A Few Happenings

Over the past several days we've moved from our more relaxed general progress mode into mayhem with two teams, facilities issues and of course opening up a new clinic in the morning.

Last Wednesday, or perhaps it was Thursday, I forget now, I ventured back into PAP for a much-needed shopping re-supply trip.  We decided to go all the way into Petitionville (on the far side of PAP) to get to a specific store then work our way back.  Petitionville is the upper class end of PAP and it certainly shows in the more modern shops and stores, burger joints, cafes and fairly nice looking housing.  It is also high up mountain slopes above PAP proper which gives it a charm, and a view not seen below.  It is actually quite nice and has a feel much like some of the resort-type areas in Mexico, for instance.  One big difference is on the even higher, and steeper slopes above all the quaint shops are row upon row of tin shack housing in continuous arrays.  These must house the masses of people selling and servicing Petitionville and it is quite the sight, the stark contrast between the two, side-by-side above PAP.

We ended up getting our cables, batteries and numerous other items we needed and still had time to pick up Marc & Lisa's Ford Ranger pick-up.  It was in the dealer's shop getting an estimate for a head gasket job.  Since the estimate came back for it and a few added items at a whopping US$10,000 we passed on the work and I drove it back in the dark and torrential rains with Marc-Eddy.  That was an adventure in itself, pitch black, many cars with limited to no lights and of course still a few pedestrians and motorbikes aside the road.  The worst was the huge puddles halfway across the road sending a wall of water across the whole car when you went through them.  At least we got back with a clean truck.  It is now sitting with the cylinder head, crankshaft and some other items disassembled by a local mechanic and apparently going to PAP for rework, with other bits and pieces in plastic bags I think in one of the containers around the back of the property.  As a bit of a sceptic (realist?) I wondering whether this truck will ever run again.

Back at the Children's Village, we managed to get all the rest of the lower columns poured on Saturday and we'll strip the forms, check levels and start the process of building the lower block wall foundation prior to back-filling and pouring the slab.  That will take some time, but the Haitian crew, led by Goliath is working well and getting a lot done in the process.

The two teams arrived back early on Saturday, before we'd finished putting final clean-up touches on the clinic, and shortly after lunch the medical team got right to work unpacking 28 extra pieces of luggage along with dozens more bins here and getting the clinic actually looking like a medical facility.  AMAZING transformation as the pharmacy is stocked, exam rooms laid out, reception organized and many other myriad items starting to come together for the initial opening to the4 public at 00800hrs in the morning.  Its been fun and exciting leading the guys here in getting final details done and now to see a full transformation into a real live health centre.  HAM and all those involved can be very proud.

Being the first night with new teams, its always a challenge to meet and get to know them a bit especially in the first few days to better help utilizing their skills and interests throughout their stays.  Last night was no different, and a debriefing on the residence roof was great, with a nearly full moon and enough breeze to keep it cool and keep away the mosquitos.  the only drawback is the loud noise from the generator nearby, but that quit suddenly and peace reigned... ooops!

Upon checking on what happened the guards informed me the generator was "mal" (sick) and sure enough, many liters of engine oil spewed all over the ground confirmed that diagnosis.  We quickly gathered several of our Sask farmhands, Roy and a bunch of flashlights to check out the situation.  There was definitely a problem, the cap had somehow come off and the oil blown out, then the motor shut-off (we hoped) automatically, which would require a refill of oil and restart, or the engine had ground to a halt, freezing up and basically destroying the $30-50k engine (we prayed not).  An hour later it turned out to be the former, but a few other issues became clear, including a maintenance schedule of every 4 months that in light of the heavy daily use should be every 2-3 weeks and some other non-essential broken pieces.

This was actually a blessing in disguise, as one of the nurses is on a C-Pap machine requiring electricity all night, and her upstairs room has no power once the generator is turned off at midnight and we go to battery back-up, which isn't wired upstairs. She was shifted to a downstairs room and got a good rest there.  The potential complete loss of the generator also highlighted the precarious position HAM is in here as there currently is no backup system available and without the generator we have no water (after the tank empties), no cooling (refrigeration and AC's), not enough power for worksite tools like welding and saws, no water for the worksite-period, no sanitation (washing and toilets), no power anywhere in the new clinic and etc.  A bad situation would get ugly very fast and basically shut down operations here.  We'd have truly "gone Haitian"... Although some options have been proposed, and hopefully are under consideration, last night's scare should be a wake-up call to get something done, pronto!

Today Cathy got to preach and did a great job speaking on the Fear of the Lord, while the afternoon was split between frantic preparations for the medical team, versus a casual beach respite on a very crowded beachfront.  I took the later, but I'm sure once the public arrives in the morning getting immersed in the former won't be far behind.