28Sep10
Events of the day:
-Drove from Cayes to Port-Au-Prince
-Dinner at Child Hope
Honestly, not a really busy day, but very draining. We left Cayes around 8am in the middle of a strong rain. Seems to be a daily occurance, guess that’s why it’s called the rainy season. lol.
Noticed once again that the area between Cayes and Anquin, including St. Louis du Sud would make great tourist areas. Gorgeous beaches with islands on the horizon. Bright blue water.
Only a 2 1/2 or 3 hour trip from Cayes to Grand Goave. Then I stopped there for lunch. Talked with Maggie and Tiff again. They are looking forward to having a very long list of things to accomplish, so far they have simply been getting acclimated, and sometimes it includes a lot of waiting since Lex is busy with many things right now.
Also I got to talk to Sean from Soulfest again. He is working with Fondespwa and was in a meeting almost the whole time I was there teaching a haitian woman some business concepts and getting paperwork in order. Maestro was translating and helping to explain things. It was interesting to see. Sean is doing a lot down here. So much work that he is hard to actually talk to because he is so busy, but to see him interacting with this woman was great.
After lunch, we got on the road again to get back to Port-Au-Prince. Since Yves doesn’t drive, he’s not the greatest with directions outside of the Delmas area. Therefore, we were using a map. Had to take a detour around a blocked road, and also traveled down J.J.Desalines boulevard through downtown. It was not a problem for safety, but seeing the destruction in that area, and smelling all the garbage, sewage, and burning was a lot for the senses.
Then we went up into Delmas 33. When I heard the name, I recongnized it as a big road/area. I did not realize how far we would be traveling though. We were dropping off Smiley’s cousin to stay with family. Her mother is in the hospital here and she will be visiting her.
We kept climbing and climbing up Delmas 33, until finally we were on top of the mountain, on dirt(mud) roads with tent cities all around. Smiley and Yves took some pictures/video cause I don’t think many blan’s make it up that far.
By the way, Smiley and Jude came up for the week. I had to work out a little different pay scale because I am short on funds to pay them the $25/day I did in the past. It will likely be more like $5-10/day, but they do not do anything when there are not americans around. So they are glad to have a trip to go on. They will help me with general projects around the house. Yves is a welder and will start working on a battery rack tomorrow.
We ate at child hope again tonight. I like doing that, but with 3 of us (Yves is always welcome there anyhow), it will be more efficient to cook for ourselves. Here’s to a lot of Kids Against Hunger meals. I like the rice, so it will be sufficient for me. Will get some meat at the supermarket too.
Speaking of Child Hope, I need to go help them at some point as well. Maybe I can get Jude and Smiley started then go look at their problems with a solar power station they have running.
I know I am jumping a little bit of everywhere with this post, but I am tired from all the driving, and I got home to our house and the power is out. I don’t know if EDH has been on at all while we were gone, but Yves was trying to be helpful and turned off the inverter/charger when we left, so the batteries did not charge at all even if EDH did kick on.
Makes job#1 tomorrow getting the generator hooked up. Then working on the battery rack and moving the inverter. Need to rewire some circuits that were not on breakers before, they were simply tapped off the main service entrance.
Also need to unclog the shower and get rain collection going or I will have to get another water truck in here, and I would prefer to avoid that.
Midrange priority projects are finishing the toilets in the master bathroom, purring a door on the common bathroom, and getting the new fridge in place.
Low priorities right now are bunk beds, kitchen sink, dryer, and maybe painting.
Please pray for:
-wisdom as I am leading this team of haitians.
-smiley’s aunt that is in the hospital
-maggie and tiff as they get in the swing of things in Grand Goave
-JT (Jonathan Taylor) as he is on my mind tonight so why not.
-jude that he will not get homesick this trip. 🙂
