We had no rain delays this trip but experienced two days of no gasoline in Cap-Haitien but we were prepared. Sunny and pleasant except for the final two days of 95 degree weather that soaked my clothes with sweat so thoroughly that Dorothy actually thought I had "peed my pants".
We accomplished all of our goals and managed to squeeze in two side trips for various team members. Chris, Carla and Merlene (our Haitian pharmacist) visited the landing spot of Columbus, a small fishing village north and east of the clinic, they also delivered school supplies to orphans living nearby that Dorothy supports. Laura, Mike and I joined our driver, Josue', and Jovenel Thomas (Dorothy's English instructor at the clinic) for a long-overdue trip to the Citadel (castle/fort) built at the cost of 10,000 slave's lives, and who knows what else, completed in 1813 to keep the newly independent nation of Haiti free from French incursions. A remarkable feat, an engineering marvel of its day and Haiti's largest tourist attraction....set on top of a 3,000 foot mountain where you can see 50 miles in any direction on a clear day...a beautiful sight, reminded me of the Smokey Mountains. Dr. Paul Farmer wrote the book, "Mountains Beyond Mountains" and that view clearly shows what he meant, in addition to the mountains of obstacles that Haiti faces daily.
Dorothy was more like her old self, I think because she didn't have to any driving (she hired a very capable driver and handyman in Josue') and she didn't have to ration funds since we pretty much managed that.
Mike Conlan and I roomed together and he proved to be a wonderful team addition. Together with many skills and no need for supervision, he took the initiative on several projects which really helped, since there were times I was being pulled in five different directions. We got the solar working nicely only to have an internal breaker in the Inverter go out when we tried to run the shop vac on the solar. Bad idea. The new addition was begun by the mason we hired that I worked with last year at the orphanage. We sent money ahead so that 300 cement blocks could be made and the 9' x 12' slab could be poured and waiting for our arrival (it was and so were the four corner post rebar structures). The building went up according to plan, one head mason and two or three tenders, Mike and I cut a door through the south wall of the old building leading into the new one so that no new exterior door would be required. We took a masonry blade for that job and it went well but it was very dirty.
A parge coat of finish cement was applied to the inside and outside walls and after two days Linda and Laura began painting two coats of paint, cutting shelves, making 4 window screens and putting up shelves. I wired the room and the old storeroom for electric lights and plugs, together with Mike we made roof trusses, installed the purlins for the tin roofing material to rest on and Mike pretty much installed the metal roofing with the aid of a Haitian or two. Josue and Jean Marie (one of the guards) helped us daily. The room looks fantastic.
The first week pastor Chris was assigned the job of cleaning out the old burning pit, hauling away the unburned ashes and debris and installing the stainless steel incinerator which had to be tethered by a cable to an eye bolt that he imbedded in a hole filled with concrete, same for the lid. It works great! Temps reach 1800 degrees. Josue and the guards were trained in its use.
Carla, Linda, Laura and Chris all took turns teaching English on Mondays and Thursdays in the morning. The water system hadn't worked in some time. This was one of my first projects along with Mike and an English student named Samuel, we reworked a good portion of the system and water now rushes into each room instead of dribbling or not at all. It was a big project that took parts of four days.
The early part of the days at the clinic involved sorting many boxes of "stuff" that had to be either burned or salvaged for the new storeroom. We also cleaned out the storage depot, a separate building that will ultimately house the guards in one half and tools in the other half. We secured the two sections as one will be storage and the other used to house the guards.
Dorothy put a high priority on having a sidewalk from the road to the gate, having a new gate to replace the fragile and cumbersome corrugated contraption in place at the time. The culvert that allows rain runoff to surge along the road and under the path to the gate was completely plugged with clay...hardened by four months of no rain until we arrived (we had three modest showers in the evening on several nights). Mike, Chris and numerous Haitians were recruited for this interesting job that gave both of them a great opportunity to interact with both adults and children for most of one afternoon.
Dorothy wanted a steel railing put up around the porch so children wouldn't tip the benches over and fall about 3' to the ground while waiting for the doctor. We paid to have them made and they arrived the afternoon of our departure. We couldn't buy treated timbers in Haiti so I decided to have the mason make two concrete posts...8" square and 6' tall and 45" apart...these posts would accommodate a wood gate that Mike and I built after dinner and devotions on two evenings. The quality of lumber there is quite good but you have to be a tenacious shopper to find most everything else in a timely manner. The gate went in just as we planned and we kept Dorothy off the property for three days prior to our final day when we were able to reveal the new 30' sidewalk, reinforced with rebar, that lead to the new gate. She was VERY surprised and grateful. She then saw the new room, observed a fire in the incinerator, made note of the working toilet, washed her hands with running water, saw the new railing and checked out the new storeroom, new roof and metal enclosure securing it, a great way to conclude the trip.
The first Saturday we went to Comer Plage (resort near Labadie) for a swim and lunch. Chris talked me into going snorkeling with him and that proved to be a near fatal mistake, for me. We returned to Dorothy's for the Leadership Class and about 15 young men and a couple women were there. Chris observed and told everyone he'd be doing the class on Sunday afternoon, which he did and it was excellent and well received. We attended church both Sundays and the second Sunday we all went to lunch near Hanania's home at a very beautiful resort called Villa Cana where a wedding reception was about to take place, however, it took 2 hours to get fed. We then met Hanania's family, all 13 of them, and Mike and I did follow-up work on the Ford truck (we had gone there another day with Bud Dennington) took some video of the way it ran, making very scary sounds, and Hanania brought fresh coconut milk to us while we were doing some testing. Dorothy, Linda, Laura, Mike and I were there and enjoyed an hour with Hanitia, (Hanania's 3 year old daughter) entertaining us. She is recovering from Malaria and is a real sweetheart.
I haven't mentioned Linda much but she is the best team leader you could ever ask for. She split organizational tasks, she handled all the money and receipts, booked all the airline tickets and hotel rooms, built shelves, screens, did tremendous work with medical records and supplies, worked closely with Carla, Chris, Laura and some of the staff while Mike and I focused on the heavier construction.
We did have many light moments, enlightening rides in the truck (up to 17 persons in the back at one time), wonderful interaction with old friends and made new ones. We did some souvenir shopping and the ladies were able to visit some homes and schools of the students Dorothy helps. The poverty they saw was worse than previously witnessed in a couple of cases. On the brighter side, the leadership class displayed NO negative feelings about the future which was a sharp contrast to years past, testimony from the young leaders was hopeful and they each shared something about the leaders that affected their lives growing up to this point in their lives. Parents were mentioned many times, a little unusual since some don't have both parents living at home or at all.
This was a very strong team. No issues, lots of joy, laughs, good food, no flat tires, pretty good sleeping weather and Dorothy was happy and looking forward to the arrival of Jim and Diana Huckle, Kathy Gray and the MSU medical team.
Thank you for your interest,
Staton