24Jan12
So, yesterday was a big adventure.
First, I went to Bonite’s. Her inverter had been killed when someone knocked down a
telephone pole with a semi truck. Not sure exactly what happened, but I was told it
was smoking and wouldn’t turn back on.
So, I went and swapped out her inverter with one from Dave Byrd, who is teaching job
skills to young haitians, including his group of deaf carpenters who do fantastic
work. This is a temporary solution, with the next step being to fix Bonite’s inverter.
I wanted to send it to a shop, but can’t easily here in Jacmel because I don’t know of
any shops.
But, she had power back up and running, so it was sweet.
Then, I went back to Dr. Ken’s to help him get an inverter up and running.
We spent most of the time planning because their guest house will be adding lots of
new equipment. Water heater, inverter, refrigerator, and some upgraded electrical
work.
After that, I met up with Nick and Gwen Mangine for dinner. That was sweet already,
but got even better when we played the board game that they created. As this was a
“beta test” I even got to contribute ideas of how to improve the game. It was a lot of
fun.
That should have been the end of the night, and I would have returned to Dr. Ken’s at
that point, but life got a little more exciting.
I got a phone call from Bonite that one of her wires had shorted out and was sparking,
so I went to make an emergency repair at her place, at about 10:00pm. Thankfully it’s
only a couple blocks from the Mangine’s.
However, I got stuck on Nick’s road. After jacking up the rear end and putting 2×4’s
under the tires, I managed to get out and finally head to Bonite’s.
Then, I found out the problem. There were a couple wires running under the garage door
that had been exposed over time and were now cut by the steel door. So, they shorted
out, which would cause lots of sparks like she said.
With a little help from flashlights and the headlights of my car I had enough light to
work and got everything back up and running.
I have to go back today to make a more permanent solution, but they had power through
the night.
Special thanks to the Mangine’s for letting me stay at their place last night since I
didn’t feel like driving back out to Dr. Ken’s in Cayes Jacmel after all of that.
