24Mar11
Today was a great day.
I’m sorry I haven’t posted too much this week, it’s been excellent all around, and I have just been too busy with people around to thing about writing blogs.
Tuesday, I went and picked up Josh, Sean, Ian, and Ryan, or at least met them in Grand Goave. Then we all made the trip over the mountain to Jacmel. To be honest, when we got here to Madame Bonite’s, I was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had only met her breifly and inspected the facility for power needs. However, there was nothing to worry about here.
She is amazingly hospitable, and so very thankful we are here to help her. She also has related to us her problems with EDH (the electric company) as of late, including here bill being over 2x it’s normal price and that she may not be able to pay it on time. Thankfully we are getting the solar power up and runnnig for her already.
We didn’t work on Tuesday, due to travel fatigue, but we got to get oriented with being here. Madame Bonite is absolutely amazing. She has a feeding program for 275 kids each day, and sponsors 54 to go to school. However, that is just the start. The feeding program is more of an after-school program that includes bible lessons and food. Then she hosts a church here, including morning prayer meetings at 630 each morning, and other meeting during the week, whether for corporate worship or prayer.
Tuesday evening there were even some ladies in the church praying over all the cards of prayer requests that had been left at the church.
Plus, she handles community food distribution when she has a surplus of food, and distributes clothing and other stuff whenever she has available.
And, she’s a nurse and does clinic as needed. She spent 40 years working as a nurse in Brooklyn.
And, she hosts marraiges for people who cannot afford them at her church, complete with wedding dresses and suits for them to borrow that have been donated from the states.
Wednesday, I got to introduce some of the guys to more of Haiti. First, Sean rode moto-taxis with me to the Hands and Feet Project site to get the rest of my tools, and borrow Odius’ (the haitian foreman at HAF) welder. So we took a little tour of the HAF complex, and Sean got to meet some of the babies in the nursery. Then, later, when I was returning their truck which I had borrowed, Ryan went with me and got to meet some of the toddlers, and we rode back in a Tap-Tap with Jude.
Now, to say that I’ve used some sketchy tools in my journeys down here is an understatement, but I have to say that so far, this welder I am borrowing from Odius takes the cake. All the regular stick welders I have available to me here are 220VAC, and do not have 220VAC available to me here, so I will gladly use his. It runs off 110, and looks like a pile of spaghetti. It is simple and crude. It is just a transformer with copper leades pulled up at different intervals and coated in rustoleum. In order to change current/power settings, I have to move the copper of the welding lead to a different exposed loop. Honestly, I haven’t even tried, cause the setting it is on is fuctioning well enough, even if it is a little hot.
I think I’m even to the point that some of my welds would pass inspection from Bill Johnson or Dave Spear. lol.
At minimum, they are functional, and these frames will work well.
By wednesday evening, we had the first frame on the roof to be painted. Also, we managed to install the new inverter, charge controller, and DC disconnect.
Today we finished, mounted and painted both racks, including filling them with solar panels. The panels are tied into the charge controller and battery bank now too.
Tomorrow, we need to run the wires more neatly. Basically stapling them in place and pulling in any extra slack. Then Jude and I will manage to route the wiring a little better to get everything functioning properly.
We should finish up with a trip to Lakou New York, a beach area to visit an art gallery from Living Media International. That is run by Lee Rainboth, a friend I met last year.
So, I guess I reverted to play-by-play stuff again. Sorry about that. I’ll try to do better again sometime, but Sean and Ryan started talking to me, and I just heard a song that Coffey (spelling?) recorded on Sean’s computer. Sounded pretty cool. I need to meet this guy sometime when I’m home.
I’m also missing home a bit, even with these guys here. It’s nice to have a countdown going. The rest of my trip will be split between Grand Goave and Les Cayes, and I’ll be home April 8th or so.
Please pass the word. I would love to share what God is doing down here, both with my ministry endeavors and just in general. I will be home April 10-30 or so. I want to share at churches, youth groups, small groups, whatever, and I’m willing to travel around. Pass the word and email me with any thoughts. tknipple@f1engineering.org
If anyone talks to Carey Fleegle (Dunlo U.M), Brad Greisheimer (Hilltop Baptist), Doug Black (Liberty Grace) or anywhere else I have shared before, I would be glad to give an update to them again, I just need to work out a schedule.
God Bless.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday cards, though I’m not sure I should thank the Pastva’s. 🙂
I loved them all. It’s great to get stuff from home.
