Tim in Haiti: Another Update

Why I'm Going

One afternoon last December I was listening to a National Public Radio (NPR) podcast hosted by Adam Davidson of NPR's "Planet Money". The podcast featured a school pincipal in Haiti who believed he could build a new school for $3,000 (see link below). Unfortunately $3,000 wasn't enough to get the foundation completed, but the message was so strong it inspired me to email Davidson to see how I might help.

Davidson contacted me soon after that to let me know about the conditions in Haiti, especially after last year's earthquake and hurricane. I admit, I was naive about building costs in Haiti as well as the other hurdles I would encounter but Davidson was kind enough to help me understand what I was up against and encouraged me to continue. The more I looked at it, the more I was convinced I could use my 30+ years of building experience and organizational skills to help build this school.

After doing more research it also became evident that I would need to start out as a volunteer with an organization that was already working in Haiti. That is when I came upon "All Hands Volunteers". Within a week, they emailed to say I was welcome to help with the 2011 program starting the end of January. So ready or not, here I go...

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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.