jim, Lauren, Tom and I headed over to Epi Dor’s a popular cafeteria style restaurant in Petionville to meet with Doug Ahlfeld, the Homes For Haitians contractor, the president of LiteForm Technologies, the U.S. company that manufactures the Styrofoam concrete forms that Doug uses in the construction of his houses, and the President of EHI Industries who is now producing these forms and other Styrofoam building products in the Dominican Republic. It was very interesting. These products are being used to build 15 and 20 story projects. They make some prefabricated wall and roof panels that I think would work in some of our projects. I think that Eng. Laplanche and I will fly to Santo Domingo next week to see their factory and get some more technical information.

We decided that since we had no teams, it was a good night to go to Hang’s, our favorite sports bar and have hamburgers. They’re about the best we’ve found in Haiti. When our driver Johnny came back to pick us up, he came in and sat with us while we finished. He then related to us an incident that had happened today at a funeral home just down the street from the Guest House. It seems that a man had died earlier in the week and the funeral home employees took the body from the cold storage to prepare it for the funeral later in the afternoon. When they were cleaning the body, the man opened his eyes and sat up - totally freaking out the employees. They started beating the man until he was dead (speculation varied from – “they thought he was a zombie”, which is very possible with the widespread voodoo beliefs in Haiti – to “they didn’t want to lose their funeral fees”, which is also possible. The funeral proceeded but when the family saw how bruised and beaten up the guy was they freaked out – at which point the guy opened his eyes – AGAIN! An ambulance was called and the guy was rushed to a hospital where it was reported that he later died – for real this time. A riot ensued and family and friends stormed the funeral home and Johnny reported that two of the employees were killed, but later reports confirmed that the owner and 3 employees were arrested and are currently in jail. How’s that for a bed time story?

Saturday – Tom and I left at 7:00 AM with Spana and the D-Max for Hinche. As I’ve said before, it’s a beautiful 3 ½ hour drive into the central plateau region of Haiti. The team from California/Nevada Conference (Placerville, to be exact) was working in Hinche and was interested in investigating the feasibility of an agricultural water project. A previous Cal/Nev team had met with the church pastor and several community members who expressed the need for such a project. The EMH engineer for that area had prepared an estimate for the project and Pastor Paul, the EMH President, had given his preliminary approval. The current team was interested to find out what would be required to move the project along. So – Tom and I wanted to see the proposed project first hand and talk to the pastor and engineer. There is an existing cooperative of farmers that are growing primarily corn and peanuts on some privately owned land. They are entirely dependent on rain water for irrigation. There is a stream that runs along one side of the property and water would have to be pumped from the stream, about 200 yards and 60 to 80 up, to the high point of the property into a cistern or tank and be distributed from there. There are a whole lot of questions that have to be answered before we can proceed with this, such as: Does the benefit justify the initial expense? How much will this increase their current output? How are they going to maintain the equipment? How are they going to pay for the operation of the system? At this point these questions are met with blank stares. We left a list of questions with the pastor and the engineer and told them that when they had the answers to those questions we could move forward with a proposal. These are entirely new concepts to most of these people and it requires a lot of hand holding.