The crew working on the residence continued to knock off the plaster to expose the underlying wall.
Yesterday we had eight Haitian men working on the road project. Today we had twenty four. When the word gets out, people just keep showing up until Pastor Tom, who runs this place tells the interpreter no more. But even then they continue to drift in and just start working. When we have all the workers we need, their names are written down in a book and at the end of the day, if their name is not in the book there is no pay. Usually after being told a couple of time we have all we can pay they leave.
Today I learned the Creole word for rock "roch", pronounced rosh. And soil "tar" as in terra, pronounced like tear. I could gesture with my hands to show the size of the roch and point where I wanted them, or point outside the road area and say tar and inside the road area and say roch. It is a very humbling experience. Some of our workers are university educated and speak three or four languages. Some speak only Creole. It is very difficult to try to communicate very simply with simple words and gestures without insulting some of the workers. Thankfully they have a good sense of humor and I apologize for being so dumb. Some of our workers are school language teachers, who finally gave up after not being paid for months and months, so now they are happy to do pick up manual labor. Our workers worked from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM today and got $10 US, about three times the going rate for unskilled labor. Don't let anyone tell you these people are poor because they are lazy or lack initiative. We are starting to build a relationship as I learn more about each other and the work is really getting to be fun.
I've come to some conclusions about what to bring and not to bring, or send, to Haiti. Yesterday when we had to cut the pipe we broke to patch it, we used three hack saws before we got though the 1" pipe. So I've decided that good old tools and good new tools are very useful, but cheap stuff just doesn't cut it (so to speak). The other thing I've concluded is if we are going to bring or send something, it should be something that will be used for a long time or something that is going to get used up. There is so much trash here and it really doesn't make sense to send stuff the has a very short useful life but is not going to disappear.
Another thing I have learned is that they don't need old shoes and clothes. The people are actually dressed pretty well and the streets are lined with vendors selling shoes and clothes, used and new. There is a big emphasis on hiring people to do work so they can buy their own rather than just passing out things in order not to undercut others who are trying to make a living.
This afternoon we drove up above the city to see where one of our interpreter drivers lives and to meet his brothers. They are both building homes as they can afford materials, one is educated as an engineer and both are college educated language teachers. It was a steep drive up a very steep bumpy road and then a long walk up a steep driveway that could best be described as a jeep trail on a dry day. The homes they are building up there were surprisingly nice.
We also visited a medical clinic in their community that was just dedicated. It was built by Methodist volunteers. The churches here provide the services such as medical and primary-secondary schooling. Many church's are community centers, schools, medical clinics and schools.
We'll the dinner bell just rang so I had better go.
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment