First Report from Haiti
Because I was pretty busy during the month I was home after going to Pakistan and India, I didn't really have time to form any expectations regarding what I would find in Haiti. Good thing, because I never would have guessed that I would find myself in a place like this.
I was met at the Port Au Prince (pap) airport by Sarah, a volunteer with Grass Roots United (gru). I'm unclear on all of the details, but gru is an organization that does various relief work including cholera prevention certification programs, providing supplies for orphanages and distributing medical supplies. They also facilitate the work of other organizations by providing a base and some infrastructure from which to work. For $15/day I get a place to pitch my tent and 3 meals a day, except Sunday.
Arriving at the gru base we were let in the metal gate by the Haitian security guard. Inside the walled site are 3-4 acres containing a wide assortment of infrastructure. There is one large masonry building, surrounded by a couple of dozen tents as well as several alternative structures. These include an earth ship house (tires filled and covered with concrete), a geodesic dome made from plastic pipe and covered with fabric, an underground "bunker" being dug our by Aaron, affectionately known as cave man and the straw bale building that Martin Hammer, architect from Berkeley, Andy Mueller an expert straw bale builder from western Mass and I are working on. There are several metal cargo containers, some of which serve as additional office space and one (my favorite) that is packed with tools and hardware. Unlike in Pakistan, we do have power tools as well as the electricity to run them. When the power goes down, as it often does, they have a generator we can use.
There are, on average, about 2 dozen people here, most range in age from early 20's to mid 30's. They are an eclectic bunch, a cast of interesting characters. Most have been to Haiti before, and many have done relief work in other countries as well. They are all very friendly and at night we go to the "hole in the wall" (literally a hole in the cinder block wall at the back of the property that allows access to a neighbor) where we can purchase beer, cokes, rum and fruit drinks. Beer is probably the biggest seller and most nights many bottles will find their way onto the back porch table where we tend to congregate.
The effort to build the first straw bale structure in Haiti goes back to shortly after the Jan. 12th earthquake when Martin began organizing for its creation. He and Andy have each made several trips down here to find the materials and labor that would be necessary. Tina Therrien joined them for 3 weeks in December to help with the interior plaster. When I first laid eyes on it, the walls were up, the wood trusses were in place covered with metal roofing and the interior walls had already received their first coat of earth plaster. If you would like to know more about how they got to this point, you can read Andy's blog at:
Or Tina Therrien's at:
Apparently THEY can post pictures on their blogs, something I have yet to figure out with mine. I hope to get some of my pictures posted on my flickr account soon:
For the past week I've started working around 7:30, by which time it is already beginning to warm up. It's not long before I've worked up a pretty good sweat, even if the work I'm doing is light. For me, dealing with the heat is a bit of a problem, even though it is probably only in the 80's. Aside from sweating, it tends to sap my strength and, if I'm not mindful, my attitude. But when I feel the urge to whine or get frustrated, I just repeat my mantra that I learned in Pakistan (koi bat nahin, no problem) and so far that has worked.
Martin has joined us now and he spends most of his time doing design work and meeting with people and groups that might help to generate the next project. So for the most part I've been working with Andy, which is a real pleasure. Andy has been building straw bale homes for 10 years and probably knows as much about them as anyone, probably more. It's a shame he will be leaving in a few days, as I'm sure I could learn a lot from him. But I would not be surprised if we manage to hook up again some day, perhaps on another project in Haiti.
With the excellent help we get from our 2 hired Haitians (Jean Louis and Annio) we now have the exterior plaster up and I've started to do some work on the interior ceilings, part of which will be natural bamboo. We'll have to wait weeks for the first coat of plaster to dry before we can apply the final coat.
Today is Jan. 12th, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that took the lives of perhaps 300,000 people. Folks here are subdued and work around here has slowed to a trickle (which is why I'm finally able to get this first post off). Many of us will be going into town to view the ceremonies there.
There may be some negative reaction to the continuing election drama here (as there has been recently), but if there is it appears that we will all be safe in our "gated community." So please, don't anyone worry about me while I'm hear (are you listening mom?), regardless as to what sort of sensational news the us media may offer up for your consumption.
Finally, please consider making a donation to Builders Without Boarders, which is the umbrella organization which serves as the 501c for tax-deductible contributions.
Many folks besides the ones I've mentioned have contributed countless hours and/or spent money out of their own pocket to get the project this far but we cannot finish this up without support from folks like you. Please mention "Haiti Straw Bale Project" when you make your contribution so the funds will be directed our way. I'd also like to thank the folks who have already done this, your help is greatly appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment