End of June Projects

July 3, 2010 15:41 by author

So... since the Botanical Gardens, BR has kept busy with some smaller projects a bit closer to home. Last Saturday a group of 6 (Jim, Jen, Emily, Bill H, Patti, and myself) finished up some work at the Olean Family Literacy Center that was started back during our last local service weekend. The rooms had been drywalled during that event and required some sanding, minor touch ups and paint. We completed two small rooms and the hallway. Of not from this work day was the fact that once again, the police showed up, as we set off the alarm when entering the building. They were nice enough though, and gave us the number for the maintenance man that was supposed to have disarmed the system prior to our arrival. Also of note, Bill H. and his wife Patti are from Texas, where they met the BR group during their visit/work in Bridge City and Pass Christian, TX (I know, I already said Texas, but it seemed odd to leave the city without the state).

Today (July 3rd) Jim, Jen and myself traveled to Salamanca (Jim rode his bike (see below)) to finish up a paint job for "Rose" that was started some time last year. Rose and her friend were very welcoming and extremely appreciative. We fixed what needed fixed, painted what hadn't been painted yet, and mowed the yard. Rose provided me with supervision as I painted and told me stories from her past. Very cool, very nice lady... I hope we get to work there again. Of note today, the neighbor lady told us she almost called the police while we were waiting for Rose to answer the door (starting to see a trend?)...

I think this weekend will also include mowing trails and removing some fallen trees over at Bob's Woods, and maybe some additional clean up at storage if time permits.

Also, here is an excerpt from http://blakewtd.wordpress.com Blake is the director of a documentary by 4 students call Walk The Dream (www.walkthedream.com). We ran into them while we were in Millbury, OH cleaning up after the tornado.

"In the past month we’ve gone through two massive cities (Cleveland and and Chicago) and seen three major storms. The beginning of severe weather started in Huron, OH in the middle of the night. We hadn’t been able to find a place to stay, however a local McDonalds allowed us to park our bus in their parking lot to sleep in. It’s an interesting experience to say I’ve had, sleeping in a McDonald’s parking lot. But when trying to shower and get clean in their bathroom it’s hard to not feel homeless. During the evening a storm passed through which was enjoyable as I sleep very well when it rains. The pitter patter of rain on the roof is soothing to me. However the huge siren going off in the middle of the night wasn’t so pleasant. Holly tried to worry us all by saying it was a tornado warning. But I (being from Rochester, NY were we don’t have such a thing) insisted it couldn’t be. Hah, was I wrong. I didn’t know it until the next morning but a horrible level 4 tornado had touched down about 50 miles away from us. It’s probably better I didn’t know that evening or I wouldn’t have gotten back to sleep so easily.

After finding out the tornado had touched down so close to us we decided it would be well worth the time and extra miles to go to Millbury, Ohio and help out cleaning up from the destruction. I have never experienced a natural disaster (aside from an ice storm that knocked out everyones power in Rochester for a week once). The site of what a tornado can do is life changing. While walking into town we started to notice street signs bent in half, some tree branches down, then a completely naked tree. The school was one of the first things we came across. Half of it was untouched and looked as it was suppose to for the graduation ceremonies that were suppose to be held the day after the tornado had touched down. The other half was spread across a field. Insulation clung to a chain link fence, school buses lay in a row missing windows, doors, and hoods. There were remnants of the school for blocks. Bull dozers pushed heaps of school items together to crush them and put them in the dump. The school was condemned. It is now to be knocked down and rebuilt, at an estimated cost of 50 million dollars.

That was only the beginning of our experiences there. However there is a video you can reference on our facebook page about our visit so you can see a little of what we saw. Much like our trip in general the number of volunteers that came out and helped clean up really reminds you of how kind American’s are. It felt great to be the one to lend a hand after how many people have helped us out. "

-Nate

5ff59bfe-af5a-48ff-9501-54e6c8bcadcd|1|5.0

Comments (0) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - Back From Haiti

May 31, 2010 17:57 by author

Nate

The troups have made it home from Haiti... Glad to have them back safe and sound, and anxious to talk with them about their experiences... As a reminder, a few of the members from the group will be giving a talk/presentation at the Olean Public Library tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Back from Haiti

I have several blog posts from Haiti to still upload (and in two cases even enter into the computer), but just wanted everyone to know we made it back safe and sound.

Matt Lundgren from SBU will be getting there today for about 10 days to keep the SBU presence alive. He took with him snips (to help disentangle rebar), fly paper, liquid hand soap, green scrubbies, and sponges from the Allegany Park and Shop.

Plus some more notebooks for the kids at the "Gutter bar" to continue their art work.

8be06051-69e1-4c2e-8949-49f84020cb4b|0|.0

Comments (22) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

NY Times - Rubble of a Broken City Strains Haitians' Patience

May 30, 2010 08:23 by author

Nate

Here is a link to an article in today's NY Times regarding the massive rubble piles that have accumulated in the streets of Haiti and the government's apparent inability to deal with them. Interesting comments on NGOs as well and an overwhelming disgust with the situation seems to be developing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/world/americas/30haiti.html?ref=americas

-Nate

5898461c-5bb4-4ba3-9142-32dfb5058258|0|.0

Tags: haiti
Categories: Haiti
Actions: E-mail | Kick it! | Permalink | comment

Comments (1) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

Just Respond - Art Show

May 29, 2010 05:49 by author

Nate

Here's the latest installment from Jim in Haiti... It appears Haitian children have discovered the secret to regrowing human hair...

Friday, May 28, 2010

I went to an art show...and liked it!

I am not a big fan of art shows. I am sure they are great. I am sure that many people enjoy them immensely and that they convey a side of human nature that I am missing. (Indeed maybe it is why I get people upset so much).

I think it is because I always have something that is in my mind more productive to do. Sitting and listening to music, or wandering around looking at pictures is a form of relaxation that I generally do not allow myself.

But today I went to a free art show that probably made the whole trip in and of itself.

It happened after a brutally hot day of rubble removal (the AM was possibly hottest it has been since we got here) in which we now have filled more than 4 large dump trucks of concrete rubble that has been painstakingly removed from the remnants of a house in which three people died in downtown Leogone.

The truth be told, in spite of the fact that it is somewhat fun to swing a sledge hammer, I am not a huge fan of doing rubble removal. Essentially it involves going to a site that previously had been someone's home or place of employment but is now a pile of large cement blocks and, by hand (remember there is no power and VERY little heavy equipment) systematically break the large chunks of cement into smaller cement chunks which can then be hauled off the site into a large pile to await removal by the UN or other contracted group.

In Haiti, you get all of that plus rubbling has the additional charms of being “one hundred and Haiti degrees”, dirty, dusty, and with an audience of interested bystanders, many of whom are all too glad to jump in and help in bare feet or sandals.

Consequentially we were all hot, tired, and looking for any solitude one can find in a small camp of 110 people as we loaded up the tap-tap and headed back to camp through the narrow (and exceedingly bumpy) streets of Leogone.

About a quarter mile from camp we pass what is affectionately known as the “Gutter Bar”. Typically there are a handful of volunteers whose jobs finisher up early at the bar as the tap-taps second trips are completed. Good-natured yelling typically occurs between those on the tap-tap and those on the two outside benches.

Today was different. Maybe it was because we were earlier than normal but in place of volunteers (I have never seen a local resident there), were the children of the bar owners-the very children we had played with and given notebooks, pencils, and crayons yesterday. I am not sure who saw whom first, but quickly they jumped up and down and held up their notebooks for the world (or at least one v ery small corner of it) to see.

After unpacking the tap-tap we headed down to see them. It was great. In addition to a cold bottle of “Limonade” the kids gave an art show of all of the many drawings they had done (interspersed with few repetitions of multiplication tables for good measure).

The show went on through each of their notebooks. Some of the drawings were in pencil, others in crayon. They showed pictures of flowers, cars, and even James Bond—OO7 himself and as they did they were each carefully say what it was in Creole to help teach some of their language to us.

Then suddenly the page turned and instead of saying anything, they just pointed and giggled. On the page was a colored picture of ….me. Adorned in my long blue pants and long sleeve yellow shirt that have become almost my trademark. Oh and they also gave me the honor of having a full head of hair.

After that the budding artists used my camera to take pictures (“foto foto” of each other) as well as of the volunteers who were by now coming in for anything cold (the camp has no refrigeration) prior to dinner. Additionally the artists' mom, dad, and grandmother came out and spoke for a bit thanking us for the supplies and getting into various photos.

It was one art show I would definitely not want to miss!

fa8b0ac9-119c-4c9b-ab49-348ee5ef1a3b|0|.0

Comments (0) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - Sayings

May 27, 2010 11:47 by author

Nate

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sayings

I usually like cliches and trite sayings. They are a fast way to sum up much knowledge and understanding in a few short words or story.

I use them in class regularly. For instance when firms have less debt than financial models would suggest as optimal we often say they are saving for a rainy day.

There is one saying you hear regularly in the volunteer disaster response business that I am not particularly fond of: Paying it forward. It is particularly popular after disasters that occur in the Southeastern US is “Paying forward it.” I have never been fond of the saying as it implies one is doing good only so that if something bad happens to you in the future, you will receive help in return for helping others. (Sort of the reverse of an “eye for an eye.”)

That said there is undoubtedly truth to it, some volunteers, especially after a disaster but most likely even in everyday service do their good works more as a down payment for future help in the event of a disaster in their area or payoff (Karma, Heaven, etc).

This return on investment may very well be true, but it just strikes me as too much a tit for tat transaction.

I got thinking about it today when I heard the phrase mentioned. And realized that service also more earthly rewards too. And from that perspective, paying it forward is really just the “saving for a rainy day”.

For instance, much of my time on earth apparently results in making people upset. I often think that if I am good at anything, it is making people upset; from family and friends, to students and University administration my daily day is most generally equal parts apologizing (which are all true, I do not mean to upset people) and reangering.

This really is not a good character trait to have. It is time consuming and stressful. When in the regular daily grind I am convinced the single word I type or say more than any other word is “sorry”. From sorry I cannot make such and such event (family/friends), to sorry I am not able to help you (BonaResponds), to sorry I put the display where you did not want it (family/the stores).

Yoga and workouts are my drugs of choice to escape from this continual cycle. But often a more effective treatment is to mentally escape to a highpoint from a past event or trip where I made a positive difference and things seem much better.

So in this way of thinking, 'saving for a rainy day' and 'paying it forward' have a lot more in common than is apparent at first glance. And I may have to reconsider my prior aversion to the saying.

Today I made a deposit in that mental savings account that should help me get though
First with the work. That was good in and of itself, although by now rubble is rubble and the incremental impact of a single day of hauling may not be enough to get through oh say a faculty meeting.

9be68a20-c8a6-49e1-ae5a-711bdfb0c612|0|.0

Comments (1) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - Good and Bad

May 26, 2010 15:39 by author

Nate

Wednesday, May 26,

Good and Bad

It is hard to describe Haiti in a few paragraphs. Indeed I think it is impossible to describe it. On one hand, Haiti is so poor that they do not have enough money to buy shoes or in many cases food, but at the same time, these are these same people will give you food or the shirts off their back to one in need.

It is a country of beautiful beaches and mountains that could rival Hawaii, but also of cities so dirty and grimey that they make the slums in many nations look like vacation get-aways.

We saw some of the worst and some of the best of Haiti today.

In the morning Lisa (a nurse from Iowa who is working at one of the many small hospitals that are trying to cope with the immense need for medical assistance that Haiti faces ), Carrie, and I ran out to the “beach” that is down some dirt “roads”. The beach was littered and dirty, the roads muddy, full of pot holes, motor cycles, wandering goats, pigs, and people busy fetching their daily water supply or headed into town. And yet the views from these roads would make into any travel magazine of fog at the bases of mountains after miles of green fields full of sugar cane.

The binary trend of good and bad continued during our workday. It was a new site and none of us, save for the team leader April, had any idea where it was. So when the tap-tap stopped in front of a huge pile that partially blocked the road we just assumed it was to let a motorcycle pass, but when the truck did not start moving again we were struck with the intimidating realization that we were in front of the job. “Uh, yikes” was the most proper response I can put on a family-rated blog.

The road was narrow and crowded with traffic of all manners of movement from animal carrying bananas to market, to gigantic UN dump trucks hauling away some of the massive debris piles that litter Haitian streets. In addition street vendors hawked their wares and long lines of school children walked to and from schools.

The building had been either two or three stories but it was flattened so completely that I am still not sure after spending all day working at it. Regardless of its number of stories, debris pile a thing of pure dread. From the front it sported a pointed roof that had previously adorned the front of the building. This peak held fallen and hung suspended over a three foot open sewer and jutted out at least a third of the way into the already tightly confined street. Under the pile were layers of thick concrete, cleeche, metal, remnants of its pre quake existence, and twisted metal with pointed edges to either cut or trip up the less than careful volunteer. Oh and to make matters worse there was no where that we could easily pile the debris. It was a nightmare job.

After taking stock of the enormity of the job and reminding each other of the dangers of the location (traffic and theft to say nothing of the fact that we would be swinging sledge hammers, pick forks, in close proximity and climbing over rubble with rebar),

But we jumped in. April correctly decided we had to clear the street before anything else could be done, so four of use took turns whacking away at the roof which proved much thicker and stronger than most. Others began to remove any loose rebar, some put plastic soda bottles over the exposed metal for safety, while others were on traffic detail.

So what was the good part? The family we were helping as well as neighbors, and sometimes just passers by often jumped into help. Robinson (a HODR volunteer from Haiti itself) arranged coconuts for us, we bought bananas, and many many people said hi and stood and watched for a time.

And slowly, inch by inch we began to make progress. It took much of the morning, but we eventually had the pile off the street and a new mountain of debris taking shape on a side street..

As the day wore on (and days of nearly constant sledge hammering and hauling do wear on), a glimmer of hope rose in all of the volunteers--”Maybe, just maybe, this can be surmounted”. “maybe we can do it.”

I hope the owners, neighbors, and passer-byes took home the same hope as they continued on their road of survival and recovery.

fa90937d-2458-464d-86dd-b5ad3c2123a2|0|.0

Comments (2) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - One More Slab Cleared

May 26, 2010 15:34 by author

Nate

Monday, May 24, 2010

One more slab cleared

Mission accomplished and great job by all as Rubbling at Desiree was completed two days ahead of original estimates. This was accomplished under the wonderful leadership of Weston and a solid hard working team whose nucleaus was Westin, Sam, Flynn, and Jerry.

“So what?” some might say, “so what...it is one house. Hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed and you cleared the rubble from one relatively small house. Big deal.”

And you know what? They would be right.

Oh sure, the strict pragmatist would likely note that physically we moved tons of rubble. That for about six days crews of about 12 people moved wheel barrels of cement at a rate of about a wheel barrel a minute for six hours a day. That each barrel load had between 23-30 shovels of debris (Sam-who undoubtedly made the most trips to and from the pile was on the high end of the range). Or that in the end we left a pile of rubble that was 84 feet long and 8 feet high at its peak. Based on these estimates we probably moved somewhere in the vicinity of 160 tons of rubble to the street and pushed several additional tons aside. Which is alot but the family now has a lot, and not a pile of debris on their lot.

But who cares? There are 280,000+ buildings you did one. It is like killing mosquitoes by hand. You work and work to solve one problem mosquito and there are thousands of others out there. But that does not stop anyone from killing the mosquito that is about to bite him/her.

I can tell you who cares that this job was accomplished: Wesley and his family care. They were so happy that they could barely speak when we finished clearing the slab and after Jerry and I gave them two tents to start them on their road to recovery. They cared so much that they (who had lost everything and could not afford shoes, invited the whole team to eat with them.

Of course we said no. We could not possibly take their food, but after many requests we yeilded only to have our ride arrive and we had to get to another job. This was when Wesley immediately insisted on bringing it to the base after we were done. And sure enough about 3 hours later he arrived with food for us all.

In the big picture we finished one lot today, but to Welsey and his mom, we finished the most important lot, their lot. And they can not start their comeback!

c7224b04-8340-4d70-86f5-ebf44d0eef12|0|.0

Comments (4) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

Can he do it? Yes he can!!!

May 24, 2010 19:20 by author

Nate

My Bob the Builder reference above relates to the fact that I have actually finished a book from beginning to end. For some this may not be a big deal, but for me it is. I typically start a book, then another, and another, etc. etc. until I'm up to my neck in "half-reads" and "damn near finished(s)", but never seem to actually get all the way through them. It must be an ADD thing, or the fact that I see books as orphans and have to bring them home from garage sales, library sales, auctions, and the like. Anyway, the book I finished is "The Lessons of St. Francis" by J.M. Talbot. I've blogged about several of the chapters here, but as some of you may have notices, sort of drifted off the topic and never came back to it. I'll save the details of the last few chapters, but you absolutely must read this if you're looking for a great self-reflective read that will help to recenter your life on what's truly important.

I'd love to cut and paste the entire chapter on Service, but I fear that would infringe on someone's copyright and land me somewhere I probably don't want to be prom queen...

Next on the list is "The Secret House" by David Bodanis. I'm currently about 60% through this one, so if I buckle down I can hopefully add another completer to my list by memorial day. It too is an interesting read on the science behind the world we take for granted. Cool in a geeky sort of way...

If you'd like either of these when I'm finished, shoot me an email and we'll make arrangements to get them in the mail.

Others books on my "started" list include:

"The Return of Depression Economics" by Paul Krugman - 40% complete

"The End of Poverty - Economic Possibilities for Our Time " by Jeffrey D. Sachs - maybe 2% in as I've been waiting to finish Krugman's book before tackling another econ read.

"The Cloister Walk" by Kathleen Norris - unsure of where I'm at in this one as I've started and stopped it several times over the past months.

Books not started but in the que are:

"Camp" by Michael Eisner

"Between You and Me" by Mike Wallace (comes with an 82 minute DVD of his best interviews)

I'll end this post with couple of notes about the kids in Haiti... They return from their trip on Sunday and will be presenting on their relief work Tuesday night at the Olean Public Library. More details to follow, but you should definitely plan to attend.

-Nate

6304055c-b43d-4804-9625-ec2da0e1c3df|0|.0

Comments (0) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - These are the times that try one's soul...

May 22, 2010 15:05 by author

Nate

Here are few updates from Jim and the JustRespond team currently in Haiti... Keep them in mind and visit FoodForHaitiNow.org to help...

Fast update from last night

Written night of Friday May 21, 2010

Short update

Second highlight of the day today (the first being the trip to the two schools mentioned in the last blog post) was a story retold by Larry who was working on building a school. Classes are currently being taught in a tent right next to the new building. As Larry stopped to take a picture on his hi-tech disposable camera, one little girl was peaking through the fence. He asked her is that was going to be her new school. She responded very loudly, “YES THAT IS MY SCHOOL”. It made me smile.
Our team made much progress on rubbling today.
Of our group, Jerry and I are going back to the rubbling team and Larry is again building a new school. Carrie is gardening on the HODR site and playing with kids on site.
The nightly meetings get long when there are so many volunteers. Today my phone went off. Given that only two people know the number I was really surprised and slightly embarrassed. Jerry knows the number and he was sitting next to me, and Wesley who bought the SIM card (but not yet the one needed for international?) and has been working with us clearing his house. He was calling to apologize that he had missed the afternoon's work and to share that his band (pre earthquake he was a college student and was paid occasionally to perform at local clubs). Partially at Kate's urging, the group had cut a new CD which he wants us to listen to.
Thought we had the phone thing figured out, but not yet. (see above)
Really bored at night. And night comes early here...gets dark at about 6:40...
Very much untired. The combo of extra sleep and poor workouts have definitely countered the work and heat.
Looking forward to a smoothie. I love beans and rice and probably not all that bad for you (could be worse). We often have salads but I am afraid to eat them.
On our rubble crew today: a doctor to be from Texas, a chemistry professor (Jerry), a MBA (Carrie), a management grad from Texas A&M who just got admitted for an MBA at American University, two UNC students, a graduate from University of Florida, a history major from AZ, someone from South Africa, England, and Australia, oh and a FinanceProfessor.
There should be signs everywhere in Haiti saying “It's the Economy Stupid” Jobs are the biggest need by several orders of magnitude. Without them, even if somehow all of the rubble somehow magically disappeared tomorrow, the majority of the people could still not afford to rebuild.
Rained really hard tonight with more expected in the next few days.

Update: rain stopped sometime after midnight. Felt almost cool sleeping.

Longer run this AM. Running is not good here by any stretch. That said, today was the first day I had seen any other runners (besides Carrie). 4 or 5 Haitians ran by the camp.

These are the times that try one's soul

These are the times that try one's souls.

Thomas Paine wrote those words at the nadir of the American Revolution when hope was almost lost. I do not know who the Thomas Paine is of Haiti, but I do think he would write that “these are the days that tried our souls, and we passed that test.”

I can not explain how bad it is here. And please understand that nothing I write is meant to make light of the suffering that people in the Gulf Coast went through, but only to try to give some perspective how challenging life is here.

Try to imagine life after Katrina with hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, infrastructure demolished, and many businesses forever put out of business with accompanying job losses and financial hardships. Once you get a mental picture of how bad that was, raise it to the tenth power and you have post Earthquake Haiti.

After Katrina it was horrible that people had to live in FEMA trailers; here the lucky ones have tents. After Katrina there were debris piles in the streets; here almost everyone burns their garbage in front of their tents. After Katrina it was months before some areas had electric; here there is no central electric in most cities and almost no one has a generator. After Katrina people had to use port-o-potties, here many go in the streets. After Katrina it was hot and many people had no air conditioning; here it is even hotter and people do not have refrigerators, fans, or running water. Add to that an unemployment rate which by some estimates is as high as seventy percent, and you have conditions that really can not be all that much worse.

So the Haitian people have every reason to be down and miserable. But you know what? They are not. They are upbeat and resilient.

Today's best example is from when Wesley (whose family house is where we have been rubbling) took Carrie, Jerry, and I to his former school to donate some pencils, crayons, and soccer balls. The school building was destroyed and classes are being held in open sided tents with a board at one end.

In the midst of a rudimentary English class, math lessons , and repeated reminders on the importance of education, pure and utter pandemonium broke out during recess as we ran, chanted, and Carrie led them in the Chicken Dance. I doubt I have ever seen so many kids laughing and jumping and high-fiving (ok, really pretty low-fiving as most were pretty small). If you had seen them you never would have guessed that their country is in ruins, their families economically ruined, and that many of them lost family members.

Yes, these are the times that try people's souls, and yes Haitians have passed that test.

488d3e20-5f57-4abb-925f-ae0905fbd28a|0|.0

Comments (0) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

JustRespond - Back Streets of Leogane

May 21, 2010 16:37 by author

Nate

Recap:

Good day. Jerry and I went back to the same rubble site we were at yesterday while Carrie went to a different rubble site and Larry helped rebuild a school. All are good.

I have a small cut on the back of right leg were the pedal hit me when I layed the bike down today. It bled alot more than it hurt, but given the filthy conditions I really over cared for it. the rest of the group, other than Carrie's sunburn are tired but fine.

While I could write a while on the work, in all honesty, there is only so much you can say about breaking up large chunks of cement into smaller chunks which are then loaded into a wheel barrel and hauled about 65 yards and dumped into a pile. And yes the careful reader will note that 65 yards is 5 yards closer to the house than yesterday, which is a sign of progress.

So short version of work. It was REALLY hot in the AM. We were working flat out and would be taking water breaks every 20 minutes or so. We made great progress at our site (Ruble Desiree) but to anyone else on the street would say there is a VERY long ways to go. But baby steps.

Lunch time...Lunches are much longer due to the heat. They typically last about 2 hours. Today instead of eating Jerry and I got a tour of the city as we tried to buy Wesley new work boots and a SIM chip for our phones. It will no doubt be one of the most memorable times of the entire trip.

It started when the three of us were dropped off downtown and ran into an entire elementary class walking down the street accompanied by their teacher. After many "hey-yous" and high fives, I talked to the teacher and mentioned we had some soccer balls to donate if they would like. He loved the idea and invited us to come to his class tomorrow. So our rubble day will include a hour break to go speak with the class. Ironically, as we were not very close to his house, Wesley had had the same teacher when in elementary school and he will accompany us (and line up either a tap-tap (a taxi that is a pickup truck with everyone in the back, or a taxi (which is a motorcycle), act as translator, etc). I am really looking forward to it.

After leaving the teacher we went to track down a SIM card with very limited success, but we are getting closer. By the time we leave Haiti I am very confident Jerry, Larry, and I will have a phone that will work.

Then we went to the "market" looking for his boots. I was almost speechless (no small feat for me!). It was dirty with hundreds upon hundreds of small vendors selling their wares sometimes on a table, but very often laid out a blanket spread on the ground feet from mud, animal droppings, rotting food, and who knows what else.

We went to each of the maybe 10 shoe "stores" and I am convinced that the majority were selling donated shoes. We struck out on actual boots but at least got him a decent pair of heavy hiking shoes. (better not perfect...and still working on the boots--size 9 if anyone wants to donate to him).

We then took the back way to camp to try and catch lunch. Sad. Went by house after house that was collapsed on to itself with people living in tents in fields shared with goats, chicken, and an occasional cow. The people were all very nice with many smiles accompanied with "Hey you" from the children and "Bon Jour" from the adults. This as the temperature hovered near 100 degrees with a hot sun hanging seemingly directly overhead.

When we made it back to camp, lunch was done and no food left (we've run out for each of the first two lunches so I guess I better get to lunch sooner!) We then went to the famous street vendor (well famous in HODR circles) who goes by either the Egg Lady or Sandwich Lady depending on who you ask. Jerry and Wesley had a egg sandwich (think eggs, with spices, hot sauce, and even ketchup on a sub roll). I got back to camp and had a Zone Bar. So not exactly (or eggactly?) a filling meal.

When we got back to the work site we we met with a passing rain shower that was truly delightful and we all enjoyed immensely as it temporarily dropped temperatures and allowed us to work for about 45 minutes hard without a break.

***work details left out for time***

After work I went biking. This time I went in the opposite direction of yesterday. Fun as all the kids yell "hey you" as you ride by. Not the best workout however as WAY too crowded, WAY too bad of road.

On the way back as I was returning the calls of "hey you", I turned back to yell, and the next thing I knew I hit a ditch in the middle of the road and went over on my side. Nothing serious but the cut on my calf bled quite a bit. It should also be noted that as soon as I went down, I had about 15 Haitians come running to me aid. Very nice.

*Tonight there was a HODR talent show at Joe's a Local bar. I did not go as I have no talents, was sure there would be smokers, and just did not have time. It sounds (the bar is right next door) like they are having a good time AND with everyone over there the internet is a bit faster. So a WIN-WIN!

* not tired, but very hungry. going to try and find something before lights out.

more tomorrow...

687c4d1f-2b14-4c69-9297-8be393c93189|0|.0

Comments (0) | RSS comment feed

Comment RSS

<< Previous posts

www.NateOlay.com

End of June Projects

JustRespond - Back From Haiti

Monday, May 31, 2010

Back from Haiti

NY Times - Rubble of a Broken City Strains Haitians' Patience

Just Respond - Art Show

Friday, May 28, 2010

I went to an art show...and liked it!

JustRespond - Sayings

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sayings

JustRespond - Good and Bad

Wednesday, May 26,

Good and Bad

JustRespond - One More Slab Cleared

Monday, May 24, 2010

One more slab cleared

Can he do it? Yes he can!!!

JustRespond - These are the times that try one's soul...

Fast update from last night

These are the times that try one's soul

JustRespond - Back Streets of Leogane

Month List

LinkList

Monday, May 31, 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Wednesday, May 26,

Monday, May 24, 2010

Tag cloud

Month List

LinkList

Blogroll