Rebuilding Haiti Together Sustainably.

Coming home from traveling to another land is like waking from a dream.  Everything that has been so vivid and real to you suddenly dissolves back to familiarity.  Sitting in the Port Au Prince airport after an incredible deisel-fumed, roller-coaster, 3hr-1986 Toyota van ride, my head is still cloudy.  Waking at 4AM (while its still mercilously cool) on my last day in the beach town of Jacmel, we wound our way through the mountains cheating death at every hairpin turn.  The same mountain path which my road trip companion/translator Aleme and I had our car quit on us just 11 hrs earlier.

As fate would have it, we had just met the Mayor of Jacmel that morning, and he agreed to give us a space of land next to a “tent city” to build our next earthbag house on.  So when your car quits outside a town that you know barely anyone, you call the Mayor’s assistant.  Without hesistation, they let us bring the car to the Mayor’s house where his mechanics were ready to give us the diagnosis on the cooling system.  To have your own mechanic at your house would be strange enough if it weren’t even stranger that the entire city is swarming with motorcycles that the Mayor’s motorcycle business provided the local working population with for very cheap.  Anyway, the car was to be fixed this morning with Aleme wiaitng for the driver (not everyone knows how to drive in Haiti like the US) and I sitting on the seat between the driver and the passenger seat.

Now that I’m getting ready to leave this mysterious, loving, terrible, island I’m thinking about how important it is that eveyone who donated to the Barrel of Hope cause understand the dire reality of the situation here and how getting land granted by Mayor Zenni is a huge step in teaching sustainable building with earthbags.  -back in the USA today, Mike

Passed my Haitian driving test today winding our way through the chaos of Port Au Prince. I learned that the horn is your best friend (thanks Jacob!) I can drive anywhere now. Jane led us to see the destruction that is the Presidential Palace

… MIKE

Too exhausted to write much but wanted to send you the almost completed earthbag “cay”. We chicken-wired the outside as a lathe for the plaster but a storm caught us and we had to call it quits. That gave the house its first test with its metal roof and 15 of us stuffed inside to wait out the storm.

Much love, Bon Nwi!
Mike

Climbing the old Jeep to 4,000 feet we arrived in the morning to a beautiful spot for our first earthbag demonstration shelter on the Wynne Farm in Kenscoff. Within the hour about 35 men, women and even children from neighboring villages arrived after hearing that today was the day we were building.

An incredible day the storm came after a hot lunch provided by the local women and left us to call it a day. Tonight we’ll sleep at the site and get up first thing in the AM to hopefully finish it by the late afternoon. Till tomorrow, stay tuned!  Bon nwi!

A little afraid of a new experience, a little afraid of a new land, a little afraid for my life even, according to international reports on the scene in Haiti.  But alas, even though there was much chaos and destruction to be seen this morning when I arrived in Port Au Prince, the kindness of the people are as beautiful as the mountainous landscape I am settling into tonight here at Wynne Farms with our amazing host, Jane Wynne (www.wynnefarm.org).

Up at 5AM to catch my flight from Miami, I arrived in POP by 10.  Straight into the crazy traffic and hustle that is the way of life in the crumbled capitol, by 4 we had found all the supplies we needed to get started on the first Barrels Of Hope earthbag shelter in Haiti for tomorrow.  As “foreman” of the project it was a challenge to find the items we might take for granted in the US like barbed wire, 5 gallon buckets and some lumber.

Hoping to salvage most of the materials, we vetoed trying to rip rebar from crumbled buildings for the corner supports and lumber for the door and window frames  for the sake of expediency and bought them both at the local “corner” hardware shop.  Instead, we plan on using the plenty available bamboo for the bond beam and lots of rich soil for the bags.

Although the rain is starting tonight, I’m looking forward to sleeping in the tent tonight.  Hoping for good weather tomorrow and lots of happy hands to help, stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog entry direct from Haiti.

Bon’ nwi!