25897: Clean Water for Haiti: (comment) August Update (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Clean Water For Haiti <chrisrolling@chrisrolling.com>

Dear Everybody:

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, a team of young people came out
from the Vernon Alliance Church in Vernon, B.C. This same group came out
two years ago and were our first team. 4 of the original team members also
came out this time and there were 11 in total. The team was here for 2 ½
weeks and together we did all kinds of work and I believe the team got a
very good taste of Haiti.

Haiti seems to give you problems just at the wrong time and true to form,
there were several difficulties that arose while the team was here. First
and most severe, The Daihatsu truck was crashed while a volunteer and two
team members were hauling a load of garbage during the hurricane that
passed by and the roads were wet and slippery (we didn?t receive a direct
hit by the hurricane, only lots of rain). Gras a dieu, nobody in the truck
was hurt badly but someone needed a bandage on his elbow. When I first
surveyed the damage, I thought the truck might be done for. Look at the
pictures: www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/Smashed%20Daihatsu.jpg and
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/Daihatsu%20after.jpg. It turns out that
the truck slid hard sideways into a tree and then launched over a rock
wall, destroying the bed, breaking off the rear axle and detaching the
driveline. Miraculously, we were able to get the truck driving again the
day after the accident, and had the bed repaired in time to use the truck
for driving the team around for the last part of their stay. Repairs were
Less than $600 because we did all the work ourselves!

Next, I received word from Gonaives that our other truck, the KIA 2700,
had overheated and cracked its cylinder head. As of today that truck is
fixed again and the repairs worked out much better than I had hoped for.

By far our most ambitious team activity was a planned 5 day trip to La
Gonave to visit our Clean Water For Haiti BioSand filter project on
LaGonave that is managed by staff member Susan Hill. Unfortunately,
hurricane Dennis caused Susan?s arrival to delay several days and Susan
didn?t have time to buy a motor for our new boat. Here?s a picture of
Clean Water for Haiti?s new 18 foot Haitian sailboat:
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/Good%20Ship%20Dlo%20Pwop.jpg or
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/DloPwopatsunset.jpg We eventually got
started on the 30 mile trip around the island to Pont Sab where Susan
works. We were only able to borrow a 2 hp backup motor so we were largely
reliant on the wind to take us across. The trip took 12 hours and it was
very hot. Almost everybody got sunburned although there was only one case
of seasickness ? me. It turns out my stomach doesn?t agree with the ocean
at all.

The conditions at Pont Sab are very basic and the team basically camped
the whole time. Every night brought thunderstorms which cooled us all down
but also got us soaked because the building we took over didn?t have a
solid roof. We ended up leaving a day early because of another hurricane
headed our way that we wanted to avoid. We borrowed a good 15hp motor this
time and got back in only 5 hours. We traveled at night and the trip was
much easier without the hot, blinding sun.

I really enjoyed the team?s visit because they worked hard and took a real
interest in learning about Haiti and being sensitive to cultural issues.

Now that the team is gone, I?m back to trying to do many things at once.
The well we were working on last month is still not done due to an
equipment failure. 25 filters have now been shipped over to La Gonave with
Susan, and Val is still doing a great job with the Pierre Payen filter
program. Roman has been working hard doing follow up in Gonaives.
Basically, everything is steaming along as it should.

I?m coming back for a 4 week vacation on Aug 17. I will be in Seattle
until Aug 22 when I head down to Vancouver, WA. Somewhere around Sept 3 I
will go up to Vancouver, B.C. and then I will be in Vernon from Sept 5 to
Sept 12 or so. I?m looking forward to my vacation but I will welcome the
opportunity to speak to your church, club or bible study about Haiti and
Clean Water.

I am praying prayers of thanks for the team trip being safe and the
Daihatsu being repaired so easily. Please pray for the continued growth
and sustainability of the mission, including the remaining $85,000 we
still need to purchase our property.

-Chris

Donation Information at:
http://www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/contact.html#donate

Valerie?s Thoughts:

I am really thankful for all the work the team did while they were here.
The first day we were supposed to start working it was quite rainy and
gloomy, and I expected their attitudes to match.  What a good surprise to
see people keep smiling and working while they hauled garbage and rocks!
We were rushing to get enough sand ready to send to the Gonaives project,
and everybody helped out at this somewhat monotonous work, so that we were
able to send all the materials Roman needed to get started.
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/washingsand.jpg

On LaGonave Jack supervised the digging of a latrine, and all the team
members did their part, some of them even started work at 530 am, to build
it.  They were helped out by some of the children living in Pont Sab, and
it was neat to see everyone working together.  We are very proud of the
latrine that was built, as since the water table is so high (about 3 feet
below the surface) normal practice didn't work, and we had to haul rocks
to build a wall up instead of simply digging down.  Valerie is especially
excited because we included a ventilation shaft, which will help keep the
smell and flies minimal.

The last week of the team's visit it was back to the base, for more sand
washing and maintenance type things.  As well, every day different people
went to the nearby orphanage to play with the children
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/Sam%20and%20Kids.jpg, and I took some
people with me on house visits.  This was really good as the team was very
sensitive to cultural issues, and helped to show love to the people and
children, showing them that "blancs" are people too.  We are very glad for
their visit as we accomplished a lot of things we couldn't have done with
our regular entourage.  Plus, they made worship time a lot more fun; even
when Chris broke a guitar string, they kept right on singing!  Molière
(our guardian) was very happy to have new people to teach kreole too, and
they seemed to be glad to learn
www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/photos/Learning%20Creole.jpg. We are looking
forward to them coming back soon.



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Chris Rolling
Executive Director
Clean Water for Haiti
B: 547-3210

C: 417-5893