Its a Haitian Birthday!

Another nice morning, cool without the overhead sun and quiet before the kids start arriving at school.  In addition, its my birthday today.  58 seems like a good spot to be and I’m going to enjoy the day, without a lot of hoopla.  Not totally quiet as Cathy wished me a Happy Birthday at breakfast and she’s cooking up my “present”, a nice chocolate cake with chocolate or peanut butter frosting which we’ll have after lunch so the staff can join in as well.  It’ll be nice, something a bit different.

In my continuing quest to get Cathy blogging, I’ve added a few notes she penned a couple of days ago to our girls, but which pretty much covers her day then...

“I'm just going to take a quick shower before we head over at 4:00 to the new piece of land where there will be a big memorial service and dedication of the land for the community at 5:00.  There was no water this morning so couldn't shower then.  

“Dad has been out with the teams at the 3 house building projects currently going on.  They are all back now so they can all get ready for the memorial service.  I've been working inside with some women who can't physically work outside or have no tolerance for the sun.  The two teams brought quite a few big rubbermaid bins full of office supplies, clothing and other items for distribution, materials for the various projects that they will be undertaking while they're here, as well as a variety miscellaneous supplies for use by Haiti Arise in running its ministry here. We've been emptying bins and sorting through the materials, and then putting away items, and storing a number of the various piles back in bins and labeling them before putting them in an organized fashion in a storage area.  Some of the items the teams will be distributing in the next few days and next week during community outreach times.  I'm working at creating a plan to create some efficiencies in the housekeeping area, but everything takes time as there are so many interruptions and distractions.  Keeping the teams informed, on track, and organized with the things they need keeps us running.  Looking after 20 others is a big job, while trying to communicate with the Haitian staff as well.  My creole is improving every day!!  I'm making an effort to pay attention and stumble through speaking it at every opportunity, learning as I go.  We'll have our first creole lesson next Wed at 4 PM with another longterm couple joining in with us.

“Must run if I'm to be showered and ready on time.”

As you can tell, it isn’t quiet here.  Monday morning started off with staff prayer at 0700hrs then a weekly planning meeting with Marc & Lisa before breakfast.  We got a chance to discuss the past week and they seem to be happy with how it is going, and we got to clarify a few points too so all is well.  After breakfast we kicked several projects into high gear, including getting the clinic ready to open, finishing some school toilets and a shower, a baseball clown outreach camp plus the biggest of them all, restarting the technical school construction now that Keith (a visiting electrician...) finished roughing in the electrical and plumbing.  A team from Red Deer will be arriving in 10 days or so and that will be one of their primary focuses.  

Upon preparing the school toilets for a concrete pad and final plumbing we discovered the buried drainage pipes were crushed and need to be replaced, which is underway today.  Skimping on the original piping by going with cheaper very thin-walled tubing may be cheaper up front but doesn’t help matters, especially over the long run.  The Prosser team is getting it done, especially the youngsters.  

The clinic has been cleaned out, paint touch-ups largely done, windows washed and a bunch of bins moved and in process of organization.  We can’t finalize the sorting till a couple more windows are in place to secure the drugs as well as keep the bats out at night.  Hopefully three nurses from the Nelson team can do a mini-clinic later in the week, and all finishing touches are in place for a grand opening in the next month or so.  That will entail quite a bit of additional work on a public bathroom, staff and waiting areas, but we’re getting there.

Roy (affectionately nicknamed “father Christmas”) has returned to oversee the Technical School construction and after delivery of the first 2 of 7 1/2 tonnes of rebar last night workers are busily placing and tying it prior to an anticipated major pour Wednesday on the first third of the floor.  We also hope to pour a couple small toilet areas too to finish that off.  It been a busy couple of days, but good as much progress is being made!