Progress (Thanks Watson!)

Watson is an amazing man. He has been such a loyal, trustworthy, and hard working companion. It was a lot easier to leave last week knowing that he was in charge of things, and he did even better than I'd expected. All foundation trenches have been dug and filled with rocks. This is a big deal, because I didn't think that they'd be able to get the rocks delivered because the road was so bad and trucks kept getting stuck all last week. He took care of payroll, bought the food for the week's lunches, promoted, demoted, and even fired to make things run smoother. He lives about 2 hours away by the time he takes the 5 tap taps to get there, but he is always the first one on the job site and the last one to leave. I have never heard him complain once. Whenever he gives me his opinion, I am all ears.

Here they are filling the trench with rocks, later to be filled more with gravel and then tamped and leveled. This is called a rubble trench foundation, and has been used effectively for thousands of years all over the world.

Jaime is flying in today from Belize to start the training on how to build with earthbags.

Breaking ground, etc.

We had a busy week here in Leogane. We broke ground on Monday with our crew of twenty workers. It's great to see them so excited to have a job. We hope that they will learn a skill while working with us that will open doors for them in the future.

This is what happens to the tents and tarps after the rain that comes almost every day here.
Fortunately the Spanish (Proyecto Solidario) should be done with the temporary shelter for the children in less than a week!
We've been doing a lot of road work this week so that the dump trucks can make it in with the gravel and rocks that we'll need to finish our foundation.

Proyecto Solidario is now providing with the children with three square meals a day. The kids were only getting one meal a day when I first met them six weeks ago.

These kids are in line to wash their hands before eating. Sustain Haiti came up with a cool little hand washing station made out of a five gallon bucket, a nail, and a piece of soap in a nylon.
We marked off where the foundation trenches go with string to guide our work.
Lunch time. I really like the food here in Haiti. Lots of rice and beans with fried plantains and meat and a spicy cold slaw that they call "picklis"
There are a lot more tents here now than when we first started, but they get shredded fast. The kids get soaked when it rains, the floor is always wet below them.
Here's our shade canopy that we made for the workers to take breaks and eat lunch.
Our workers going at it.

Land Ho!

It's official. We have now purchased the land to build the school on. We'll have plenty of land to use as an agricultural area to help the school be self sustainable in its protein/fruits and vegetable needs, leaving mainly just beans and rice to be purchased for their dietary needs. This should significantly cut down their food budget once everything is in place.

This is the view of the land looking south towards the orphanage. Basically, everything that you see in the picture here is on our new piece of land, and it extends to the sides as well.

This is looking the opposite direction, so everything on the other side of the kids is the land that we just purchased.
We were both very happy about the purchase. The land is in the name of the orphanage. We'll be breaking ground tomorrow!

An unexpected delay...

We had a little hold up while the surveyors were measuring the land that we needed to buy to build the school. This momma cow was giving birth within a couple of feet of what turned out to be the boundary of our land. Every time they came close to try and run the measuring tape by her, she would get spooked and try to stand up with little baby cow's feet hanging out the back end.

So everyone took a break for a half an hour or so and then it was back to work after little baby Ferdinand was out.
Ferdinand was getting his first bath when they resumed work.

Power to the people...

The orphanage finally has power now. We got them set up with a 135 watt solar panel that charges four 6V batteries. Now they have light at night and can charge their cell phones, camera and my old used laptop that's missing a bunch of the keys that my kids popped off of it.

Earthbag neighbors...

Last week I found out about another group called Konbit Shelter here in Haiti that is also constructing out of earthbags (superadobe). And what was even better is that they were near Leogane. So we got in touch and made arrangements for us to come and visit their project. I arranged to make it happen the same day that I had Bill with me, a structural engineer from New Mexico that was visiting our site. They were tucked away in a little village up against the mountains. We had to cross the river 3 or 4 times to get there and it was a very peaceful area with lots of shade, fresh air, and friendly Haitians. I wonder why people cram into the polluted, chaotic cities when they have such beautiful small villages where you can build cheap and can grow and raise just about anything.

Walking the walls...

They're employing about the same size crew that we are.

Kids taking a break...

Bill Druc is a friend of Owen Geiger and is a very experienced structural engineer that gave some great input on foundation prep.

A change of plans...

Last Thursday when we arrived at the orphanage to have the first loads of gravel and sand delivered, there were some visitors there from the group Proyecto Solidario out of Spain. I'd met them before and we'd talked about our project and they asked how they could help with provisional shelter, food, etc. Well, when we talked to them on Thursday they told us that they'd been looking for months the right place to build an orphanage. After discussing their plans and budget, it made a lot of sense for us to team up with them. They will be taking over the building of the orphanage and we will now be focusing on the school.

Since restrictions from their organization do not allow them to purchase land, and the land that the orphans are on now is not big enough for both the school and orphanage, our first step will be to purchase the land for the school. While this means that we'll need to wait a little while to break ground and Patti and Owen will have to draw up new plans, it is great news because Proyecto Solidario has the funding and experience to get the job done and we feel that the children will be better off with the facility that they can provide them with.

Building Plans

It has been such a blessing to have Patti Stouter and Owen Geiger helping us with the building plans. They have answered so many questions already and we haven't even started. My email thread between the three of us has over 100 emails in just 2 1/2 weeks. Patti has worked tirelessly to draw these up for a great cause.

Sustain Haiti

Sustain Haiti has been such a blessing. They visit Jean Marc and the kids three times a week and the kids are so happy to see them every time. Jean Marc can see how genuine their love is for the kids and how much his kids love them, so this made it very easy for Jean Marc to trust me. Thanks guys!