30 January 2011 Visit to Earth Bag Shelter

Earth Bag Shelter in Bigones near Legone, Haiti. It is about 700 square feet; cost about $28,000; roughly $400 per square foot. Most of that cost was volunteer labor from US. Not sold on it. To be earthquake proof it needs some steel reinforcing both vertical and horizontal. The workers finishing up the home didn’t know if any was used.  Money was donated by Swoon, A Brooklyn Street Artist. Google her for more info.

A traditional farm home.

Two boys at the home and the home from above. The home and community center was built on a Mango Farm.  The landowner, Fritz Pierre Louis has planted 30,000 Mango Trees over the past 5 years.  He pays the local farmers to water and take care of the trees. Once they are mature in about 5 years he will split the profits from the Mango sales. He is also supplying water filters to the area residents.

The community center inauguration 12 Jan 2011, from Swoon Website.

Views from inside the community center.

Foothills.  Terraces grow potatoes and vegetables.

Typical foothills path.

Lady in front of her home.  She took us all through her home showing us the earthquake damage, cracked walls.  She did not want me to take her picture because she wasn’t dressed properly but after I said please she said ok.  One thing about Haitian people they are very clean and neat when not in there work clothes.

Change in plans

Another update from Tim-

Hey, Hope all is well there. The blog is probably done for this trip. Without a computer it is too difficult and I can't post pics either.

I left the NGO I was with the first week - "All Hands Volunteers" and have become a self-employed volunteer. I've been in Port-au-Prince since Friday staying at the Karibe Hotel courtesy of NPR. I guess I'll have to pay my dues when I get back.

On Friday evening I met with Adam Davidson of NPR's "Planet Money". We went to this restaurant way up the mountain @ 4500 feet. Adam is here with a Frontline correspondent doing a show on Haiti Tourism.

The restaurant's owner, Lionel, is a very successful Haitian businessman. He is building a restaurant in the north in a small town near the Citadal, google it. Lionel has his fingers in everything and is really helping out a lot Haitians. He just received a grant to build some permanent "temporary" structures at a girls orphanage. And before the evening was over I volunteered to help build the orphanage.

The girls ages 5 - 18 have been in tents since the earthquake. So I will be building 6 attached cabins, 12'x16' with a 4' foot covered porch; a 16' x24' pole building, and a 16'x16' bath house, showers and toilets, with a 8'x18' kitchen. We are also constructing a septic system and water storage. All this in the next 3 weeks. We'll see.

Tomorrow I am off to L'Artibonite to visit with the principal who wants to build a school. As you might recall, this was the podcast I heard that started my journey to Haiti.

Today they have road blocks up on the highways to town. I don't know if they are just stopping and checking, blocking out going or incoming. Find out tomorrow.

Take care,

Tim

May not have Internet access after tonight.

Update

Hi everyone,

Here is an email Tim sent last night (the notes in parenthesis are mine):

"Hi sweetie, today was a catch up day. Nothing big to report. Sebastion took me to Leogane (where he was originally staying) and back. Picked upped my stuff, quick goodbyes and out. Forgot my food bag. No goodies now. Will miss it when I start work.

Tomorrow I will work on the shelter plans and schedule. Will meet Lionel (pronounce Leeonell) at 6:30 AM. Review basic material and tool list and plans. The structure designs are all based on modular units he designed before for the relief effort. We just adapted them for the orphanage's needs. Tuesday I check out of the lap of luxury (modern hotel in Port-au-Prince) early and off to L'Artibonite with Sebastian. (The location of the school that needs to be rebuilt - his original purpose for going to Haiti) It will be an all day trip. Back that evening to the small hotel by the orphanage (he is the only English-speaking person there). Wednesday start work. I'm nervous. Lionel is leaving town tomorrow for the week. I 'm on my own. Wish me luck. Love you."

Tim has a new gmail account if you want to drop him a note:  timmyers45@gmail.com.  Thanks for all your support and kind words!

A change in scenery

On Friday night, Tim met with Adam Davidson from NPR's "Planet Money" program. Adam introduced him to a businessman in Port Au Prince who just received funding to build an orphanage for 5-18 year old girls who have been living in tents for the past year. The structure will be simple according to Tim - a kitchen, bathrooms, sleeping quarters and gathering room. They laid out the foot print yesterday, will have workers clearing the site by hand today and tomorrow and get the materials by Wednesday. The challenge is completing it before Tim leaves at the end of the month.

Another Update

We leave the base about 7:30 AM for about a 15 minute ride. Arriving on site we are greeted by children walking hand-in-hand double file on their way to school. Fourteen people in the back of a pickup-up, a tap tap, that’s what they are called. They are small public transports for hire with benches and railings. Hang on; it’s a rough bumpy, stop & go, slow & fast ride to the work site. Besides all of us there are wheelbarrows, shovels, sledge hammers, picks, bolt cutters and two water containers.

Our worksite is a collapsed home ready to be cleaned out. We break out rebar from columns, lintels & bond beams. The remaining concrete and masonry units get shoveled into the wheelbarrows and taken to a dump site. These rubble sites (and tent city sites) are typically chosen by the owner and are nearby agricultural fields – taking them out of production. The reinforcing bar, which is separated from the concrete, goes into a separate salvage pile on the home owner’s property. Whole masonry block is salvaged for future use.

Swinging a sledge hammer, using a pick and shovel, cutting ½ inch rebar with bolt cutters, pushing a loaded wheelbarrow a couple of hundred feet in 90 plus degree weather is hard work. This particular collapsed home is about 1200 square feet. It will take about 6 days to clear. There are twelve family members in the household now six tents and an old shack. The home site is surrounded by mango, banana, breadfruit, coconut, and a couple of trees I don’t know the name of yet along with a freshly turned and planted field, sugarcane and a pasture with a few cows, goats, turkeys and chickens.

We load everything up and back to the base for lunch then repeat the process after lunch. In the afternoon there is no school so we always have a large audience of children. They are great with their smiling faces - always trying to help. So there you have it, four fun filled ass-busting trips a day in the tap tap.

More later.

Week One in Haiti

Tim called today to say he arrived in Haiti in good shape. He says the camp is much like the military - very efficient and a lot of hard work. The only difference is that you can leave if you want to.

He caught a stomach bug the first few days he was there, but is much better now.  He blames it on the Haitian beer! There are approx. 100 people in camp.  It is well-organized but if you get to the supper line late you might not have a clean plate or food.  One of the organizations plans to make homemade pizza for the camp tonight.  What a treat! 

Today is a rest day.  They are touring a new building constructed with a rammed-earth technique.  He hopes to be able to spend some time on a computer later today so he can update the blog.  His one regret so far is that he didn't take the laptop.   

All for now. Thanks for all your kind words and thoughts - it means a lot to us!

Here

Sorry, for no post. Base computer time is limited. Had stomach bug yesterday. Hot, 85 at 8 am. Next step is to load some pics.

Please Take The Time

OK, Humor me.  Please take the time, sometime, to listen to Mangoes, Poverty & Plastic Crates podcast in the Planet Money List.  You'll enjoy it and that should turn you on the other posts.   Curious to know where the money went, see Haiti: What's Working; What's Not; What's Next.  Enjoy it.  I'm on my way.

Getting Ready

I want to thank my wife Shari for her unqualified support in my volunteer efforts.  I also would like to thank my son Hank who has promised to keep the snow shoveled and firewood by the door.  Thanks so much to both of you.

To all of you out there I hope this will be informative. 

I'm leaving in a few days and still a lot to do as in packing, paying bills, finishing odd jobs, split wood, and figure out this perplexing blog.