The Home Stretch

The last few days have been quite busy. We continued to haul bricks, but this time, instead of counting bricks, we looked for critters ... and we found them. There were crickets, beetles, large jumping (yes, jumping) spiders, geckos, ants, and snakes. None liked the disruption to their homes. One Haitian worker saw our careful scrutiny and offered to debug the bricks. Unfortunately, he got ahead of us and by the time we picked up the bricks, some of the "tenants" had moved back in.

We also took on a painting job at the Children's Village and the playground at the compound school.

The tires on the skid steer were changed to gel tires wearing 400 - 500 lbs each. The purpose for these tires was to put an end to the never-ending flat tires on the rough Haitian terrain. The Haitians had never seen this type of tire before and couldn't understand why they couldn't lift them. They became quite anxious when we tried to show them that nothing could puncture the tires and make them flat. We deliberately pounded nails into the tires and they would quickly put their fingers over the holes to stop the leaks - but there were no leaks.

Two highlights over the past two days included:

1. One of Haiti Arise's employees had been living in a very meager shelter since the earthquake in 2010. He finally was able to build a house under the Each One, Build One program and we visited it one evening with a housewarming gift of a rice/pasta care package. The life of this family has been transformed by this program. The new two-room concrete home will ensure that the children will grow up in a healthy, secure environment, protected against the elements.

2. Haiti Arise had a sea container full of donations from individuals and organizations. We were able to help them unload the container and sort the donations. There were multitudes of baby/kids clothes, diapers, toys, etc., but there were also donations of furniture, quilts, dentist clinic chairs and equipment, a generator, and commercial convection oven. These items will go a long way to support the vision of the technical school and Children's Village.

Our team is finished it's work here. It will be difficult to leave, but we pray our contributions to have a positive impact on the local people.