Well...we did it. We all survived our first real day of work here in Haiti. A quick rundown of the day (as it was best recounted to me by various team members).
1. All were up around 6am and ready to depart to our various work locations by 6:45am.
2. Joe and John M stayed here at the house and worked on the roof of the house where we are staying (we're currently use the first floor of the house and the second floor is being finished.) The photos of today are from their work. We most likely won't have the metal that will finish the roof off before we go, so they're going to focus on the framing and let a following group complete the project. Maybe another day on this project.
3. Tyler and Ken joined with Wesley (a fulltime TG team member) and headed a short distance "up the hill" where they worked on some final assembly of a composting latrine that a previous group had started. This latrine is one of five that will eventually be built as a service to the local community. (If you aren't able to read between the lines, the majority of the community members live in the poorest of conditions and have no functional bathrooms of any kind). It sounds like there are a few things to be completed here in the next day or so.
4. Amy, Dustin and Suzanne joined up with medical care facility that TG has just formed a new relationship. Turns out it's a clinic/ER/pharmacy/etc that was established by University of Notre Dame and is staffed almost exclusively by ND grads and staff. Sounds like our team had some fun conversations about our home area. I know that each of our med team had the chance to use their specific training and will continue to be an asset through the week. This team could have possibly been the busiest of all of us today. Dustin shared that he treated over 50 patients in the ER today. And he and one other EMT will be the sole staff on duty there tomorrow!
5. Matt, Greg and Jon had the chance to join with another new partner ministry site. This site is a church/school affiliated with the American Baptist's and Cooperative Baptist's. The school sustained enough damage from the quake that it needed to be leveled and will be entirely rebuilt. The three of us jumped in with eight Haitian nationals and worked to dig out for the foundation of the soon to be rebuilt school. This group was easily the dirtiest at the end of the day.
Now we're waiting for dinner (which smells delicious!). The weather today was beautiful...low to mid 90's, a nice breeze and low humidity. We're all feeling very good about the day! I'm sure we'll all be in bed pretty early tonight, as the day's work catches up with us.
Thanks for checking in, commenting and just generally expressing your care. We love and miss you all!
The photos:
1. Looking up at the end of the day through the newly framed roof
2. John on a ladder setting the top plate
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Thanks for the update, you're doing great at
ReplyDeleteblogging Jon. Hello to you all, and we're praying
for you.
We are praying for you, and dad, I miss you (Em) Me too, says Josh (said Josh) :) Me too, says Anna! We're praying for you all!
ReplyDeleteso happy to hear the medical team is finding their place - how cool for ND to be a part of it.
ReplyDeletelove the update on all the various projects. much love and prayer your way!
we miss you honey...Jake was just saying he missed you and wishes you were back, but he's excited you're getting to help people. In fact, he wishes he could have gone with you. (except he changed his mind after we had beans with our hot dogs one night.) He said, "oh yeah, dad's eating beans there...never mind."
ReplyDeletejon, can you get some pics of my hotty posted? sure appreciate it. thanks for doing this! it's fun showing the kids the pics and talking about your days. joe, Gabe looks at your truck and says "dada"...he misses you too,..