Days 285 – 291 (8/28 – 9/03)

Tuesday – The Louisiana team’s chartered jet won’t arrive until around noon, so they wanted to continue to work on the Guest House for a few hours this morning. They certainly have been a big help in getting a lot of needed clean-up done, painting and even some demo work in the Swiss House. I know it wasn’t part of their planned mission trip, but it was work that was very much appreciated by yours truly. I wish them Bon Voyage on their arduous trip home.

I’ve been trying to contact the factory and the shipping brokers in the Dominican Republic since the storm hit to inquire about my shipment, but with internet and international cell calling out it has been impossible. The latest word we get is that a microwave tower between here and the Dominican is down and is causing both problems.

We finally got internet, but it’s intermittent. It’s on for about 5 minutes and off for 30. I have 83 emails, but it’s going to take all night to download them.

Wednesday – I still have about 30 emails to receive this morning, but I’m going to try and start answering some. Quite a few of them are from friends and family worried about the effects of the storm.

At 11:00 A.M. we had a JLT (Joint Leadership Team) meeting in Pastor Paul’s office. The JLT consists of Pastor Paul and Pastor Depestre from EMH, Elizabeth Petheos and Lauren James from UMCOR and Tom and I from UMVIM. The main purpose of the meeting was to assess the damage from Isaac and our response to it. Elizabeth, as Head of Mission for Haiti is responsible for all UMCOR personnel in Haiti. Her husband is an executive with USAID in Haiti and as such they have Diplomat status and are under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy. So – naturally, her emergency response plan pretty much follows State Department guidelines. We all had to agree that her plan worked well and everyone was given pre-storm instructions and contacted at least twice by the phone tree during and after the event.

Pastor Paul gave a report of damage to church property and parishioners’ property that was known to date. He was still waiting to hear from some of the more remote areas. We were all somewhat surprised at the extent of the damage. Lots of wind damage (mostly roofs and crops) and flood damage (buildings, personal property and livestock). We will send teams out to assess the damage and then plan short term and long term responses. Official death toll country-wide stands at 24.

Thursday – This morning I finally got through to the Dominican Republic. They are still struggling with Haiti Customs and it looks like we’re going to have to pay some more fees.  However, all of the paperwork is finally in place and Doug’s 2 trucks will cross tomorrow. Mine probably won’t get across until Monday.

Meanwhile, work goes on at the Guest House.

Friday – Tom and Wendy left for Furcy this morning to assess storm damage with the UMCOR IDT (Inter-Disciplinary Team). Early reports are the damage was extensive especially to crops. We also heard that the roof blew off of The Rustic – a restaurant and bar where they have a lot of outdoor concerts in the mountains.

I got word this afternoon that Doug’s trucks did cross the border and he should have his material to his site in Musak by late this afternoon. I’m jealous but happy that we finally got something through. I’m still pushing the work crews to get the rooms ready at the Guest House for the teams coming next week.

Saturday – Tom and Wendy got back late last night from Furcy and reported this morning that the crop damage was pretty severe. This could be devastating to a community that depends almost entirely on its’ agriculture. The agriculture component of the IDT team will work with the farmers co-op and help them salvage what can be salvaged; help them replant what they can and possibly set up some micro credit for them. The property damage was scattered and consisted mostly of roof damage. That part is fairly straight forward and we can send up a truck load of roofing material.

Sunday – This morning we went up to church in Thomasin. Tom was preaching and Wendy was assisting with the music. It is always a nice service. Afterwards we treated ourselves to lunch and an afternoon around the pool at the Hotel Ibolele. It was very relaxing and fun, but I did manage to get sunburned.

Monday – Happy Labor Day to everyone Stateside. It’s just another day in Haiti.The push is on to get the Guest House finished (except for the kitchen). I think we’ll make it. But I can’t let up for a minute. There is just no sense of urgency from the engineers and bosses. They are just not accustomed to working with deadlines. As far as they are concerned, the longer they can make the job last the more money they’ll make. It’s the same thing with budgets. They’ve never had the responsibility of working within a budget and really don’t know how. They always are surprised when I tell them we don’t have the money to do something they think needs to be done but isn’t in the scope of work.