Building New Homes & Lives - June 22 & 23, 2013

Let me begin by saying that we appreciate the generosity that everyone has shown throughout the process of building homes in Haiti.  Christy and I never expected the response that we got from all of the companies and individuals that worked to make the dream to provide homes and water collection systems in Haiti a reality.  When we initially agreed to build these homes we had no idea where the money would come from but through your support and encouragement these homes became a reality and lives were truly changed in the process.  This is a simple timeline for the process that was completed over several months.  You can truly see the challenges faced when doing this type of construction but I can say with conviction that together we have worked to “Be the change” in a community where change is truly needed.

 In April of 2013 a team from Whitestone Church went to Haiti with several specific purposes in mind.  The primary objective was to minister to the people of Camatin, Coq Chante, and Belloc, Haiti but also with a focus on laying the ground work for the upcoming building trip in June.  The team was composed of Mark Johnston (Legacy Builders), Brock Tharpe (Whitestone Church), Tim Meyers (Tool Crib), and a group of other missionaries/adoptive parents from Whitestone Church.  Mark, Brock, and Tim, with the help of a donation from Tool Crib, were able to contract out and oversee the laying of the foundation for the home in Camatin.    The first building site was located .61 miles from the road or 1.2 miles from the orphanage and all materials had to be carried in by hand.  The team was able to hire several Haitians to clear and frame the site as well as carry 90 lb. bags of concrete and 5 gallon buckets of water to lay the foundation for what was to be an extremely challenging and physically demanding week in June. 

 On Thursday, June 27 the building team left from the Whitestone house to drive to Atlanta to catch a flight to Miami and then on to Port au Prince, Haiti.  The team consisted of Mark Johnston, Tim King, Rusty Ortner , Tom Powers, Bill Powers, Jason Gilleran, Mark Gilleran, Brock Tharpe, Zeke Meyers, and me.  We arrived at the Atlanta airport safely, loaded with tools, and checked in for our flight to Miami.  The flight to Miami was uneventful except that we arrived during game 7 of the NBA finals.  The team spent the night in the airport in preparation of our 6:30 AM flight to Port au Prince.  We arrived in PAP at approximately 9:00 AM, cleared customs and began our day of purchasing the supplies need to build 2 homes and 3 water collection systems.  Building in Haiti is not like building in the United States.

Fortunately in PAP there is a supply depot called MSC where we were able to purchase most of the materials “American Style”; which made the process much easier than relying on a traditional Haitian building supply store experience to get our materials.  The final tally from the first stop was $4817.80.  Over the next 3 hours the materials were slowly loaded on to the truck.  After loading the truck we had the opportunity to go to the Visa Lodge for some down time and lunch prior to the 3 plus hour journey up the mountain to Camatin.  The PCAP truck left the Visa Lodge at approximately 4:30 PM loaded down with supplies for Camatin.   We were packed in for the ride to Camatin but such is life in Haiti. What should have been a 3 hour ride turned into a 5 plus hour ride due to traffic in Carrefour.

   

Mark Johnston is an incredibly detail oriented person and he had organized the building projects in to responsibilities.  Those responsibilities ranged from carpenter to siding to roofing and so on.  My primary responsibility was to represent the interests of the homeowners.   So on Saturday morning I left early for the building site to discuss the plans for the house and what Amanese would like to see in the house.  It was real simple she wanted 3 windows and 3 doors other than that she would be happy with whatever we did because it was a blessing to her and her family.  I was able to tell her that I let Bel pick out the paint colors for the house and that the house would be blue with yellow trim.  She was obviously excited about what was to come.   Progress was incredibly slow due to the distance from the road.  Each board had to be carried in by a team of 10 Haitians who had been hired by a local contractor as laborers.  This group of Haitian men worked harder and longer than any group of individuals I have ever seen.  It was amazing. At the end of the day we paid them 4 times the $5 US per day Haitian minimum wage.  Each worker walked out with $20 US. The workers were eager to come back and work on any projects that we had for the next few days.  The following collage of pictures is from Saturday.  As one can see we made good progress and the house was almost in the dry by the time we left on Saturday night at 7:00 PM.

 

 Sunday, June 23, 2013

On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to Belloc and worship at the Redempteur Church which was founded by Pastor Juste as part of his network of orphanages and churches that stretch all over Sud Ouest , Ayiti.  After church we began work on the second house for Madame Marcel.  Mme Marcel lives next to the church and her original house was destroyed by the earthquake in January of 2010.  Currently she is living in a make shift USAID tent.  She was incredibly excited and has been waiting over a year for this house.  The house in Belloc was much smaller and of different construction since it was designed to house one person.  It was more of a shed design with high quality exterior sheeting to withstand the elements.  Mme Marcel continually hugged us and thanked us.  Her favorite phrase throughout the whole process was “Mesi Jezi” which means Thank You Jesus.  Her house was in the dry in roughly 6 hours.