Grandpa David in Haiti

Grandpa David last year went to Haiti for a week to help the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project for Habitat for Humanity. This was impressive to say the least. But nothing compared to this year. This time he is one the primary build team that does all the initial work for the volunteers who come later. He left on the 4th and will be there for a month. That takes some serious dedication. He has written a couple of emails about his experience so far that I put here. Can’t wait for the story when he returns. We are all proud of you Dad!

November 14, 2012 - Another lunch break at Santos

Another lunchtime shot at the computer w internet access.

Had rain last night - long hard rain on the tin roof of my building - kinda of neat.... Even heavy rain doesn't have a real impact on the construction site. WE cover the materials at night and the heavy gravel and clay soil doesn't hold water, so we don't loose much time after a rain getting started again.

The "normal" in Haiti has a lot of strange appearances. THis last weekend, streets in Port-au-Prince were blocked with people, burning tires, shouting against the French Red Cross for some perceived offense or another. The following night, the armed guards at our compound 'Christianville' used their pistol grip shotguns to fire warning bursts at unknowns approaching the fence line..... and today, up in the hills to the south, a variety of mobs put up blockades on the one identifiable highway - burning tires at multiple intervals and men, some in uniform(?), others not, asking questions and upset about one of the large mission congregations and its Pastor. so it goes in Haiti - a protest at any time for any and all occasions.

At Christianville, 2 groups run the main operation which hosts visiting goat imseminators (something about breed stock) and fish specialists looking to see if they can start Tapia farms at the head of mountain streams in the south. Others are working on large scale chicken farming, and are building a processing plant. THeir is a very interesting fellow who heads up the place has a million ideas every day and has a steady stream of American and French and ???? researchers, students, faculty visiting and talking about projects that would seve common interests her. Also on thegrounds is a University of Florida medical unit which is working on tracking diseases in the water - taking hundreds of samples through the country on a weekly basis and looking for pre-cursers of various bacteria...... Lot's happening.

Haiti, at time seems to be made equally of Haitians, Volunteers, and political - social - business figures working in and with Parliament and powers that would be. EVERYONE in Haiti seems to operate on "...getting their share... - their piece of the pie. The fact that so many people really need a piece of the pie doesn't seem to weigh-in. Also - among the 200 + Haitians we employ on site, there are frequent yelling matches between members of a work crew, between work crews, or some other faction vs faction. LOUD yelling and excited behaviour..... but absolutely no touching - no physical threats..... just yelling and moving around with energy.... not a bad model for getting along.............so it goes,

love all,

your man in Haiti

Dad, david, old man

November 15, 2012 - Today’s lessons from Haiti

First - it's really hot - so much so that my special wicking shirts don't work because there is no breeze to keep the material off, or loose, from the skin. Build T-Shirts come this weekend, hopefully, so I will have the anticipated extra shirts to work with. My hosts do laundry once a week for us, so that problem is solved.

In the last 24 hours, I have cut more 2x4's thane I have ever handled in my entire life - including S.B. Habitat builds and last year's build. So many different parts to cut and even more lengths to set-up the construction (temp support for trusses), braces for the walls during assembly and jigs to set-up the placement of roof 'tin'. I digress......

Today's cultural lesson is about Sri Lanka! What do Shi Lanka and Haiti have in common??? OK - enough guessing..... the UN peace-keeping contingent is a brigade of Shir Lankan soldiers. We pass their walled compound every day into work and we see their vehicles moving on the road back into and from Port au Prince.....The soldiers also do their evening exercise walks along the local roads and we note that these guys are almost uniformly somewhat shorter than other soldier types - none over 6', all wide at the shoulders and almost the same width at the waist and very muscular legs. Got the picture?? Turns out these guys are from the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. They have lots of experience fighting locally. Well - they have a fierce reputation in Haiti. THe normal demonstrations, tire burnings, etc are generally tolerated without UN assistance in control or peace-keeping. If a demonstration gets out of control or lives are seriously under direct threat, it is only a matter of time before the Sri Lankans show up and when they do, it apparently gets very rough and the 'peace' is established VERY QUICKLY. So the standard game plan for demonstration is to post scouts watching the road from our area of Leogane and alert the participants (on both sides....) when the white UN vehicles are seen approaching. Crowds disappear absolutely!!! I am told that the appearance of the Sri Lankans in the distance is sufficient to resolve all but the most vicious of the crowds and civil conflict........ so it goes......

A more cheerful note - every morning inside the gate to our Christianville Compound (!!??) , an older man appears about 6am and sings - to himself or as a greeting to us I cannot tell. But he uses what appears to be a hymnbook and some of the melodies are familiar from Methodist church days..... But much of his melody is like a cantor and it flows with great beauty in Kreole. He sings for about 30 minutes and then goes about day. A marvelous blessing for the day ahead!

Haiti is indeed a place of great contrasts and internal conflicts.......

david c