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.