5.04.2012
4 May 2012
i get to have coffee today with my friend erica, who came to haiti for the last week that i was there in late march. this is her blog, where she tells the adventures of that week in a beautiful three-part story. enjoy!
http://myadventuresinwanderlust.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/haiti-part-one/
to Him be the Glory.
4.18.2012
17 April 2012
http://rejectapathy.com/poverty/features/20415-a-hand-up-not-a-handout
good thoughts. i agree wholeheartedly, and have seen firsthand in Haiti how true this concept is. help people work, view them as people, not as a problem that material gifts can easily solve. we can do better than that, it just requires more investment of ourselves, mainly our time and energy and love, not just our money.
to Him be the glory.
3.28.2012
28 March 2012
hey friends,
i'm back in the states. had the best salad of my life yesterday at the macaroni grill in ORD, got to take the coveted hot shower when i got home at 1am, and am currently getting ready to do laundry (not by hand!), because that's a very necessary part of the unpacking process. at some point i'd like to go for a bike ride, and i should probably go to a grocery store, and responsibility says i need to work on things like tax returns and bills sometime, but eh, whatever. it'll happen when it happens. one of the hardest things i think is going to be the balance between the american productivity mindset, realizing that we way over do it, but at the same time not being apathetic and lazy about things that actually are important. working on finding that healthy balance. at this point, i still haven't turned my american phone back on, nor do i have my jeep back from a friend yet, but it's nice, because it means the next few days can be a slower transition back, which is a wonderful thing. i'm still on haitian time. :)
that's the short version. much more reflection to come, but just wanted to let everyone know that all is well here in ohio. love you guys.
to Him be the Glory!
i'm back in the states. had the best salad of my life yesterday at the macaroni grill in ORD, got to take the coveted hot shower when i got home at 1am, and am currently getting ready to do laundry (not by hand!), because that's a very necessary part of the unpacking process. at some point i'd like to go for a bike ride, and i should probably go to a grocery store, and responsibility says i need to work on things like tax returns and bills sometime, but eh, whatever. it'll happen when it happens. one of the hardest things i think is going to be the balance between the american productivity mindset, realizing that we way over do it, but at the same time not being apathetic and lazy about things that actually are important. working on finding that healthy balance. at this point, i still haven't turned my american phone back on, nor do i have my jeep back from a friend yet, but it's nice, because it means the next few days can be a slower transition back, which is a wonderful thing. i'm still on haitian time. :)
that's the short version. much more reflection to come, but just wanted to let everyone know that all is well here in ohio. love you guys.
to Him be the Glory!
3.26.2012
24 March 2012
Hey friends. Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything on here. It's hard to believe it's already March 24, and I head home in just three days. On one hand, it feels like I've been here forever, and yet on the other hand, it's still very surreal that I'm leaving so soon. Since the beginning of the trip, everyone asks "kile ou prale Etazini?", meaning "when will you go to America?" When the answer was "ven set Mas" (27th of March), it was normally met with a response of "oh, that's a long time from now", but now, I don't even need to say ven set mas, because now i just say "Mardi" (Tuesday). so crazy.
the last couple weeks have been great. having the akron team here two weeks ago and getting to fix cars and such was super fun. excited about the potential idea of having a legit mechanic shop here (or in another third-world context) because of the straight up need for a knowledgeable, good mechanic. fun to meet carissa and sarah (page) from Hoola for Happiness. really enjoyed the great conversations we had throughout those few days, and our excursion together to st. etienne.
also wonderful to have cherith and dan and megan here with travis this week. between the four of them, erica powell, and myself, we had quite the fun little team this week. i love the random projects: from sewing projects to fixing generators to playing soccer at hands and feet, to fixing an outboard motor and moving gravel, to painting murals with glitter and jigsaw puzzles, it's been a great week.
more reflections to come, but for now, back to enjoying the last couple days here.
to Him be the glory!
the last couple weeks have been great. having the akron team here two weeks ago and getting to fix cars and such was super fun. excited about the potential idea of having a legit mechanic shop here (or in another third-world context) because of the straight up need for a knowledgeable, good mechanic. fun to meet carissa and sarah (page) from Hoola for Happiness. really enjoyed the great conversations we had throughout those few days, and our excursion together to st. etienne.
also wonderful to have cherith and dan and megan here with travis this week. between the four of them, erica powell, and myself, we had quite the fun little team this week. i love the random projects: from sewing projects to fixing generators to playing soccer at hands and feet, to fixing an outboard motor and moving gravel, to painting murals with glitter and jigsaw puzzles, it's been a great week.
more reflections to come, but for now, back to enjoying the last couple days here.
to Him be the glory!
16 March 2012
things i have come to value over the last few months:
-glass bottle cokes.
-electricity in general, especially fans at night. oh, and lights in my bathroom so i don't have to shave my legs on the porch outside. it'll be really great when that actually happens. :)
-the creativity and ingenuity of "haitian engineering".
-nutella. worth it's weight in gold. [almost.] thanks to the crucified crew for choosing to show their love for me that way. :)
-communication. even when you think you said all the right words, that doesn't mean that anything was actually effectively communicated.
-marie yves. i'm thinking about bringing her home with me just because i like her so much. it's going to be crazy when i actually have to start cooking for myself again - way more boring too. i'm convinced she can take an onion and a boullion cube and make a five-course meal. pate, pancakes, all kinds of delicious goodness.
-multi-lingual worship. love it.
-baby wipes. always a good thing.
-kids that help without asking for anything, just because they want to help.
just a short list. many, many more things to be grateful for. God is good to us.
To Him be the glory!
-glass bottle cokes.
-electricity in general, especially fans at night. oh, and lights in my bathroom so i don't have to shave my legs on the porch outside. it'll be really great when that actually happens. :)
-the creativity and ingenuity of "haitian engineering".
-nutella. worth it's weight in gold. [almost.] thanks to the crucified crew for choosing to show their love for me that way. :)
-communication. even when you think you said all the right words, that doesn't mean that anything was actually effectively communicated.
-marie yves. i'm thinking about bringing her home with me just because i like her so much. it's going to be crazy when i actually have to start cooking for myself again - way more boring too. i'm convinced she can take an onion and a boullion cube and make a five-course meal. pate, pancakes, all kinds of delicious goodness.
-multi-lingual worship. love it.
-baby wipes. always a good thing.
-kids that help without asking for anything, just because they want to help.
just a short list. many, many more things to be grateful for. God is good to us.
To Him be the glory!
3.13.2012
13 March 2012
Hi friends!
It's been a great couple days having the crew from Akron here. There's seven of them total: Ben Keenan, Zach Romanin, Vinny Romanin, Ashley Lonsbury, Hannah Farmer, Brandon Nelson, and Jenna Brinker. The whole team has been great about stepping up, doing whatever work needs to be done, whether it's working on vehicles, helping Angela in the school clinic, moving backfill (everyone's favorite of course), painting, or even simple things like doing dishes after dinner. There have been lots of great conversations, card games, and fellowship as well. All good things. Headed to church again tonight, and more work again tomorrow!
to Him be the Glory!
It's been a great couple days having the crew from Akron here. There's seven of them total: Ben Keenan, Zach Romanin, Vinny Romanin, Ashley Lonsbury, Hannah Farmer, Brandon Nelson, and Jenna Brinker. The whole team has been great about stepping up, doing whatever work needs to be done, whether it's working on vehicles, helping Angela in the school clinic, moving backfill (everyone's favorite of course), painting, or even simple things like doing dishes after dinner. There have been lots of great conversations, card games, and fellowship as well. All good things. Headed to church again tonight, and more work again tomorrow!
to Him be the Glory!
3.10.2012
9 March 2012
Just a quick update tonight. It's been a good week. Started with a quick getaway to Jacmel Sunday and Monday (more on that later) to spend time at Surf Haiti with Dr. Ken and Diane Pierce (www.surfhaiti.org). The World Race team is wrapping up their time here this week, with their last work day on Tuesday, followed by now three days of 'debrief' before they move on to Romania. Tomorrow for them is more debrief time, plus packing up tents and packs and such before they leave around 4am Sunday morning. I'm definitely going to miss many of the people on this team, as they have become good friends as we've all spent time together this last month. However, they all have blogs to follow, and there's always facebook, so i'm sure we'll be able to stay in touch as they travel the world.
Today was a great adventure to Port-Au-Prince to pick up what was supposed to be six of Travis's friends, plus a team of seven from Akron. As it turned out, we had all seven from Akron, but only Ian from Travis' crew, due to a broken airplane in DC this morning that prevented the rest of his team from getting to JFK in time for their connecting flight. They're spending the night in Miami (by way of DTW), and will be flying into PAP tomorrow morning.
I'm really excited to have the Akron crew here. It's going to be a great week, hopefully including lots of mechanic goodness and problem-solving, amongst other ongoing projects like painting and helping Angela with the school clinic. I know that we probably won't *quite* accomplish the goal of fixing every vehicle in the country in the next seven days, but we're going to try. :)
to Him be the Glory!
Today was a great adventure to Port-Au-Prince to pick up what was supposed to be six of Travis's friends, plus a team of seven from Akron. As it turned out, we had all seven from Akron, but only Ian from Travis' crew, due to a broken airplane in DC this morning that prevented the rest of his team from getting to JFK in time for their connecting flight. They're spending the night in Miami (by way of DTW), and will be flying into PAP tomorrow morning.
I'm really excited to have the Akron crew here. It's going to be a great week, hopefully including lots of mechanic goodness and problem-solving, amongst other ongoing projects like painting and helping Angela with the school clinic. I know that we probably won't *quite* accomplish the goal of fixing every vehicle in the country in the next seven days, but we're going to try. :)
to Him be the Glory!
3.01.2012
1 March 2012
Hi Friends. The article I wrote last fall for PIA's school magazine just got published. Here's the link to the online version. :)
to Him be the Glory!
to Him be the Glory!
2.29.2012
29 February 2012
Hi friends!
For today's post, I'm going to refer you to the blog of Paul Fallon, the architect of both the Mission of Hope school and the Be Like Brit orphanage. Paul is a fantastic writer, and describes situations better than I ever could. His blog is about a wide range of topics, ranging from life in Haiti to cycling adventures in the US.He wrote a post a couple of weeks ago describing a night of concrete pouring, the last night before John left the first time:
http://theawkwardpose.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/concrete-night/
He also just wrote a post about our Haitian vs. American concrete pour last weekend:
http://theawkwardpose.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/a-day-at-the-concrete-races/
Enjoy!
To Him be the Glory!
For today's post, I'm going to refer you to the blog of Paul Fallon, the architect of both the Mission of Hope school and the Be Like Brit orphanage. Paul is a fantastic writer, and describes situations better than I ever could. His blog is about a wide range of topics, ranging from life in Haiti to cycling adventures in the US.He wrote a post a couple of weeks ago describing a night of concrete pouring, the last night before John left the first time:
http://theawkwardpose.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/concrete-night/
He also just wrote a post about our Haitian vs. American concrete pour last weekend:
http://theawkwardpose.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/a-day-at-the-concrete-races/
Enjoy!
To Him be the Glory!
2.24.2012
23 February 2012
hi friends! hopefully the pictures from the last post gave you a little bit of an idea of the scale of this school building project. often a picture or two is worth a thousand words, and a video can be worth a million. i've got a couple short video clips of the concrete pouring process, but couldn't upload them because we were close to the internet capacity limit for the day. hopefully sometime soon!
other than those few pictures, i know it's been a long time since i posted anything of substance. there has been a ton going on. daniel and john both left today, so now it's just myself, 45 of my closest new friends, boss pepe, and a crew of haitians. we're mainly going to be backfilling the foundation inside the building perimeter, which will probably need to be done mostly by buckets, since there's now six-course-high (4 feet) block walls everywhere. backfill will bring the floor level up about three feet from where it is now, so the walls will slowly become less of an obstacle, but for now, we'll do the best we can!
today (thursday) is officially day number 38, meaning i have 33 days left here. ten weeks in some ways is a long time, and yet somehow it's already half over. at the same time, it really does feel like i've been here way longer than that. for me, after about the two week mark, my "normal" recalibrates, and life here is just how life is. there hasn't really been anything this trip that i've really been craving. it's going to be nice to be able to eat a salad and take a hot shower when i get home, but at the same time, it's amazing what you can live without when you stop thinking about it. for me, it's very much 'out of sight, out of mind' about all the things i think i need but really don't. honestly, i think that in some ways i'm much more content in this third world context than i am in the united states. our american culture so easily breeds the materialism, immediate gratification, greed, entitlement, self-sufficiency, and ultimately pride that is the root of so much discontent and distance from God. not that life in Haiti is perfect and i'm exactly the kind of person i want to be when i'm here. i think the biggest difference here is that the problems i see or encounter here are actually things of significance, rather than the things we can think are important that are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
building a school so that the next generation of kids in grand goave can get an education and can learn about jesus. guys working so that they can earn food for their kids that they run up the hill on their lunch break. guys learning how to build a building the right way so that it's strong and safe and can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. trying to get people to see beyond just today. Haiti is a culture of immediate need, whether it's shelter for tonight, or food for my family tomorrow. The natural result of growing up your entire life in a culture that is so driven by things that are temporary and needs that are urgent is that you will be so focused on the present that you never get to see the big picture; never look beyond tomorrow to six months from now, or to why this is the way it needs to be fixed now so that it doesn't break again next week. it's just the way people think here. it's not that they're not intelligent or are incapable of understanding something; it's that this is the reality of the environment they've been surrounded by their entire life, and because of a lack of education (for a myriad of reasons) they aren't even aware that there might be another way to view a problem, that the quick fix might not actually be the best solution. efficiency and long-term planning are words that i don't think exist in creole, and yet somehow, things still get done. ingenuity and creativity definitely exist here, and often haitians come up with temporary fixes that i never would have thought of. the key is learning how to work in this environment, encouraging positive change, but at the same time not trying to make haiti into america. and all the while speaking creole.
welcome to life in haiti.
to Him be the glory!
other than those few pictures, i know it's been a long time since i posted anything of substance. there has been a ton going on. daniel and john both left today, so now it's just myself, 45 of my closest new friends, boss pepe, and a crew of haitians. we're mainly going to be backfilling the foundation inside the building perimeter, which will probably need to be done mostly by buckets, since there's now six-course-high (4 feet) block walls everywhere. backfill will bring the floor level up about three feet from where it is now, so the walls will slowly become less of an obstacle, but for now, we'll do the best we can!
today (thursday) is officially day number 38, meaning i have 33 days left here. ten weeks in some ways is a long time, and yet somehow it's already half over. at the same time, it really does feel like i've been here way longer than that. for me, after about the two week mark, my "normal" recalibrates, and life here is just how life is. there hasn't really been anything this trip that i've really been craving. it's going to be nice to be able to eat a salad and take a hot shower when i get home, but at the same time, it's amazing what you can live without when you stop thinking about it. for me, it's very much 'out of sight, out of mind' about all the things i think i need but really don't. honestly, i think that in some ways i'm much more content in this third world context than i am in the united states. our american culture so easily breeds the materialism, immediate gratification, greed, entitlement, self-sufficiency, and ultimately pride that is the root of so much discontent and distance from God. not that life in Haiti is perfect and i'm exactly the kind of person i want to be when i'm here. i think the biggest difference here is that the problems i see or encounter here are actually things of significance, rather than the things we can think are important that are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
building a school so that the next generation of kids in grand goave can get an education and can learn about jesus. guys working so that they can earn food for their kids that they run up the hill on their lunch break. guys learning how to build a building the right way so that it's strong and safe and can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. trying to get people to see beyond just today. Haiti is a culture of immediate need, whether it's shelter for tonight, or food for my family tomorrow. The natural result of growing up your entire life in a culture that is so driven by things that are temporary and needs that are urgent is that you will be so focused on the present that you never get to see the big picture; never look beyond tomorrow to six months from now, or to why this is the way it needs to be fixed now so that it doesn't break again next week. it's just the way people think here. it's not that they're not intelligent or are incapable of understanding something; it's that this is the reality of the environment they've been surrounded by their entire life, and because of a lack of education (for a myriad of reasons) they aren't even aware that there might be another way to view a problem, that the quick fix might not actually be the best solution. efficiency and long-term planning are words that i don't think exist in creole, and yet somehow, things still get done. ingenuity and creativity definitely exist here, and often haitians come up with temporary fixes that i never would have thought of. the key is learning how to work in this environment, encouraging positive change, but at the same time not trying to make haiti into america. and all the while speaking creole.
welcome to life in haiti.
to Him be the glory!
2.21.2012
21 February 2012: pictures!
as requested... pictures! just a little of the progress. for reference, the highway runs along the north edge of the property, and the property slopes uphill towards the south. depot buildings (yellow with brown trim, painted by the stow alliance team in august) are along the west side.
late january: forming up footers in the southeast part of the building.
some footers poured. overall view of the site a few weeks ago, looking northwest toward the highway.
daniel's uncle lenny sent down a huge bag of tools. you would have thought it was Christmas!
the MOHI construction crew (plus Travis) went up the hill for a tour of the progress at the Be Like Brit site. L-R: Gama, Len, Me, Daniel, Travis, Lisa, and John.
PVC drain pipe laid out along the southern (back) wall of the building. props to daniel and his laser-level abilities for making the grade exactly right. backfill, landscaping filter fabric (to keep dirt out of the drain), "river gravel", pvc pipe, more gravel, top fabric, backfill. quite the process.
overview of the site last friday. southern (back) wall is now substantially higher, and poured east wall is finished. CMU (block) interior walls are going up. everything you see (inside and outside) will get backfilled an additional three feet still (to the bottom of the doorway cutouts you see on the far side). the hooks along the south wall (to the left) are at the height of the ground floor ceiling. the rest of this is all just foundation...
late january: forming up footers in the southeast part of the building.
some footers poured. overall view of the site a few weeks ago, looking northwest toward the highway.
daniel's uncle lenny sent down a huge bag of tools. you would have thought it was Christmas!
the MOHI construction crew (plus Travis) went up the hill for a tour of the progress at the Be Like Brit site. L-R: Gama, Len, Me, Daniel, Travis, Lisa, and John.
PVC drain pipe laid out along the southern (back) wall of the building. props to daniel and his laser-level abilities for making the grade exactly right. backfill, landscaping filter fabric (to keep dirt out of the drain), "river gravel", pvc pipe, more gravel, top fabric, backfill. quite the process.
overview of the site last friday. southern (back) wall is now substantially higher, and poured east wall is finished. CMU (block) interior walls are going up. everything you see (inside and outside) will get backfilled an additional three feet still (to the bottom of the doorway cutouts you see on the far side). the hooks along the south wall (to the left) are at the height of the ground floor ceiling. the rest of this is all just foundation...
2.11.2012
11 February 2012
got some big things coming up...
The world race team (more accurately, an entire squad of 7 teams, 46 people total) should arrive tonight, and be with us here for the next month. my main role will shift from construction boss to project coordinator for these seven teams, trying to keep everyone busy and things running smoothly. Kay Militone won't be quiet anymore! Also, John Armour, construction guru, will be returning on Sunday to keep things running well with the school project. please be praying for their family, as they are working towards all coming down (John, Lisa, and their 4 kids) for a long-term stay to run the school project.
Also, Daniel is on the mend and starting to feel much better, which is a great thing. very very glad to have him back on the site today.
gotta get back to work - getting ready to pour more concrete today!
to Him be the glory!
The world race team (more accurately, an entire squad of 7 teams, 46 people total) should arrive tonight, and be with us here for the next month. my main role will shift from construction boss to project coordinator for these seven teams, trying to keep everyone busy and things running smoothly. Kay Militone won't be quiet anymore! Also, John Armour, construction guru, will be returning on Sunday to keep things running well with the school project. please be praying for their family, as they are working towards all coming down (John, Lisa, and their 4 kids) for a long-term stay to run the school project.
Also, Daniel is on the mend and starting to feel much better, which is a great thing. very very glad to have him back on the site today.
gotta get back to work - getting ready to pour more concrete today!
to Him be the glory!
2.07.2012
7 February 2012
So Travis and I didn't get the generator/welder up in Arcahaie fixed, but we found a burned out pack of diodes and a big capacitor that was actually wired into the circuit wrong [so that it would have burned up the diodes]. That's all electrical speak for we're pretty sure we identified the problem, and replacement parts will be on the way from the states as soon as is practical.
Things are still going well here in Grand Goave. We've been working at a fairly steady pace on the school project. Everyday is more concrete and rebar and dirt and broken creole sentences. The last few work days have been challenging, because Daniel [an engineer from Alaska, and the only other American on site since John and Lisa left for the states] has been pretty sick, and while he's been stubborn and has tried to work anyway, he's had to go home early the last couple days. I honestly don't know how he's done it this far. He's feeling a little better today, but went to the doctor to get a blood test for malaria, and lo and behold, that's what he has. Good to have it identified so he can be treated accordingly, but I know he's still frustrated that he can't be operating at full capacity. Fortunately, we're at a point right now where for the most part, the guys know what they're doing: the carpenters are hanging forms in preparation for the next pour [most likely Thursday], the dirt guys are still moving dirt, which they do well, and I'm left to supervise and attempt to communicate things like "this needs to go over there" [li beswe ale lot bo] and "make this here look like that" [fe ici kon sa] and "great work" [trevay tre byen]. it's an adventure in communication for sure.
language has been one of the best parts of this trip, as well as one of the most tiring parts. at the end of the day, my brain is just fried. however, it's great to be able to understand the guys a little bit better [if they speak slowly enough], to the point that we can have conversations about our families and such. without fail, they're all amazed that i don't have kids and that i'm not married yet. my standard answer is "pita" [which means "later"], which inevitably is met with laughter. they're also normally amazed that i have only one sister, as most of them have 4 or 5 or 13 siblings. while we might say "well they just start having kids really young" or "no one here uses birth control" or whatever, when the guys talk about their kids, their faces light up just like any proud dad, and it reminds me that at the core, we really are all the same.
when i see how ugly the attitude of entitlement is, whether it's in kids that are mad because you won't let them use your ipod when they want to use it, or in 'he got a new pair of work gloves, so i want a new pair of work gloves too', i realize how often i reflect that myself. it might look different, but it's the same underlying pride issue, of 'i need this, and i deserve that', whether it's electricity at the beach house, or a ride to or from the job site when i want to go, or the *huge* inconvenience of not having internet all the time. life will go on without internet, and i know how to use a headlamp, so what am i complaining about anyway?
all in all, things are going well, but God definitely has some things to teach me. i think it's going to be rough, but obviously necessary since He knows what's best in the end anyway even when i'm blind to it.
to Him be the glory.
Things are still going well here in Grand Goave. We've been working at a fairly steady pace on the school project. Everyday is more concrete and rebar and dirt and broken creole sentences. The last few work days have been challenging, because Daniel [an engineer from Alaska, and the only other American on site since John and Lisa left for the states] has been pretty sick, and while he's been stubborn and has tried to work anyway, he's had to go home early the last couple days. I honestly don't know how he's done it this far. He's feeling a little better today, but went to the doctor to get a blood test for malaria, and lo and behold, that's what he has. Good to have it identified so he can be treated accordingly, but I know he's still frustrated that he can't be operating at full capacity. Fortunately, we're at a point right now where for the most part, the guys know what they're doing: the carpenters are hanging forms in preparation for the next pour [most likely Thursday], the dirt guys are still moving dirt, which they do well, and I'm left to supervise and attempt to communicate things like "this needs to go over there" [li beswe ale lot bo] and "make this here look like that" [fe ici kon sa] and "great work" [trevay tre byen]. it's an adventure in communication for sure.
language has been one of the best parts of this trip, as well as one of the most tiring parts. at the end of the day, my brain is just fried. however, it's great to be able to understand the guys a little bit better [if they speak slowly enough], to the point that we can have conversations about our families and such. without fail, they're all amazed that i don't have kids and that i'm not married yet. my standard answer is "pita" [which means "later"], which inevitably is met with laughter. they're also normally amazed that i have only one sister, as most of them have 4 or 5 or 13 siblings. while we might say "well they just start having kids really young" or "no one here uses birth control" or whatever, when the guys talk about their kids, their faces light up just like any proud dad, and it reminds me that at the core, we really are all the same.
when i see how ugly the attitude of entitlement is, whether it's in kids that are mad because you won't let them use your ipod when they want to use it, or in 'he got a new pair of work gloves, so i want a new pair of work gloves too', i realize how often i reflect that myself. it might look different, but it's the same underlying pride issue, of 'i need this, and i deserve that', whether it's electricity at the beach house, or a ride to or from the job site when i want to go, or the *huge* inconvenience of not having internet all the time. life will go on without internet, and i know how to use a headlamp, so what am i complaining about anyway?
all in all, things are going well, but God definitely has some things to teach me. i think it's going to be rough, but obviously necessary since He knows what's best in the end anyway even when i'm blind to it.
to Him be the glory.
1.30.2012
30 January 2012
Back in Grand Goave after a good trip to Arcahaie. Travis and I were able to figure out the main issue with the welder up there, and now know what parts we need to be able to get it up and running again. It was a great weekend. More details to come, but just wanted to give you guys a quick update about where I was in the world. :)
To Him be the Glory!
To Him be the Glory!
28 January 2012
I think if I ever end up on a construction site in the US, I'm probably going to start speaking Creole just out of habit.
One of the best things about this trip so far is that my creole (while still not good), is continuing to improve to the point that I can normally get the point across. I'm sure I don't sound as good as I think I do, but it is exciting to be at the point where I can actually use full sentences some of the time at least. :)
Most of this week has been spent helping with the Mission of Hope school project, generally getting up around 5am to get to the work site by 6am right as the sun comes up, working all day, and getting back to the Militone property by about 6pm, right as it's getting dark. Yesterday was a treat, because I finished when the workers all left at 4pm, and got back to Kay Militone in time to go for a quick swim and wash some laundry. The last ten minutes or so of laundry was done via headlamp because it got dark, but it got finished nonetheless. Laundry lessons: 1) wash the cleaner clothes first, then the really dirty ones last, otherwise they all end up still slightly dirty in the end. 2) detergent for a high-efficiency washing machine is potent stuff, which is great because you get really dirty working in dirt and concrete all day and 3) Haitian women will always be way better at washing things by hand than I will ever be.
Today, Travis and I left Grand Goave mid-morning and 4 or 5 hours later ended up at Children's Lifeline in Arcahaie, northwest of Port-Au-Prince near the coast. The goal is here is to try to repair a large Lincoln Electric generator/welder that hasn't worked since the earthquake. They have two, one that works, and one that doesn't. We took panels off and started both of them up tonight. The engine on the broken one seems to run okay, but there's no power output to run the welder part. One troubleshooting issue that we did get taken care of tonight: there may or may not have been a chicken sitting on eggs she had laid in the bottom part of the generator compartment. Turns out the chicken actually belongs to the neighbors, so it got returned tonight. We'll see what adventures await us tomorrow!
One of the best things about this trip so far is that my creole (while still not good), is continuing to improve to the point that I can normally get the point across. I'm sure I don't sound as good as I think I do, but it is exciting to be at the point where I can actually use full sentences some of the time at least. :)
Most of this week has been spent helping with the Mission of Hope school project, generally getting up around 5am to get to the work site by 6am right as the sun comes up, working all day, and getting back to the Militone property by about 6pm, right as it's getting dark. Yesterday was a treat, because I finished when the workers all left at 4pm, and got back to Kay Militone in time to go for a quick swim and wash some laundry. The last ten minutes or so of laundry was done via headlamp because it got dark, but it got finished nonetheless. Laundry lessons: 1) wash the cleaner clothes first, then the really dirty ones last, otherwise they all end up still slightly dirty in the end. 2) detergent for a high-efficiency washing machine is potent stuff, which is great because you get really dirty working in dirt and concrete all day and 3) Haitian women will always be way better at washing things by hand than I will ever be.
Today, Travis and I left Grand Goave mid-morning and 4 or 5 hours later ended up at Children's Lifeline in Arcahaie, northwest of Port-Au-Prince near the coast. The goal is here is to try to repair a large Lincoln Electric generator/welder that hasn't worked since the earthquake. They have two, one that works, and one that doesn't. We took panels off and started both of them up tonight. The engine on the broken one seems to run okay, but there's no power output to run the welder part. One troubleshooting issue that we did get taken care of tonight: there may or may not have been a chicken sitting on eggs she had laid in the bottom part of the generator compartment. Turns out the chicken actually belongs to the neighbors, so it got returned tonight. We'll see what adventures await us tomorrow!
1.24.2012
25 January 2012
The school construction project at Mission of Hope is in full swing. John and Lisa Armour are here from Jacksonville, and Daniel Paajanen is here all the way from Alaska. They are all construction masterminds who really know what's going on, and are making sure this building is being built right. There have been more than a few conversations like "in America, we'd have four guys and heavy equipment doing this job, and here in Haiti, we have no heavy equipment, but 30 Haitian guys doing the same job". We've been averaging 35-50 guys on the site each day, and they all work so hard. Friday was a big concrete pour day, meaning there was a cement mixer (not a truck, just a mixer about 8ft in diameter), a big square vat (about 10ft x 10ft) it dumped the cement in, and about 40 five gallon buckets. Talk about a bucket brigade: you've never seen this many guys having this much fun on a construction site. They would throw the buckets (full of wet concrete) to each other pretty much as fast as they could, and would all be laughing and jumping around, especially when someone dropped one. It was quite a riot.
The last three days I've been in charge of the 'dirt crew'. There's lots of different things happening simultaneously on the job site - carpenters working on concrete forms, Boss Leon and his guys working on rebar layout and tying, the masons building interior block walls on one side of the building, and my crew moving dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. The problem is that there's not a lot of extra room really anywhere, so when they excavated a while ago to pour some of the footers, all the dirt ended up actually inside the building perimeter, meaning we now have to move it again to be able to set the forms for the floor cross-beam footers. So the last two days have been spent moving dirt from here to there by about 10 guys using pickaxes and shovels and wheelbarrows and a super great laser level thing that sends out a signal from a tripod that goes to a sensor on a long vertical yardstick so you can tell if this thing way over here is exactly where it's supposed to be. Yesterday they dug out two big trenches through a huge dirt mound so the rebar can be laid for the rest of the footer, and today they dug a third trench and moved another big chunk of the huge pile to backfill around some of the foundation that's been poured.
More to come tonight (and hopefully a few pictures tomorrow), but that's the short version for now.
To Him be the Glory!
The last three days I've been in charge of the 'dirt crew'. There's lots of different things happening simultaneously on the job site - carpenters working on concrete forms, Boss Leon and his guys working on rebar layout and tying, the masons building interior block walls on one side of the building, and my crew moving dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. The problem is that there's not a lot of extra room really anywhere, so when they excavated a while ago to pour some of the footers, all the dirt ended up actually inside the building perimeter, meaning we now have to move it again to be able to set the forms for the floor cross-beam footers. So the last two days have been spent moving dirt from here to there by about 10 guys using pickaxes and shovels and wheelbarrows and a super great laser level thing that sends out a signal from a tripod that goes to a sensor on a long vertical yardstick so you can tell if this thing way over here is exactly where it's supposed to be. Yesterday they dug out two big trenches through a huge dirt mound so the rebar can be laid for the rest of the footer, and today they dug a third trench and moved another big chunk of the huge pile to backfill around some of the foundation that's been poured.
More to come tonight (and hopefully a few pictures tomorrow), but that's the short version for now.
To Him be the Glory!
24 January 2012
been a good last couple of days. most of last week, yesterday and today have been spent working on the school project.
short version: big three story concrete building with offices downstairs, classrooms on the second floor, and a big multi-purpose room for church upstairs. the foundation has been poured already, and we poured a second round of the back wall (4-8 foot high section) last week. it's been quite an education, seeing how large-scale concrete construction happens in Haiti. time to get back to work for now, but i'll most a more detailed write-up soon.
To Him be the Glory!
short version: big three story concrete building with offices downstairs, classrooms on the second floor, and a big multi-purpose room for church upstairs. the foundation has been poured already, and we poured a second round of the back wall (4-8 foot high section) last week. it's been quite an education, seeing how large-scale concrete construction happens in Haiti. time to get back to work for now, but i'll most a more detailed write-up soon.
To Him be the Glory!
1.17.2012
off on another Haitian adventure! 17 January 2012
Hi Friends!
I know it's been a REALLY long time since I posted an update, and I apologize for that. Things have been pretty crazy this fall between finishing up school, working, looking for a 'real' job, and planning for time in Haiti . More the rest of that later.
Here's the highlights:
-graduated from A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) Mechanic School in December
-leaving today for Haiti until the end of March (2.5 months total trip)
-mainly working with Mission of Hope in Grand Goave, Haiti. http://www.mohintl.org
-also doing some projects with F1 Engineering / Travis Knipple. http://www.f1engineering.org
I'm also now 'officially' the short-term teams coordinator for Mission of Hope, helping coordinate logistics of the different groups that come to help out. Amongst other teams, there's currently three in the works that are going to be led by people connected with Campus Focus that have been on previous trips with me. Exciting stuff.
Please be praying for Haiti, for all of the different missionaries and mission teams doing so many great things in the name of Christ. One of my goals for this trip is to more finely tune what it looks like for me personally to be in the mission field longer-term, and learning from those who are already on similar adventures is a huge asset of being part of the body of Christ. Each group has a niche and a way that they uniquely contribute to the greater cause, and that's what makes the body function together as a whole. Please be praying for discernment and wisdom as I move forward over these next few months.
Also, I am still in need of a few hundred dollars more to cover the remaining living expenses for this trip, including this like health insurance and return plane tickets. Please contact my parents if you'd like to assist with this [2753 Eight Mile Road, Cincinnati, OH 45244], as they are handling finances for me stateside while I'm gone.
Thanks so much friends!
To Him be the Glory!
I know it's been a REALLY long time since I posted an update, and I apologize for that. Things have been pretty crazy this fall between finishing up school, working, looking for a 'real' job, and planning for time in Haiti . More the rest of that later.
Here's the highlights:
-graduated from A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) Mechanic School in December
-leaving today for Haiti until the end of March (2.5 months total trip)
-mainly working with Mission of Hope in Grand Goave, Haiti. http://www.mohintl.org
-also doing some projects with F1 Engineering / Travis Knipple. http://www.f1engineering.org
I'm also now 'officially' the short-term teams coordinator for Mission of Hope, helping coordinate logistics of the different groups that come to help out. Amongst other teams, there's currently three in the works that are going to be led by people connected with Campus Focus that have been on previous trips with me. Exciting stuff.
Please be praying for Haiti, for all of the different missionaries and mission teams doing so many great things in the name of Christ. One of my goals for this trip is to more finely tune what it looks like for me personally to be in the mission field longer-term, and learning from those who are already on similar adventures is a huge asset of being part of the body of Christ. Each group has a niche and a way that they uniquely contribute to the greater cause, and that's what makes the body function together as a whole. Please be praying for discernment and wisdom as I move forward over these next few months.
Also, I am still in need of a few hundred dollars more to cover the remaining living expenses for this trip, including this like health insurance and return plane tickets. Please contact my parents if you'd like to assist with this [2753 Eight Mile Road, Cincinnati, OH 45244], as they are handling finances for me stateside while I'm gone.
Thanks so much friends!
To Him be the Glory!
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