July, 2008

Dear Friends and Supporters of Clean Water for Haiti:

Late June is when Pierre Payen, Haiti becomes excruciatingly hot and humid. Our work becomes that much harder this time of year, and after 10am or so the workers kind of drag themselves around the yard.

Unfortunately, we have had a lot of work to do. We have been finishing the new dorm at the same time as we've been tackling a number of other projects with varying levels of urgency. For example, we had a septic tank overflow which necessitated a major septic system expansion. The facility here was originally built as a weekend home - therefore, the septic system was designed accordingly. Now we have not only ourselves here full time but also a dozen workers. It's amazing that the 20 year old tank held out as long as it did. We dug a new tank (a LOT of work) and ran leach lines, and plumbed it carefully. After that I realized that the septic tank on the new dorm, with the apartment planned to go above it would also need a bigger tank so we dug an expansion to that as well. It was quite a messy job at times and at times there was direct human contact with poop. It was unpleasant.

Working on the sewer pipes.

This week we hurricane proofed our roof with rubberized paint. The idea is that the paint sticks all the shingles together and makes it impossible for any shingles to lift up in high winds. An added bonus is that the white roof paint reflects the tropical sun and it has cooled off the house substantially. Aesthetically, I'm not sure how I feel about having a white roof just yet, but having a cool house is far more important than aesthetics.

The price of fuel has gone up substantially, and there is rumor that the price will perhaps double in coming months. Gasoline already costs over $6 per gallon, but we mostly buy diesel fuel, which is around $4.50. Back when Aristide was president, he wanted to make everybody happy so he couldn't increase fuel prices and upset drivers. However, he couldn't leave prices the same and upset gas station owners so he changed the size of the gallon. That's right, a Haitian gallon is different from an American gallon and weight in at .87 actual gallons. The price of a "gallon" stayed the same but the station owners made more profit so everybody was happy. Unfortunately, the changing of the gallon seems to have been the top of a slippery slope. Now, it seems every station has a slightly different sized gallon, so it can pay to know which station gives more fuel for a given amount of money. I am on a crusade to find out which station in our area gives the best gallon, and when I'm done my study I'm going to publish my results and share them around the local community. "How does this country function at all?" you might ask. I have no idea - you'll have to ask someone else.

Oh, the fuel tank in the VW sprung a leak which we are fixing today. The VW unfortunately takes gasoline, which, when you consider the smaller gallon size here in Haiti, costs about $7.40 per American gallon. I can't afford to let a single drop go to waste.

I'm joking about the fuel price problem, but I'm a little worried. We have noticed a reduction of traffic on the roads. Taptaps, which used to be merely overloaded, are now double overloaded. I'm concerned because it's very common for developing countries to have riots due to increased fuel costs, and Haiti seems to break out in riots even at the best of times. We'll see how things play out as fuel prices continue to climb.

Our dorm rebuild project is finally nearing completion. I estimate we will be done with the finishing work in about 4 weeks. I'm anxious to get the dorm finished so we can start to do training classes again. The second phase of that project is to build the apartment above the dorm. I'm not even ready to think about that project yet! However, it's possible to get an idea of what it will look like now and it seems we will have a really nice living space when it's done.

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Chris asked me to take over and finish off the update. I think the heat is causing his brain to melt down and he’s having a hard time remembering all the other exciting things that have happened around here in the last month. That or just the fact that so many things happen in one month it’s easy for them all to blur together.

A few weeks ago Chris and Matt went to Port au Prince to pick up our new transformer and pole. Our neighbor approached us a couple months ago to see if we wanted to split the cost of putting in a transformer that would get shared between our two properties. We've had our power lines cut so many times that we were very excited about the idea. The pole alone weighed over 800 lbs.

 Transporting the pole and transformer.

The day they put the pole in the ground Chris was gone to Port again so I got to witness the event. It really was an event. 12 guys lifted the pole and moved it across the yard, then propped it against the truck. The rigged up the pulleys and as the pulleys pulled the truck backed up and pushed the pole upright until it fell in the hole. It was pretty impressive. The best part for me though was when Jean, our foreman, passed me, shaking his head, and said, “You know, they have machines to do that.”

 

The pole goes in the ground.

Last month we were awaiting the arrival of Matt, our new volunteer. Well, he’s been here for a month now and we’re so glad he is. He’s a great fit for the mission and he’s settling in well. He’s easy to live with and even Olivia finds him entertaining. We’re hoping he'll decide to stick around for a while.

Matt and Olivia hanging out.

At the end of last month Chris and I took a long weekend away, partly to get some rest and partly to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. Some friends of ours offered to baby sit Olivia so we really had a good time away on our own. We headed up to the mountains again and went to Furcy. It was so nice to be cold. We even got to wear jeans and sweaters! Our whole plan for the weekend was to do nothing and we succeeded. Lots of reading, napping, watching movies on our computer and just enjoying the quiet. We know that not being able to take our vacation this year means we need to be deliberate about taking time away to rest and recharge our batteries. It felt good to be able to do that.

The view from the mountains of Furcy.

While we were up at Furcy we received some great news. The doctor taking care of Olivia’s tests called to let us know that her last HIV viral test that we had done in May came back NEGATIVE. That means that Olivia is in the clear. Chris and I had felt a lot of peace about the whole thing, but it was nice to have someone confirm that for us. Thank you for praying for our family during this time.

As always thank you for all of your support. The mission is constantly growing and changing and it’s exciting to be part of that.

On behalf of everyone at Clean Water for Haiti,

Chris & Leslie Rolling

Executive Directors