Rest & Relaxation

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were much appreciated during our stay in the mountains.  Breakfast was usually coffee and buns.  The coffee was good and REALLY sweet, which made for a good wake up call.  We shared our peanut butter and jelly for the bread.  I usually grabbed a Clif bar before starting work.  Lunch was either corn meal and a Cajun-type sauce or spaghetti with ketchup, mayo, and onion.  We shared your summer sausage and dried fruit during these meals.  Dinner was rice and beans.  Sometimes I used a tuna packet with meals as well as some horseradish mustard to mix up the routine.  For such simple food, the meals were always really good and filling.

At night everyone would hang out and chat for a while.  Then, before dinner could settle in our bellies the Haitians brought out the dominoes.  They loved playing dominoes and I tried my best to join them.  We played in teams and passive communication between teammates was critical.  I didn't pick it up very well, though it was fun to watch the Haitians play.

We finished on Thursday afternoon and were able to get our bags and tools out in time to be picked up.  We went back to the FHM guesthouse.  A cold shower was definitely in order by now.  After dinner I didn't last long because I was so exhausted.

Friday turned into a rest day.  Mike picked us up and we went to the beach where we hung out for half the day and ate lunch.  I also picked up a few trinkets from the locals.  Having this extra day to relax was very nice bonus.

Construction Details & Section Views

You may have noticed from the progress photos that the roof trusses were suddenly on top of the house.  This is because the trusses were built ahead of time.  I worked with a couple of the Haitians to get this done.  When the Kay was ready we threw them up in a matter of minutes.  Also, a decorative truss is made for every Kay.  The owner wanted to see the mountains, the sun, and some animals.  I was excited to work on this part of the project so Curt gave this task to me.  The animals were challenging, and with some help from the Haitians and Jack we pulled it all together.

The Kay also had a metal roof installed which went up quickly.  Then, while some finally details were addressed on the Kay, we all worked on getting some furniture built from the scraps left over.  Gary asked if we could make a bed.  Fortunately, we had enough 2-by material to make a 4 foot by 7 foot bed.  This was huge for Gary because most Haitians sleep on the ground.  The bed could also be used for sitting or even dining.

Construction of an Incentive Kay

The following photos show a progression of the Incentive Kay construction work from Monday to Thursday.   There were some snags with the home owner who did not have all of the construction materials on site.  Fortunately, Rene, our lead Haitian foreman, and Curt pulled some strings and made some magic to get everything we needed.

Day 3: Getting to the Construction Site & The Build

On Monday morning we met with our Haitian construction crew hopped in the truck and headed for the construction site.  On the way we first stopped for some tools located at a proposed site for a health clinic.  The project is on hold because of a money-laundering Haitian baptist priest in New York who owns the open land and is trying to wheel and deal.  Sad, really.  Our second stop was for some sugar cane sticks.  The vendor took his machete to shave off the bark, and soon we were all chewing on the pulpy sweet waters of the cane.  What pulp was let after chewing we just spit on the ground.  This is one delicacy that I wish we had in the states (but instead we have subsidized corn that we make into high fructose corn syrup). The last leg of our journey took us down the ridge of a mountain along a winding and rocky dirt road.  The odds of falling out of the truck were high, but we kept it together and made it to our stop.

The road stopped at a church where we unloaded all our tools and bags.  Throughout the mountains hiking trails could be seen winding all over.  Many Haitians lived in the mountains in small communities of 2 to 4 families.  We needed to hike about 45 minutes to one of these communities.  The trail dropped down into a valley where we crossed a river and headed up a trail to the village.

The construction site was cut into a rocky hillside, and we were amazed by the amount of earth that was moved.  We asked how long the digging lasted.  The locals said they completed the digging in one night under a full moon.  They believe the earth loosens up during a full moon, and they noted they could not have been done without the moon.  As soon as bags were dropped the Haitians jumped at the project.  The building was quickly surveyed and shovels and picks were flying.  The post holes were incredibly difficult to dig because the earth was so rocky.

As we took turns digging holes we also settled into the village.  There was a vacant shelter where we set up tents.  We didn't need our rain covers, but we still needed tents to keep bug bites to an absolute minimum.  Malaria and dengue fever were a big concern.  Lucky for us the bugs were scarce at our elevation.

The next post will have project progression pictures.  Below are a few pics of today's journey.

Day 2: Made It to Haiti

To anyone who has traveled internationally via the Miami International Airport, I have experienced your pain.  The headaches encountered at MIA were nothing unusual, though the intensity was compounded by the masses of people, a seemingly unconventional number of lines in which we waited, and my disdain for vanity which appeared all around me.

With me on this journey were Rob, the trip leader, and Jack.  Both older gentlemen from Maryland with open minds and a yearning to do good in this world.  Through all the chaos of getting to Haiti we collectively kept our cool and supported each other from the start.

After landing in Haiti I quickly noticed the wet heat one my expect from a tropical destination.  The humidity was especially stifling for me because I've been used to the cool, dry air of a Colorado winter.  Slowly but surely we made our way through the various checkpoints at the airport.  Once we retrieved our bags and headed out of the airport, our Haitian journey truly started.

With backpacks strapped tight and duffel bags over our shoulders we made our way to the parking lot through a mass of Haitians looking to help carry bags.  The "red hats" were legit baggage handlers, but we really didn't need the help.  Three grizzly looking white Americans were an easy find for Curt, our project manager.  Curt swept us through the crowds to a white SUV where a driver was waiting.    This whole whirlwind from airport to car was probably only two minutes long.

Port Au Prince is a city one might expect to see in a third world country, yet expectations had to be left behind because this experience was unique.  Cars and motorcycles drove wherever they could get ahead and horns were used liberally.  This made for a scary ride to Leogane.  Buildings were dilapidated, demolished, half built, or sometimes new.  Earthquake damage was clearly visible, and the Haitians preferred not to clear a fallen building, generally speaking, because it acted as a sort of memorial.  We were told that some locals were upset about the capitol palace being cleared.  We also passed the market where we encountered the most traffic.  Motorcycles and tap-taps (buses) weaved and dodged to make any progress that they could find.  I wish I had a picture of the market because the masses of stuff and people and half built sales stands was an amazing sight to see.  We passed a tent city which housed displaced Haitians after the earthquake.  They had nowhere else to go after so much was lost so they banded together in makeshift tents just big enough to sleep in.  Just before leaving the city we passed an unofficial dump where garbage continuously smoldered and burned filling the air with smog and a lingering stink.  Air quality is a problem all over Haiti.  Even in the mountains locals burned their trash every once in a while because that's what is customary.  There were also a couple of police check points on the way out of town where we didn't run into an problems.  Images of Port Au Prince can be seen here.

Eventually, we picked up the pace was we drove further away from Port Au Prince.  Just outside of Leogane is the Family Health Ministries (FHM) guesthouse where we spent our first night.  FHM is an organization Building Goodness Foundation (BGF) is partnering with to eventually build a clinic.  Due to logistics and property negotiations the project is on hold for now.  The house had all the amenities one might expect at a hostel.  The guesthouse was fenced in with razor wire trimming the top of the fence.  A guard was always on duty to protect the guesthouse.  He was always there to let people in and out of the compound with a shotgun slung over his shoulder.  Here we dropped our bags in one of the bunk rooms, and soon headed out for dinner.

For dinner we went to a beach near Leogane where there is a restaurant run by an older French couple who moved here a couple decades ago.  We met with the previous group of volunteers and Haitians who just finished a project.  We conversed, swam in the ocean, and ate a glorious meal.  I had the lobster.  Just before dawn some locals could be seen pulling in their lobster traps.

Day 1: On the move

I made it through security at Denver International Airport and awaiting my flight to D.C.  Then, I'll meet up with the group and fly down to Miami.  We'll be overnight in Miami, and Saturday morning we head for Haiti.  So excited!

The pics of the jobsite were beautiful.  It appears that the house we'll be building is on the ridge of a mountain; not so much like the Rockies but more like the Appalachians.  Stay tuned folks.

A Quick Intro

My trip to Haiti will be from March 15th to March 22nd.  I will be building a "tiny house" with two other volunteers from Building Goodness Foundation (BGF) and a Haitian family.  The family earned their house through years of service such as reforestation efforts.  We will be camping at the construction site which is typically located in the more remote areas of Haiti.

BGF has been working in Haiti for 15 years and running.  They also work in several Central American countries.  I highly recommend watching the video on BGF's website for a better overview of BGF. Scroll down on the main page to see it. 

Thank you SO much for your interest in the Building Goodness Foundation and our efforts to help the people of Haiti.