Days 255 -258 (7/12 – 15)

Thursday – No teams to deal with this morning. This gave me the opportunity to get all the material together that I was going to need at my meeting with Engineer Laplanche and Madam Ruth. This was the meeting to go over the final scope of work for the Guest House Renovation Project. Several things had changed since I first put it together last October and I wanted to be sure that everyone was in agreement about what we were going to do. This required walking the complex and going through the Guest House and Swiss House room by room and agree with what I had recommended. Luckily 95% was accepted and the few changes/additions that Ruth had can be accomplished by some minor adjustments. I’m glad it went as well as it did because I was expecting some push back on several items. Roger appointed Engineer Arbicher as the site engineer and we walked the project with him later in the day. He said they would start work tomorrow.

Just before dinner we had a team return from Mellier and a new team come in from the States. Guest House life is back to normal.

Friday – The morning activity included getting the Mellier team off to the airport very early for their flight home and our new team to their work site in La Tremble. At 9:00 AM I had a Skype call from Una Jones, the head of the Volunteers in Mission program for the General Board of Global Ministries in New York. She was calling to talk about another extension to my contract. My current contract expires August 1^st. I had discussed another 3 month extension with my family and we concluded that another 3 months would allow me to complete the projects that I have been working on for the last nine months. However, I had told Una earlier that if I was going to extend I would need more money to pay my bills. She said she would look into funding possibilities and that’s what this Skype call was all about. Apparently the powers to be in New York have concluded that the job I’ve been doing is a very integral part of the Haiti Response Plan and probably should have been a part of the staffing plan from the very beginning. So – as of August 20^th the start of my new contract term, I will no longer be an UMCOR/UMVIM “volunteer” but will be funded by the Haiti Response Plan. No change in the job description, but a significant change in how the job is perceived. It will more than likely be a part of the plan whenever or wherever the next disaster occurs. Una wanted me to agree to a 6 month rather than 3 month extension, but I told her that I had pushed my family’s endurance as far as it was going to go. She then said “Why don’t you take 2 or 3 months off at the end of the next contract and then come back”. I told her that that would be up to my family.

During my Skype call the construction crew arrived and started the demolition of the 1st upstairs bathroom. I guess we had better get used to the noise because it’s going to be ongoing for the next 2 ½ months.

The afternoon brought the COR team back from Petit Goave. The new team from the States that was due to arrive had their flight cancelled because of mechanical problems. There are no more available flights into Port au Prince for 10 people for the next 3 days. They are scrambling around trying to find a way to get here.

Saturday – Our team stranded in the States decided to take a flight to the Dominican Republic and then an 8 hour bus ride to Petionville . They will arrive sometime this evening. We won’t have any more teams for the next 4 days, so Danette is flying to Miami for some R&R.

I’m spending my time today working with Eng. Abicher and Boss Wesche going over the changes I want in the 2 bathrooms that we are starting. I’m still dealing with communication issues (my less than perfect Creole skills are a real handicap at this point) and I have to go over everything 2 or 3 times to be sure they fully understand the scope of work. It’s apparent that hands-on supervision over the next couple of weeks is going to be critical.

Our wayward team finally arrived about 7:00 PM, exhausted after 36 hours of traveling. We got them fed and into their rooms.

Sunday – Our new team wanted to attend church services at their work site in Mellier, so we got them on the road early. They were still a bit bleary eyed, but in better shape than they were last night.

Danette was in Miami; Mario went to his cousin’s house in Thomasin and Tom left early to preach in Cabaret, so I had the place to myself. It’s been hot (upper 90s) and humid (98%) so my first order of business was to find the shadiest, coolest spot I could find to spend the afternoon. Turned out to be my room with the window open (it’s never closed), the door open and the fan at full blast. I read my book and took a nap.