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

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.

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