Haiti CSR

Bonjou once again, this time from a soaking wet Jacsonville.  Wet for two reasons:  it’s been raining every day for the past week AND…water is now flowing at the Saint Rose of Lima school!  Yep, that’s right, the water project is complete!

            We actually started all of the work the last two weeks of May after finishing the Mission House roof, and seriously doubting we would have everything  done in time for Leo Mulcahy and Steve Metzler’s arrival.  The 1100 feet of pipeline were all laid at night with work “parties” every night for a week.  Around ten neighborhood kids would gather every night starting at 8 pm, and with just a handful of flashlights and pickaxes, would dig until midnight or one in the morning.  Each person left with only a bowl of rice and the satisfaction that the school kids would find life a little easier in the near future.

            The 1,300 gallon cistern behind the cafeteria was completed just in time too.  This took about a week and a half to dig up all the rocks and have two masons lay them in a nice cylindrical shape.  After this, they built two handwash/drinking stations…one outside of the latrines to accommodate 5 people at a time, and another grand station in front of the cafeteria to accommodate around 15 kids.  The kitchen now has a sink and countertop.  Steve plumbed all of this up along with two wall-mounted taps inside and out to fill up buckets.

Kids drinking from the station in front of the cafeteria.

This is what a master’s in mechanical engineering gets you.  Notice the screw holding the pipe on, and then notice the pipe on the left running up inside the wall.  The screw is 2 ½” long, and the pipe is only buried under ½” of concrete…you do the math.

Leo and Steve’s arrival on June 1^st was followed by tehnicians from Port-au-Prince on the 3^rd.  We removed the temporary pump from the well and installed a heavy-duty Grundfos pump.  The technicians also installed solar panels on the mission house roof.  Cleverly, there are no batteries with this system.  Water is only pumped when there is sunlight and then stored at the school or mission house in cisterns, where it is available anytime.  Water finally started flowing the 4^th of June.  Leo and I bet a beer that I couldn’t beat the water from the well to the school.  Let’s just say that he paid me up that night many times over.

We concluded the project with a dedication, inviting all the key players from the community.  The theme was “Dlo se la vi,” in other words: Water is life!  All of the students and staff are extremely happy to have running water at the school.  This saves a lot of time carrying water and allows all of the students to have clean hands and plenty to drink.  But just a few scant hours after Leo and Steve’s departure, we broke down the cistern and converted it into a ten-person Jacuzzi!  Now that’s a lot more fun than a boring cistern.

We’re now taking life a little bit easier, and taking a much needed break from all of the deadlines, but now it’s time to start planting!  We’ll be cracking the whip on the oxen and plowing the mission house field to prepare the community garden.  All of the students are busy finishing up their final exams.  Their last one is actually Saturday the 13^th and then begins summer vacation.  We’re also getting ready for Chris Vanderhoof to come down on June 23^rd.  Hope you’re studying your Creole, Chris!  Once again, keep up your support and the good prayer.  See ya next month!