Days 176 – 179 (04/10 – 13)

Tuesday – Still no teams. However, Mario is back so the office isn’t quite as empty. I got an email from UMCOR’s travel agent in New York, saying that since my current passport expires on November 14^th and since I will be traveling to and from Orlando May 17 -20, my passport falls outside of the 6 month expiration envelope required by Haitian immigration. So, being a good citizen, I called the US Embassy in Port au Prince to ask about renewing my passport. When I finally got put through to the passport department, I asked the person who answered if in fact I needed to renew in order to meet the 6 month expiration window. She replied, “You’ll have to call the airline and find out what their policy is”. I said, “Excuse me. Is this the passport department at the US Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti?” “Yes, Sir” “You don’t know what the passport requirements are for Haiti?” “No, Sir. You’ll have to check with the airlines.” UNBELIEVABLE! This is your tax dollars at work. These are the people that are supposed to rescue us in an emergency. Boy, I’ll sleep better tonight.

Wednesday – The morning was rather quiet, but the afternoon picked up. Both Tom and Sarah arrived back from the States. They had hardly set their bags down when the first post Easter team arrived. After 3 or 4 slow days, we are back to normal. Even though I enjoyed a few days to recharge, it felt good to have people back in the Guest House – especially Tom and Sarah.

Thursday – We got our new team off to their site in Cabaret early and then Tom and I started catching up on what had been going on in his absence. We have a Site Review meeting tomorrow and needed to make sure we had the latest information on all 24 current and potential sites. The 8 unit GH staff annex project is moving along. They have been digging the footings for almost 2 weeks and are just about ready to start putting the rebar in. The back footings are almost 6 feet deep. It would have taken about 2 days with a backhoe, but we’ve provided 2 weeks labor for 6 Haitians. It’s a good trade off.

This afternoon our Haiti Partnership team returned from their week in Mellier. Haiti Partnership sends 5 or 6 teams a year to Haiti, so we see some of these people several times a year. This was a special team because it included 6 high school kids. I wish we could get more young people to have this experience and have this kind of commitment from more of our Conferences. Thank you Haiti Partnership.

Friday – The Haiti Partnership team left for a day of sightseeing around the Port au Prince area. It’s a great thing to do when you’re here and an exciting thing for the young people. We also sent Mario on his way home for a 10 day R & R. We all have to do this every 90 days to get our passports stamped.

Tom and I had a less exciting chore this morning – the Site Review meeting. This meeting usually consists of Pastor Paul, Engineer Laplanche, Lauren James – UMCOR/EMH Liaison, and Tom and I. The purpose is to review the work that has been done on the sites over the past month; agree on the scope of work that remains to be done; and decide on the priorities for new projects. This generally requires reviews of estimates and in many cases, follow-up site visits. What should be, on the surface, a pretty simple, cut and dried process, becomes convoluted by the political infighting of the EMH. Much like the different branches of the U.S. military fighting for their piece of the Defense Budget, the various District Superintendents are pressuring Pastor Paul for projects in their Districts. It makes his decision making process very difficult at times and our planning process often frustrating. But – that’s life in Haiti. Nothing is ever as simple as we think it should be.

Days 171 – 175 (04/05 – 09)

Thursday – No teams this morning. We will be having a large team (15 from Haiti Partnership) coming in this afternoon. So, it’s another quiet day - another day of writing and sending out drafts of the next grant request. Everyone is very helpful and make suggestions for getting it to its’ final form. I think I’m on draft #6. When will it ever end?

Friday – Good Friday is a Holiday in Haiti. So, after we got our Haiti Partnership team packed up and on their way to Mellier, we were done for the day. Tom was still in Connecticut; Mario went to visit his cousin for the weekend; and Sarah and I took Eric’s daughter Jessica and her little friend Darvic up to the Hotel Ebolele for lunch and an afternoon around the pool. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Saturday – Today starts a 4 day window where we have no teams coming or going. I guess teams didn’t want to come to Haiti over Easter. Our next team doesn’t arrive until Wednesday afternoon. Sarah is taking advantage of the lull by taking off for Miami to spend a few days with her boyfriend (lucky girl). Guess what? There’s nobody here but me. It’s a rather strange feeling. I finished up some paperwork in the morning and spent the afternoon watching the 3^rd round of the Master’s golf tournament on my laptop. The slow internet speed down here makes the video stream start and stop a lot and it seemed like I never got to see the putts fall in the hole. But, I got to see enough really incredible golf to make it entertaining.

Easter Sunday - This morning I thought a lot about my friends at St. Marks in Sacramento – about how much I missed singing in the choir and listening to Pastor Allen’s sermons. I guess it’s part of price one pays for the privilege of doing God’s work far from home. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my friends and family in a week and a half when I go home for R&R.

After breakfast I changed into my Sunday best (kaki cargo pants and a Hawaiian shirt) and went to church right here on the Freres campus. The church was packed, as you would expect on Easter Sunday – about 400 people and I was the only white face in the crowd (and the most underdressed). But you know what? I didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable or out of place. This was God’s house and I was with my Haitian family – and they welcomed me like family, as they always do. It was a long service – even by Haitian standards – just over 3 hours. The strange thing was, I didn’t mind a bit. Even though it was hot; and all in Creole, naturally; and I still don’t have a good grasp on the language – I enjoyed it. Pastor Paul was officiating and it was the first time I had actually heard him preach. There was a baptism, a confirmation, communion and lots and lots of singing and when Haitians sing they can hear it clear up in Heaven. In this case – loud is good. After shaking Pasto Paul’s hand and wishing him a Happy Easter, I went back to the office and watched the final round of the Masters.

Monday – I’m still flying solo today although I do expect Mario to return sometime this afternoon. I got an email from Lauren James, the UMCOR/EMH liaison telling me that UMCOR wanted me to be their Shelter and Reconstruction representative at the UMCOR Haiti Partnership Conference in Orlando next month. This will be a conference for EMH officials, UMCOR/UMVIM representatives and major VIM partners from all over the US. The purpose will be to lay out a plan for the Haiti Relief Plan for the next 3 years. They want me to head a round table on reconstruction. I’m excited about the opportunity.

Days 166 – 170 (03/31 – 04/04)

Saturday – This morning we sent one team off to the airport. There is only the Delmas 33 Team and a few non-VIM people remaining at the Guest House. We won’t have any more VIM teams until 2 teams return from the field on Monday. We’ve got a free weekend!

The crew working on the staff housing addition have cleared the land and are laying out the building site. When I went out to check on their progress I found that they had laid out the batten boards, which will define the footprint of the building, wrong. The length was OK but the width was twice what it should be. I called Engineer Roger Laplanche and he came right over. After discussing the situation with the site boss, Roger said everything was alright. They understood the correct dimensions. I asked why they had set their batten boards so far apart and he replied, “Oh, he didn’t want to cut his boards”. I’m still learning about Haiti.

Sunday – Today is Palm Sunday and Tom is preaching at Thomasin. Tom and Wendy, their friends Mike and Terry, a couple of non-VIM people and I went up the hill to Thomasin for the service. Tom and Wendy (both pastors) conducted the service and Communion with lots of music and it was very nice.

After church we returned to the Guest House and Tom, Wendy, Mike and Terry gathered their bags and left for the airport to return to New York and Connecticut. Tom is taking his R & R and will return on the 11^th. Sarah and Mario had gone their separate ways earlier and the Delmas 33 Team was sightseeing so, I found myself alone at the Guest House – rather a strange feeling. It was a good time to find a shady spot and catch up on my latest paperback.

Monday – My project for today is draft # 4 or 5 (I’m starting to lose track) of the Guest House Renovation Project Funding Request. It’s a learning process for me and everyone has been very helpful. But, all the T’s have to be crossed and all the I’s have to be dotted and everything has to have all of the back-up detail. However, I think we’re getting close. I’m hopeful that we’ll have final documents to submit to Pastor Paul and UMCOR by the end of the week.

This afternoon we had 2 teams return from the field – 1 from Arcahaie and 1 from Banique. With the Delmas 33 Team, that makes 3 teams for dinner. We’re back to normal.

Tuesday – We got 2 teams off to the airport and the local Delmas 33 team off for their last day of work. Then I had an early morning meeting with Derly Charles, the Project Engineer for the EMH Housing Project. He had a disagreement with one of the contractors on how they were putting in the rebar in the corners and had stopped the job. Based upon what he was showing me, I agreed that it was not correct. My dilemma was that it was a minor detail and probably did not warrant stopping the work. However, I wanted him to know that he was absolutely correct in catching it and enforcing the new standards. I also wanted the contractor to understand that Derly was correct and that as the Project Engineer was in his right to stop the work. He, the Contractor, requested a meeting with me tomorrow morning. Just call me Mister Arbitrator.

Wednesday – We got our Delma 33 team on their way to the airport and home. After working locally and staying at the Guest House for over a week, they seemed like family. Then my contractor friend arrived for our meeting. He was upset because he felt that Engineer Derly didn’t understand the new design technology that he was using. He was using a “floating slab” design that didn’t require the detail that Derly was asking for. I explained to him that the reason Derly didn’t understand it was because the drawings didn’t show it. Derly was simply doing is job based on the information he was provided. If he would simply provide Derly with corrected drawings and back-up, I’m sure everything would be OK. I called Derly and he agreed. Problem solved.

The construction crew has been working diligently on the Staff Housing addition – digging the trenches for the footings. It’s beginning to look like a real construction site.

Days 164 & 165 (03/29 – 30)

Thursday – This morning Tom and his wife Wendy, their friends Mike and Terry from New York and I had Spana drive us up to Moulin to catch the ferry to La Gonave. La Gonave is the largest of Haiti’s satellite islands and at 287 sq. miles is about the size of Hawaii’s Molokai. About 130,000 people live on the island and the EMH has 12 churches there. We only send teams there if they specifically request it because of the extra time and expense of getting there. However, we do have a couple of sites there that Tom and I need to look at.

The boat dock at Moulin (near St. Marc) is a busy place, being 1 of only 2 debarkation points for the island. (The other is in Petit Guave). The ferry only makes one roundtrip a day, so the boat  fills up with people and supplies – including chickens and goats on the return trip. There are several smaller boats that also make the trip and they fill to overflowing, much like the tap taps. The Coast Guard would have a heart attack – way overloaded and not a life jacket in sight. In typical Haitian fashion, the noon ferry left at 1:00 PM.

The Bay of Port au Prince was very calm and the trip took about 1 ½ hours. However, having been on the boat since 10:30 AM we were thoroughly sun baked by the time we got to Ansè a Galèt on the northeast side of the island. We were met by a truck from the Methodist church and school and taken to the guest house on their compound. We refilled our water bottles, took a quick tour of the church that’s being built there then went off to look at 2 more remote sites. I’ve been over some very rough roads going to remote sites in Haiti, but the roads on La Gonave were the worst. Portions of the roads are built right on top of lava beds and they are torturous – I know ‘cuz I road in the back of the truck for most of the trip.

The first church we visited was being built right on top of a lava flow. It consisted of 4 partially built walls with a tarp over one corner. The people said they had been working on the church since 2002. After another painful hour of travel, we arrived at the 2^nd church. Like the 1^st it was unfinished, but did have a roof. However, when I climbed through a hole in the wall, part of the wall came with me. And when I picked up one of the blocks it came apart in my hands. It was the worst construction and material that I have seen in Haiti. The pastor said that the people in the community had been building it since 20006. I would not let a team near this place.

It was dark by the time we got back to the guest house in Ansè a Galèt and the pastor’s wife had a delicious dinner waiting for us. The drumsticks were so big we couldn’t decide whether they were turkey or chicken. Turns out they were chicken – big chickens. During dinner we got a text message from Sarah saying that it was raining very hard in Petionville and they had flooding at the Guest House again. After dinner I took a bucket shower and put my bruised and battered body to bed. We had to be up at 4:30 AM to catch the ferry back in the morning.

Friday - The morning was dark but beautiful and not a Starbucks in sight. At the busy dock, the boat rapidly filled with people and some animals. The passengers included an 18 person medical team returning home to Scotland. Their organization has been sending teams to La Gonave for 20 years working at the only hospital on the island – one hospital and one doctor for 130,000 people. Not a great place to get sick. It was a total shock to everyone when the ferry left promptly at 6:30.

The heavy rains and flooding last night had washed out some areas of road, creating some traffic jams, so Spana was a little late picking us up at the dock. But it was interesting to watch all of the activity of passengers unloading all of their stuff and scrambling to get everything aboard one of the tap taps queued up on the road.

On the way back, we stopped at Arcahaie and Thomas to check on work progress and then stopped at Titanenyen so Mike and Terry could see the mass gravesite. By the time we arrived back at the Guest House, the mess from last night’s flooding had been pretty well cleaned up. I hope my next funding request gets approved soon so we can take care of the rain water run-off problem.

Days 161 – 164 (03/25 – 28)

Sunday – Today was one of those rare days that I was totally on my own and had absolutely nothing to do. There were no teams; Sarah was still at Jenn’s wedding; Tom was hiking and Mario was visiting with his cousins in Thomasin. I went to church on the Frère campus and came back to the office and fired up my laptop. A few days ago I found a website where I could get satellite TV on my laptop. So – I got comfortable and spent the afternoon watching the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It was fun to watch Tiger Woods finally win a PGA tournament after 2 ½ years. Despite his personal problems, he is a phenomenal golfer to watch when he is playing well. After dinner I watched part of a very confusing movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. I finally gave up and read my book du jour.

Monday – This morning we sent our local team off to Delmas 33 for their work day. The rest of the morning was devoted to setting up the individual files for all of the Haiti Home Assistance Program beneficiaries. Some of them have already brought in some of their paperwork and it was starting to stack up. It is going to be an interesting experience helping them through a process that most of them have never been through before. One of the documents they have to provide is proof of land ownership and in some cases this is very difficult. Some records, if they ever existed in the first place, were destroyed in the earthquake. Some land purchase agreements are hand written on scraps of paper. Some parcels appear to be obtained under some form of adverse possession that everyone seems to accept. Coming up with proof of undisputed legal ownership is going to be a challenge.

This afternoon my friends from California returned from Thomas and since Sarah didn’t return from the wedding in Port Salud until late, I got to do the debrief after dinner. It was fun to be able to spend some time with them and hear about their 8 days working in Thomas. They will probably be the last reconstruction team sent to work in Thomas since the project is pretty well completed. Future teams may be sent to work on community development projects such as water and agriculture. Another team arrived from the states just in time to make it to the end of the dinner line.

Tuesday – The California team was up very early and left for the airport at 6:00 AM. Bon Voyage. We got the newly arrived team loaded with tools and supplies and on the road to Banique by 8:00 - then the local team to Delmas 33.

The excitement level from the Guest House staff is still pretty high and people have lots of questions about what they need to do to get started on their homes. I can see that there is going to be a lot of hand holding necessary with quite a few – but that’s OK. That’s part of my job.

Wednesday – We got our local team off to Delmas 33 by 8:00 AM and I got ready for my meeting with EMH Engineer Roger LaPlanche. This morning was our kick off meeting for the new 8 unit Staff Housing addition. Roger has selected Engineer Roos to be the Project Engineer and I wanted to be sure that all 3 of us were on the same page as to what we were going to build. As it turned out, we weren’t. The project had gone through so many permutations that Roger thought we were building 2 separate buildings. He was somewhat relieved to find out that we had actually ended up going back to the first plan we had designed. So, we walked the site and agreed upon the building location. Engineer Roos said that the crew would start site preparation tomorrow. I can’t believe that we are actually going to start.