Tuesday 06 January 2009

Today was fun. I accepted the challenge of leading a crew of volunteers today. The day went very well. We moved a lot of mud. For the most part the I ran wheel barrow loads of mud from the site to the street. The first site did not have that great of a route so we ran one wheel barrow and had a bucket brigade. The second site had a great path so that was nice. We finished up the first site before lunch so we headed to the second site to prep and get started before we broke for lunch. After lunch we headed back and managed to finish 3 out of 4 rooms today.

Tonight there was a great discussion on how what else HODR can do so that we are able to obtain funding from other NGO's. As usual I need to mull on it a little bit before I share my ideas.

One really cannot describe what the country looks like, other than poor. I can't even think of anyplace in the states that even comes close. I feel like there is so much yet here do to. There is so much that could be done to prevent this from happening in the future. I just can't imagine what is going to happen next hurricane season...there is so much mud still in the streets and I have yet to see a truck moving the mud. I have asked where it goes, but know one can really answer that. Even if they take it out of town with all the rains during the hurricanes it will just come right back. The things we take from granted...clean drinkable water, running hot water, running toilets, clean air...the basics are not prominent here. The culture here is unique. Everyone watches the "blancs" (white people), I don't think they understand concept of volunteering and helping others. We have a few great local volunteers, but I can honestly say I thought we would have had more. I have not figured out what it is...they just don't seem to comprehend volunteering. They would do work, but for cash. Some of it seems to be generational, as the locals that volunteer with us are near their 20's. I don't quite have that figured out yet, I will keep working on it.

The major news down here is that the city of Gonaives has been without gas for 6 days. We sent our gas cans on the shuttle to Port Au Prince today to see if we could get them filled. Turns out they have been without gas for 2 days. I guess the government has gas, but is refusing to give it out because at the current pricing they will lose money. We have about 2 days of gas left, but will have electricity as we can hook into the city lines. I am not sure what will happen with the shuttles. The tap-taps (city "taxis") will probably still run, but they run on diesel and I guess there is not an issue with that. More on that to come as I find out more!