Hait

Hait

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Days 129 – 131 (2/22 – 24)
Wednesday – Today is Mardi Gras and still part of the National holiday. But since we have one team returning from the field and one new one arriving from the states, we have a partial staff at  the Guest House and meals will be resuming. The team coming in from the states is Steve Elliot’s team from the California/ Nevada Conference. I know Steve but none of his team members. They will be going to Thomas tomorrow and I plan to ride out with them to check on the new Site Boss and make sure he has things lined up for them. Sarah also flew in from her R & R in Miami. It’s good to have her back. Tom and I didn’t have anyone to pick on. Speaking of Tom – he looks like he’s been run over by a truck this morning, after his mountain adventure yesterday. I told him to wait another day when the pain really sets in. As for me – I’m ready to go do some more 4 wheelin’.
Pastor Paul called late this afternoon and wants me to make a presentation about the Guest House Renovation Project at the EMH Resource and Development meeting tomorrow morning. Not much notice. I’ll have to cancel my plans for Thomas. Keep smiling, Bill – you’re in Haiti.
Thursday – We got 1 team off to the airport and home and Steve’s team off to Thomas this morning. Then I got cleaned up and went over to the R & D meeting to do my presentation. Tom went along for moral support. I don’t know whether all Haitian meetings are the same, but all EMH meetings seem to have the same flavor. No one pays any attention to what’s going on. Someone will be talking, generally very passionately, about something (in Creole, naturally) and people will be texting, talking on their cell phones, reading, sleeping or carrying on side conversations that often get louder than the speaker. No wonder it takes so long to get anything done down here. After sitting for an hour and a half watching this all go on, Pastor Paul asked me to give my presentation. I was stunned – the room got quiet. I gave my report, with Pastor Marko translating, and the debate started. “Why do we want to make repairs to the old Guest House? We should build a new one.” “Why should we build a new Guest House? I need a new Pastor’s Manse.” Yada, yada, yada.  It’s all noise at this point. The bottom line is that UMCOR is not going to fund a new Guest House or Pastor Manses. So – let’s just get on with the program. I went back to my room and took a shower and a nap.
We had 2 late arrivals this afternoon – a returning team from Arcahaie and a new team from the states. Life is back to normal.
Friday – This morning we sent one team off to their work site and one team off for a day of sightseeing. I then got a call from Jim Gulley. He was on his way to an UMCOR/EMH/COR (Church of the Resurrection) meeting in Kansas City. He wanted me to write up my suggested alternate proposal to the Haiti Home Assistance Plan and the Guest House Renovation Project that he, Tom and Melissa Crutchfield seem to really like. He wants to present the new plan to Pastor Paul tonight in Kansas City. If we can get Pastor Paul’s approval, Melissa has pretty much assured the UMCOR funding for both projects. I’ll be holding my breath. (Side note explanation – The Church of the Resurrection is a huge Methodist congregation in the Kansas City area that has raised a lot of money and sent many teams to Haiti. They have agreed in principle to fund the majority of the estimated 4 million dollar cost of the rebuilding of the destroyed College Bird campus in Port-au-Prince.)

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Days 127 & 128 (2/20 & 21)
Monday – Even though we didn’t get to bed until after 2:00 am, we were up by 7:00 and decided to head back to Petionville. We were told that it would be the exact same parade both tonight and tomorrow and decided that once was enough. We said our goodbyes to Jenn and John John; thanked them for their hospitality and hit the road by 8:00. The traffic coming back, unlike yesterday, was back to normal – heavier. The trip, like most, included at least one accident – an SUV in the ditch just outside Grand Gonave. Of course they had to block both directions of traffic for ½ an hour while they pulled the SUV out of the ditch. It reminded me of a scene from an old Keystone Kops episode. However, we did get back to Petionville unscathed in just under 5 hours – a little longer than our 3 ½ yesterday.
We no sooner got back to the office than the telephone calls started. “Oh, you’re back from Caye?” “Yes”. “How was Carnival?” “How did you know I was at Carnival?” “Oh, we saw you on TV.” - so much for anonymity. I thought that the TV crew was from a little local station in Les Cayes. Apparently it was the main national channel. We must have been the token blans at Carnival.
Tuesday – Today is another quiet day at the Guest House, no teams in or out. So – Tom had made arrangements to meet one of the circuit pastors and hike back to a remote village to look at damage caused by the hurricanes 3 years ago. The pastor said it was a forgotten village. We left with Spana in the D-Max at 4:30 – yes, AM – and drove up the mountain to Kenscoff, where we picked up the pastor. We then turned off onto a bad dirt road and drove for about 30 minutes to a little village on the ridge of the mountain. There we turned off onto a really bad dirt road, put the D-Max in 4 wheel drive, and drove on a road carved out of the mountain side and along the ridge of another mountain for another 30 minutes until the road became impassable. It was an incredible ride and I could tell that even Spana was a little nervous. We let Tom and the pastor out and they started out on their 4 ½ hour hike to the village of Belie. Spana finally got the D-Max turned around and we haeded off for Furcy, which we could see on the ridge of the next range of mountains, but was at least 2 hours away. All along the way we encountered dozens of people, men, women and children with baskets and bundles of produce piled on their heads heading for the marketplace in Kenscoff. I don’t know how long they had already been walking, but they had at least 4 hours of steep terrain to go. We got as many women and children into the back of the D-Max as we could. Spana smiled and pointed at me and said “Bill’s tap-tap”.
Furcy is a small mountain community that Tom and his wife Wendy have been coming to for almost 10 years. They formed an organization from their church community in upstate New York called Mountains of Hope and have been supporting Furcy. We just recently added Furcy to our UMVIM sites and have started sending teams there. Tom wanted me to check on the work that the team was doing there. It’s very hard to remember that you’re in Haiti while you’re in these mountains. They are over 4,000 ft. high, very steep and rugged and covered in pine trees, crisp cool air – really beautiful. It’s easy to see why Tom and Wendy love it so much. The team and the Haitian laborers were knee deep in the trenches digging footings for a new kitchen and dining building. I visited with the team for a while and looked at the site of the follow-up project – a small depot behind the church. Then Spana and I headed back to Petionville. The day was almost gone when we got back to the Guest House so I checked on my emails and made a few phone calls then took Spana out for a hamburger at Rickey’s. The GH staff was off for the National Carnival holidays, so we were on our own for dinner. We went through the Haitian tradition of ordering hamburgers, waiting for a while and then being told that they were out of hamburgers. We settled for chicken (they’re never out of chicken) sandwiches and had just finished the last bite when Spana’s phone rang. It was Tom. He had finally reached a point where his cell phone worked and said to come pick him up. I told Spana, “Let’s go!” He looked at me and said, “You’re going with me?” I said, “I wouldn’t miss it”.
If the trip was exciting during the day, it was a definite Disneyland “E” ticket ride at night. We were 4 wheeling up a steep section of road (I use the term loosely) and just started around a curve carved in the mountainside when the headlights picked up two people in the road. It was Tom and the pastor. Tom was hanging on to a long stick that he had picked up along the way and looked half dead. The pastor looked like he had just gotten up from the couch. When Tom could speak he croaked, “Boy am I glad to see you guys”. They had apparently hiked for 4 ½ hours to get there and 5 ½ hours getting back – all of it very steep terrain. Tom’s comment was, “I don’t think that’s a team friendly site”. We got back to the Guest House at 11:00 PM (a long day) and carried Tom to his room.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Days 124 -126 (2/17 – 19)
Friday – Today was a busy day team wise. We had 2 teams go out to their work sites and 2 teams returning form their sites and 1 team coming in from the states. Also, Mario left for 10 days R & R at home in Florida. So, we’re down one in staff. I had to make anotherequipment run. We’re running out of shovels again.
Saturday – Today is the official start of Carnival. The holiday runs through next Wednesday (Ash Wednesday). It also happens to coincide with the 3 day Presidents Day holiday in the US. This combination of events significantly raises the cost of airplane tickets, so – we only have one team flying in for the next 3 days. Sarah took advantage of the lull and bolted (she actually flew) to Miami to spend a couple of days with friends. That means we’re down to 2 – Tom and I. However, being the troopers that we are, we managed to get 2 teams to the airport to fly home; one team to the National (commuter) airport to fly to Jeremy; and welcome our 1 and only arriving team.
Sunday – We got our 1 team off to Furcy early and then Tom, Spana and I jumped into the D-Max and headed for Les Cayes and CARNIVAL. The National Carnival lasts for 3 days – Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, which is Mardi Gras. It generally is held in downtown Port-au-Prince, but since downtown PAP is still a mess, Les Cayes was selected to host the event this year. There was virtually no traffic this Sunday morning and we made the trip in 3 ½ hours – it usually takes at least 4 ½. We had arrangements to stay at Jenn’s (Sarah’s friend that works at Haiti Health Ministries) fiancĂ©s house in Cayes and met them at Gelle Beach. What a change from the last time we were there. There were hundreds of people and the beach was spotless – no more trash. We decided not to order food since the wait on a good day would be at least an hour. Instead we had a cool drink and were interviewed by a Haitian TV crew filming the activities. Then we went for a walk on the beach and Spana and I bought some raw conch (lambi) strips with hot sauce from a vender. It was very good, but not as good as the fried lambi with creole sauce that I had the last time. We then went to Jenn’s fiancĂ©, John John’s house and dropped off our backpacks.
John John’s cousin is an executive with diri Bull a Haitian rice company and they had a viewing stand at the beginning of the parade route. So – we went to the cousin’s house which was right across the street from the viewing stand and were issued wrist bands and diri Bull Carnival 2012 t- shirts which were required wear to gain access to the viewing stand. The pre-parade started before we could get to the stand, so we watched it from street level. It consisted mostly of dance groups in colorful costumes and local organizations marching by. It lasted about an hour and we then headed toward downtown to get something to eat. We walked down a side street that was almost totally deserted to a restaurant that Jenn and John John knew. The food was good – I had grio (pork) – but best of all fast. We then walked to the main parade route downtown. It was truly amazing. They had built reviewing stands on both sides of the street for 6 or 8 blocks and the crowds were almost shoulder to shoulder. We immediately appreciated the fact that we had access to a reviewing stand a little removed from this mayhem. We made our way back to the diri Bull stand and took our places. The good news was that we had an excellent view of the parade – the bad news was that they had a million watt sound system with Volkswagon sized speakers blasting Haitian samba music at a trillion decibles. It did, however, keep the crowds gathering in the streets dancing until the parade started a couple of hours later.
The parade consisted of a huge boom box on wheels pulled by a semi-tractor - followed by a couple of very colorful floats and thousands of dancing Haitians. On top of each of these rolling boom boxes was a Haitian band consisting of a keyboard player, a guitar, bass, drums and 5 male singers playing at the prescribed trillion decibles. These band units came at about 20 minute intervals. After the first 3 I thought the parade was over but was informed that there were 17 more to go. I’ve got to tell you that they all sounded the same -same samba rhythm; same tempo; same call and response vocals; all unison – very little harmony; and most songs consisting of 2 maybe 3 chords if you’re lucky. But – these guys are like rock stars to the Haitians and they go crazy for their favorite group. Tom faded at about 11:30 and went across the street to the cousin’s house and found a bed. I stuck it out to the bitter end at 1:30 am. And after 10 hours of standing, my legs and back were really starting to complain – not to mention my ears. However, I’ve got to say that, in spite of it all, I really enjoyed it. It was colorful; the excitement was infectious; and it was a joy to see people who have so little to celebrate having so much fun. When we got back to John John’s house we could still hear the music from the parade. The last unit didn’t make it to the end of the parade route until 3:30 am. Carnival – Bon bagay (a great thing).

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Days 122 & 123 (2/15 & 16)
Wednesday – After yesterday’s marathon, today was a welcome respite. No teams in or out this morning and only one team returning from Petit Goave this afternoon. We spent most of the day meeting with Una and bringing her up to date with the current status of the Haiti Response Plan from the perspective of the front line staff.
We are almost exactly half way through the 3 year Haiti Response Plan. It is scheduled to end at the end of October 2013. The Plan was set up by the UMVIM Jurisdictional Coordinators in the U.S. after the earthquake in 2010. Because of the urgency of the need, it was set up on the fly. The Coordinators had mission and disaster experience, but no one had had experience in this type of catastrophic disaster. And very few had experience in Haiti. Consequently, many things have worked well and many have not. We are constantly trying to improve and adjust, but are faced with resistance many times from either GBGM in New York or the Haitians and sometimes both. The prevailing argument being “But this is the way it has always been”. Yea – but it’s not working and needs to be fixed. So – our meetings with Una have been, I think, very productive. We outlined some needed changes which will significantly change how we conduct business. We also talked about whether or not the program should be extended beyond 10/13. And - if it were extended, what should it look like - very thought provoking.
Thursday – On her way over to Pastor Paul’s office for a meeting yesterday, Una slipped and fell and came up with some scrapes and a twisted leg. The leg is still bothering her this morning so Sarah will take her to the hospital for an xray. Tom and I had to make an early morning departure to pick up Pastor Paul and Engineer LaPlanche  in Paco at 7:00 and head south for some site visits. Traffic was a bear and Laplanche was about 30 minutes late getting to Pastor Paul’s house, which didn’t please Pastor Paul. Traffic was heavy from Paco through Carre Four. But once we got through Carre Four, it opened up and we made it to Olivier in about 2 hours. They have a very busy clinic and church in Olivier and the EMH wants to do a major expansion of the church. We met with the site engineer and went over his plans for the expansion. Roger and I had some concerns over the design and both wondered if the plan was feasible. The engineer said he would redo the design and we will look at it again.
We reversed direction and went next to the new church in Fond Deux. It is in a very rural setting and is a small but very nice church. It is almost finished but the cost overruns were over 50%. It was designed and supervised by the same Olivier engineer.  I think a pattern is starting to emerge. The next stop was Vialet. Vialet used to be a thriving agricultural training center. It sits on about 40 acres and has about 20 buildings on it. It was built and run by Methodist missionaries in the 40s and 50s. But, like so many missionary projects around the world, when the missionaries left in the late 70s, the project ceased to function and the property was left to fall into disrepair. It is really sad to see such a beautiful property with so much potential going to waste. I would love the challenge of turning this one around. But, I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.
From Vialet we went to Petit Goave where we are building a new library. They are planning a big dedication ceremony March 3rd with donors coming down from states. There was a big question in our minds as to whether or not it was going to be finished in time. It’s going to be very close, but they might make it. When you travel with Pastor Paul, you hardly ever miss a meal. We went to the Petit Goave EMH Guest House complex and Pastor Maude fixed us a big delicious lunch. Traveling with the President does have certain perks.
Our last stop on the way back was Mellier. We wanted to see the new houses that Doug Ahfeld and his Homes for Haitians team were putting up for our EMH Pilot Project. What a thrill it was to see the first homes nearing completion. Doug says he will have the first 10 competed by the end of March. And based on what we saw today, I believe him. We were back in Petionville by about 3:30 – just in time to greet 2 teams coming in from the states. These travel days are always very interesting and informative, but they wear you out. Sarah called from the hospital – Una has a spiral fracture of the lower tibia. They are putting on a cast and a walking boot.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Day 121 (2/14)
Tuesday – Today we only have one team leaving for the airport after lunch, so Tom, Oge and I were able to get an early start for our site visits.  The purpose of our visits is to assess the current situation at each site – determine how much work remains to be done on each site; is it work that a team can assist in and how many teams and/or money will it take to complete. The most difficult part of the process is defining the word “Complete”. The church has a never ending list of things that they want done at each site – most of which, at this point, are not earthquake related. Since the Haiti Response Plan was set up to do earthquake recovery work, we have to say at some point – our work is done here and move on to the next one.
There was a gas shortage for the last 3 or 4 days that shot the price of gas to over $8.00 a gallon and kept most of the cars off of the road. But, unfortunately, they were all back on the road this morning and our 20 mile drive to our first site in Cabaret took almost 2 hours. Cabaret is one of those sites that is very near completion. There are one or two things that remain to be done on the original scope of work and one more team can probably finish it off. Of course they want a new building to be built for school staff housing, but that is not in our mandate and will have to go on a future wish list.
Our next stop was at Thomas, which is where I spent 2 mission trips and have many friends. I think that 2 or 3 teams will be able to complete the current project. Of interest to “my October team” is there is a new Site Boss and I instructed him to tear out the stairs and rebuild them correctly.
Our last stop on this trip was at Arcahie. Arcahie is also nearing completion of the original project. Imagine our surprise to see 3 partial walls of a new building appearing on the back of the compound. We asked the Project Engineer what was being built and who authorized it. He replied that it was going to be a Guest House for visiting Pastors and was authorized by the District Superintendent. The District Superintendent drove up at that time and we asked him what was going on. He said, “Oh, we’re going to build a Guest House for visiting Pastors.” We replied, “Well, I hope you have the money to pay for it in your budget, because we don’t.” The silence was deafening. This is an attitude problem that we are confronted with daily – that we are standing around with an open wallet and will pay for anything they want. Ain’t gonna’ happin’.
On the way back to Petionville, I asked Oge if he would stop at Ti Tanyen. Ti Tanyen is the mass burial site for earthquake victims and I had not been there yet. With over 300,000 people killed, there was absolutely no way they could all be given individual burials. They literally brought bodies in by the dump truck load and buried them at this site. No one knows how many are buried here but there are thousands and thousands. There is nothing special about this site. It looks like a landfill with some crosses on a nearby hill. There even is a roadway across one side of it. They did, however, erect a memorial in the middle of it for the 2nd Anniversary. A pretty grim reminder of how terrible the loss of life really was.
When we got back to the Guest House, we found Una Jones had arrived (she was expected). Una is the head of Mission Volunteers for the General Board of Global Missions (GBGM). She is the person in charge of UMVIM and Individual Volunteers. In other words – she’s our boss. I sense more meetings in my future.
Our entire staff, Una, Tom, Sarah, Mario and I went to a “mixer” put on by an organization called Build Change. They are an engineering group that specializes in earthquake retrofit. They advocate retrofitting buildings rather than tearing down and starting over. I think that there is certainly a place for this approach, but not all buildings are worth saving. The mixer was held at the Plaza Hotel and was well attended – partly because it included a free dinner. By the time I got to bed, my body was telling me that it had been a long day.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Days 118 – 120 (2/11 – 13)
Saturday – Just two teams this morning – one to the airport and one to Arcahie. Then the rest of the day ended up being totally unscheduled. Tom and I originally had planned to do our site visits to Petit Guave, Fond Deaux and Mellier, already postponed from earlier in the week, but Pastor Paul said at our meeting yesterday that he wanted to go with us and couldn’t go until next Thursday. Nothing down here seems to happen when you want it to. So – Tom and I decided to do a triage on our team cots. These things really take a beating. Maybe it’s because they are rated for 225 lbs. and some of our team members exceed that. Anyhow – we found ½ dozen that were broken. By stealing parts from some and putting them on others we can probably get a few more miles (or pounds) out of 3 or 4 of them. But, we needed to get some nuts and bolts to complete the repairs. Having been through this exercise before, I knew where we could find the hardware. However, when we got to the store - it was closed. Not open on Saturdays or Sundays. We checked 3 or 4 more hardware stores – all closed. You better hope nothing important breaks on a weekend in Haiti.
Sarah had a bridal shower for her friend Jenn Saturday afternoon at the UMCOR house in Paco. About 5:00 pm she called and said that she and Jenn and Lauren were going to the Oloffson Hotel for dinner and would we like to join them. So – Tom, Mario and I got cleaned up and grabbed the D-Max and headed for the Oloffson. Mario drove and that’s a whole new thrill ride that I’ll have to tell you about some other time. The Oloffson is a Port-au-Prince landmark hotel that was built in the late 1800s. Because it is a wooden structure it came through the earthquake virtually unscathed. It is the centerpiece of a book called “The Comedians” written by Graham Greene about the Baby Doc regime. It was a beautiful old hotel and the food was very good. All in all, a nice ending to an otherwise frustrating day
Sunday – Today was another one of those unusual no team days. We had breakfast and then went to church on the Frere campus. After church everyone kind of went their own way for the day. I caught up on some correspondence in the office and then found a comfortable spot to sit and read – I think I actually fell asleep at one point. Dinner Sunday night, as always, was Bongu spaghetti (Tom’s favorite). It’s always very good, but I still followed my no seconds rule. If I didn’t, none of my clothes would fit.
Monday – No teams in or out again this morning. It will be a good day to prepare for the rest of the week, which is going to be filled with more teams, meetings and site visits. We do have one team returning from Mellier this afternoon.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

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.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Days 114 & 115 (2/07 & 08)
Tuesday – No teams at the Guest House this morning. But I had a meeting with EMH Engineers, Roger LaPlanche and Derly Charles and 2 Haitian contractors. We are soliciting bids on 10 more houses in Carre Four and want to give the contract to a Haitian contractor. Both of the contractors were experienced and seemed competent. I am working on the RFP (Request for Proposal) which outlines our specific requirements and will have it for them in a couple of days. In the mean time they will schedule site visits with Derly Charles. This will bring our Pilot Project total to 50 houses. My hope is to have 100 completed or under construction by the end of the year.
I worked on the RFP this afternoon and got the 1st draft off to Tom and Jim for review. Then the teams started to come in – 1 from Mellier, 1 from Torbeck and one new arrival from the states. The Guest House is back to normal.
Wednesday – We loaded up and said goodbye to 2 teams heading home and sent a team off to Mellier. Then Tom, Sarah and I jumped in the D-max with our driver Spana and headed north to visit a couple of sites. Our first stop was at La Tremblay where teams (and the Haitian construction crew) have been building a new church. I hadn’t visited this site for almost 3 months and was very impressed with the progress. They are almost to the point of installing roof trusses. I think we will need the resources of 5 or 6 more teams to finish the church and new security wall.
On our way back to visit the school in Puit Blan we decided to take a little detour and visit a clinic run by a non-denominational NGO called Double Harvest. We are always interested in finding good emergency health care facilities in reasonable proximity to our work sites. We had heard about this facility but had not visited it before. It was a little off the beaten track (and it was a beaten track) but would be much closer than having to go all the way back to Port-au- Prince for emergency care. Double Harvest has a very large agricultural operation as well as their clinic. There appeared to be well over 100 acres under cultivation with an assortment of crops. The clinic was small but well equipped for a rural Haitian medical facility and very clean and well maintained. There were over 40 people waiting outside to see a doctor. They have a permanent staff of 26 but depend on visiting teams for support. Unfortunately, they had an incident last December that has all but stopped their visiting teams. A group of thugs broke into their Guest House in an invasion robbery attempt and shot 4 missionaries. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and it appears to have been a random event. But, it has had an understandable adverse effect on volunteer teams and the supplies that they normally bring. When they showed us their pharmacy, the shelves were virtually empty. I think that we will be able to help them out. Just outside of the compound, on our way out, we picked up some Haitians who were walking along the road. As they climbed into the bed of the D-max they handed Sarah and I each a baby to hold. Mine had been treated at the clinic for what appeared to be badly burned hand. She was such a sweet thing that I didn’t want to give her back when we got into town.
We continued on to the school in Puit Blan. This was one of our early projects and the school was quickly rebuilt to accommodate the students but never finished because of other priorities. We want to get it back on the active project list so it can finally be finished.
When we got back to the Guest House we welcomed a new team arriving from the states. Then Sarah and I went over to our supply room (next to my room) and started putting together supplies for Double Harvest. Due to the generosity of our donors and volunteers we were able to pack 6 suitcases full of OTC drugs and medical supplies. Oge will take the suitcases out to Double Harvest in the morning.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Days 111 – 112 (2/04 – 06)
Saturday – Today the Guest House looked like a bus station on Thanksgiving. We loaded up 2 teams for the airport and 2 teams going out to sites. One team (a non-VIM team) had 14 people which is way over our limit for team size. The reason for the limit was obvious when we had to squeeze 18 people (including interpreters and cooks), 30+ suitcases and large duffles, a stove, wheelbarrow, large tool box, food, water and charcoal for 18 people for a week, 20 cots and about 40 backpacks and carry-on bags into a van and a Kia 4x4 truck. To make matters worse, there were some pretty large people in this group. However, we got everybody and everything on board and they left the Guest House looking like the Beverly Hillbillies and the vehicles riding on the axels. After all of the people and activity, when the last truck leaves the compound the silence is deafening and you just want to find a shady spot to collapse.
After a cold shower (the only kind available here) and fresh t-shirt and shorts, it was already lunchtime. The post lunch afternoon was spent in the office working on some reports. Sarah had a great idea for dinner. We told the staff that they didn’t have to fix dinner and we brought in pizza for everybody. It was a great idea and it was fun to spend some down time with our Haitian staff.
Sunday – There were no teams at the Guest House and none scheduled to come in today. So – it’s an R&R day for the Haiti Response Plan Team. Our friend Jenn from Haiti Health Ministries in Leogaine came in and joined us for a day around the pool at the Hotel Karibe. The Karibe is one of our favorite get-a-way places and we try to get there once a month to decompress. We left the Karibe around 5:00 PM and went over to the newly rebuilt Caribbean Market and stocked up on hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, etc., and headed over to the UMCOR house in Paco to watch the Super Bowl. Lauren James was our hostess and she had also invited some of her Haitian neighbors. It was a great game and party – even though the 49ers weren’t (but should have been) playing.
Monday - The team schedule is allowing us to sort of ease into the new week. We only have 1 team coming in from the states this afternoon. I don’t have any meetings scheduled for today either. I’m not sure how I got so lucky, but I’ll take it. This gives me an opportunity to finish up a RFP (Request for Proposal) to give to 2 Haitian contractors that I’m meeting with tomorrow. We want to get bids and proposals on 10 more houses in Carre Four. All of the sites in Carre Four are very difficult. They are small lots, irregular shapes and difficult to get to. We will have to visit them all with the contractors.
Tom and I are trying to schedule site visits to all 30 of our sites over the next few weeks so we can assess the current status of each of them. We have limited resources, both in money and available teams, and need to strategize how we’re going to complete them. It will be very interesting.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Days 108 – 110 (2/01 – 03)
Wednesday – This morning was a marathon of meetings. Fortunately, there were no teams coming or going so we didn’t have to deal with that. The 8:00 AM meeting was with the EMH Housing Project Management Team. All 20 of the houses in Mellier have been started. Most of the footings, stem walls and slabs have been completed and walls should start going up next week. However, nothing has started on the 20 houses in Carre Four. Todays’ meeting was with WHA (World Hand Alliance) the primary contractor. I’ll have to admit that my frustration got the best of me and I got into a bit of a nose-to-nose with one of the principles of the company. I’ve gotten used to not getting direct answers from the Haitians, but I expected answers from a fellow American. It seems to me that there are 3 possible answers to most simple questions – “Yes, No or I don’t know”- and I would accept any of them. I may not like the one I got, but I’d accept it. To not answer by trying to divert me or waltz me around the room just aggravates me and I become a bulldog. “You’re trying to box me into a corner”! My reply – “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do”. I can’t say that I won the battle, but I was promised answers by the end of the week. We’ll see. My frustration comes from the fact that we started this process 8 months ago and we’re talking about 20 x 20 masonry boxes with a roof not a launch pad for a moon rocket. Now, granted, not all of the delays are the fault of the contractor, but in the meantime, these poor people are still living in tents!
The next meeting was the Joint Leadership Team meeting and was not at all confrontational. It was the first meeting that I have been in with Pastor Paul since his reelection as EMH President and I was curious as to what his state of mind would be. To my relief, he seemed very relaxed and in good humor – quite different than from before the election. He was in such a good mood that he appointed me to take the meeting minutes. Talk about the short straw. At the Joint Leadership Team Meeting the top officials from each of the partner organizations EMH, UMCOR and UMVIM give reports on their programs, discuss any problems and give future plans. Being a Haitian led meeting, few decisions are actually made. Most are deferred to a future meeting. Having to deal with Creole, heavily accented English, countless acronyms and unpronounceable names, I’m not sure that my meeting minutes will make any sense at all. But in all fairness, a lot of what went on at the meeting didn’t make sense anyway. However, it was better than the last one I attended.
After that marathon, I was ready for a nap.
Thursday – We had one team fly in from the states late yesterday and sent them on their way to Les Cayes this morning. Then Tom, Sarah and I jumped into the trusty D-Max with Spana and drove to Thor to check on the progress of the Church and School. We hadn’t been there since October and were pleased to see that the church portion of the restoration was complete. The first floor of the school was still under construction and will contain the kitchen, cafeteria and caretakers quarters. We met with the local pastor and the engineer and established an estimate of time and money needed to finish. This also allows us to schedule the proper number of teams for the site. Hopefully we’ll be able to finish this one by June.
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We got back to the Guest House in time to welcome another team from the states and one returning from Arcahaie. Life goes on.
Friday – This morning we sent one team out to La Tremblay. Then my meetings started. The first was with Pastor Paul and Roger LaPlanche. We did another walk around tour of the Guest House complex and discussed again the maintenance and renovation work that needed to done. Although I’ve been through this process several times, I felt we actually made some progress and a few key decisions. Roger and I were tasked to come up with new estimates on a few items and Pastor Paul said he would present the proposals to the EMH Board next Friday. I feel he is in favor of moving forward.
My next meeting was with Phil Bandy and Warren McGuffin my friends from the Bay Area who were in-country to work on the Hot Lunch program in Thomas. They brought James Lazarre and Stephen with them from Thomas and it was good to see them as well. I set this meeting up so that Phil and Warren could meet with Lauren James who runs the Hot Lunch program for UMCOR and also have Tom sit in to bring the UMVIM perspective. We have a lot of good people like Phil and Warren setting up and successfully running programs outside of the UMCOR/UMV IM envelope and I would like to see more coordination in the effort. I think that more could be accomplished by pooling talents and resources. I felt that it was a productive meeting and everyone went away with a better view of what the others were doing and a pledge to work together where they could.
My third meeting was with the EMH Housing Project Management Team and Doug Ahlfeld and Jesula Mardy from Hands for Haitians, one of the contractors. We were trying to finalize some issues on stem wall design and pricing and I think accomplished that. Doug has 2 teams coming in next week and promises to have 5 houses finished in 2 weeks then 5 more by the end of March. I hope to get down to Mellier next Wednesday to watch them pour the walls on one of the houses.
The sun was setting in the west and dinner was on the table by the time I got back to the Guest House. In my absence, one team had arrived from the states and 2 had come in from the field. It would be another full house tonight. For some reason I was tired and retired early.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Days 105 – 107 (1/29 – 31)
Sunday – We got 1 team off to their church service and afternoon sightseeing trip and 1 team of to their site in Thor. Then Jim and Tom and I had a long discussion with Melissa Crutchfield about the current state of the Haiti Response Plan. As the Assistant General Secretary of International Disaster Response for UMCOR, she is very influential in deciding the future direction of our program. We are starting into the 3rd year of the original 3 year mandate and really need to evaluate what the future program should look like, if the Plan is renewed. I think we all are in agreement that there will be a continuing need, but some changes in focus are needed. Getting the EMH to buy in on some of those changes will probably be a challenge. Haiti has been my first and only experience in disaster recovery work and I have been somewhat surprised to discover that the human dynamic challenges far exceed the physical and logistical challenges of rebuilding.
After lunch I worked in the office for a couple of hours and then found a soft chair and got back to my book. I’m finally getting around to reading Paul Farmer’s “Haiti - After the Earthquake”. I’m just about finished and it has been a good read.  I finished Phillipe Girrhard’s “Haiti – From the Pearl of the Caribbean to a Broken Nation” on the plane down here. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the history of Haiti.
Monday – Today we have 2 teams returning from the field and one team coming in from the states. The Guest House is starting to fill up again. It seems more normal. Our work schedules are pretty well regulated by the arrival and departures of the teams. Everything we do has to fit into those spaces when we’re not dealing with the needs of the teams. Since I don’t have an “official” team support function I have a little more flexibility for site visits etc. But, there never seems to be a lack of things to do.
Melissa Crutchfield, Lauren James and Jim Gulley asked me to go with them to the St. Martin Church and School construction site. This is an UMCOR/EMH site and not a VIM supported site. There has been no volunteer team contribution and therefore not on my project list. However, they wanted my opinion on the current status of the project. I had visited there last fall and was very impressed with the overall quality and workmanship. I was again impressed with the progress made since that last visit and the continued quality of the work. I did find a few areas that do not conform to the new structural standards that we are initiating and took some pictures to show to Roger LaPlanche, the EMH Head Engineer, at our meeting tomorrow.
We then went to the College Bird campus which is the largest Methodist church and school in Haiti. The school and administration buildings were severely damaged in the earthquake and had to be demolished. The construction of the new buildings is scheduled to start soon and it will become the largest Methodist project in Haiti – about 4 million dollars.
Jim wanted to go up to the Hotel Montana for lunch. This was the building that he was trapped in for 55 hours after the earthquake. The hotel is owned by 2 sisters and 1 of the sisters was buried in the rubble for over 100 hours before being rescued. She was rescued by a Spanish recovery team and was in Spain for a reunion with that team on the 2nd anniversary of the quake when Jim spoke at the memorial service. So – he wanted to say hello to her. She was very happy to see Jim and she told us all about their plans to rebuild the Montana. She then showed us the area that used to be the hotel lobby where Jim was buried. It was in a slightly different location then he had thought. We then had a great lunch on the patio overlooking Port-au-Prince.
I got back to the Guest House in time to welcome 2 new teams from the states and one returning from the field. We had over 50 people staying tonight.
Tuesday –After getting the 50+ people on their way, I had a meeting with Roger LaPlanche to discuss the process of establishing a standardized system of documentation for all of our projects. I have discovered that very few of our projects have any documentation – plans, estimates, inspection records, etc. Roger agrees that this needs to done and is in fact happy to get some support. He was hired very late in the reconstruction process and most of our sites were already under construction. He tells me that he was never told by EMH to provide oversight on all of these sites. Needless to say, I was very surprised and will try to get this clarified at the Joint Leadership Team meeting tomorrow. If he is not the man in charge – who is? UMCOR from the very beginning of the Recovery Plan has tried to turn the administration of the reconstruction process over to the EMH – which is, from a humanitarian aspect, a very noble thing to do - have the Haitians manage their own recovery. However, from a practical standpoint, ministers are not necessarily the best qualified people to be managing construction projects. I’m trying to find that middle ground of offering advice and support without seemingly diminishing EMH’s role in the process. It’s a daily lesson in diplomacy. Roger and I agreed that we would gather all the documentation we could find and then try to recreate files that are missing or never existed. We will also initiate my system for all new projects.