Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Missionary House

Kay Misyonnè

 

     For many years, Gabriel has had too many visitors than he has places in his house, and every year he has to scramble to find spaces to place everybody, with the lucky remaining people getting to sleep on the roof.  He has always wanted to build a mission house to comfortably house all the generous visitors.  Right now, this dream is becoming reality.

 

 Front of Missionary House taken December 8, 2008.

This house will be quite impressive, and will be the biggest building around, larger than any in the nearby city of Pignon of 40,000 people.  It will contain 9 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a meeting room, chapel, kitchen, dining room, and a few balconies, not to mention a roof with a killer view of the mountains!  You may be asking, “Gaby, why such a monstrous house?”  With mission groups scheduled as large as 25 people, space is a necessity.  The chapel will also be used for a more permanent community church, and may even attract a resident priest.  One resident recently came by to complain that everybody now looks at the mission house instead of his when passing.

             

Using tree stumps and some free labor to pack the chapel floor before pouring concrete. 

     Gaby is constantly finding ways to cut costs.  He has hired knowledgeable family members to help with the ceiling and electricity, and we have spent a few nights backing nails out of used wood to flatten out and use again.  Trees for making ceiling stakes while pouring the concrete stakes are cut from nearby fields by local teenagers.  This project is already directly helping the community, providing jobs to skilled residents who would otherwise move to cities to find work.  They work extremely hard just for $10 USD and a plate of rice a day.

We already have a few visits booked, with a group of 12 medical school students from Tulane coming at the end of February.  They will host several clinics to assess the medical needs of the community.  Penn State and Virginia Tech students arrive in March.

  

Here is a timeline of events that have happened so far:

March 10, 2008:  Groundbreaking ceremony.  The local priest from Pignon came, and with the local residents and Penn State visitors, he held a mass service in the land soon to hold the house.  There workers built a small rock and cement monument, which resides exactly in the middle of the mission house chapel.  The priest blessed the tools, workers, residents, administrators, and visitors.

 

August 8, 2008:  Work officially begins with building the foundation.  Foundation is finished yet work is postponed until November due to extreme rain and hurricanes passing through.

 


January 26, 2009:  First floor ceiling is poured in one day.  Twenty workers from Cap Haitian arrive in the morning and work extremely hard from 8 am until 6 pm for just $600 USD total.  This took several tons of sand and rock and around 400 bags of cement. 

February 5, 2009:  All the supports and plywood for the ceiling are removed after ceiling has hardened.  So far, nothing has fallen! 

February 21, 2009:  The mission house receives its first visitors!  A group of 11 med school students from Tulane (led by Alison Smith) and Doctor Bob from Pearisburg.  We also held a clinic there assessing over a hundred residents.  Right now there is a temporary cistern set up on the roof to collect water from the well.  It supplies running water for the two bathrooms that are now complete!

May 12, 2009:  The second roof of the mission house is poured!  Now we can finally take a break and slow down on the agressive work rate.  Panels will be installed on the roof for the water project.
 

 
 

 

 

One of the most advanced tools used to build this house:  a level.  Brick masons align the walls.  Scaffolding is made by burying tree stumps in the ground. 

 

 

 

 

 Gaby scampering up the roof supports.

 

  

 

 

 The roof before concrete is poured.  All the rebar joints are tied using steel wire.  Cinder blocks are placed between large gaps to save the amount of concrete used.  You can see the PVC pipe laid housing electrical wire, and PVC plumbing is also present.

 

 

 

 

Concrete is distrubted to the ceiling by filling up wheelbarrows.  Masons then use long pieces of wood to level out the concrete. 

 

 

 

 

 Twenty men from Cap Haitian came down to mix and pour the concrete.  All mixing is done on the ground.  We went through around 2,500 gallons of water this day (made possible by the new well!)  A human conveyor belt transports concrete to the roof bucket by bucket.

 

 

 

 

 

Latest pictures of the Missionary House, after roof supports and plywood were removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First bathroom is complete.  This is behind the dining room.

 

 

Second bathroom is complete.  This is the private bathroom attached to the Bishop's room.

 

 

The bathtub for the Bishop's bathroom.

 

 

 

Father Carlo celebrates the first mass in the mission house!  March 11, 2009.

 

 

 

 

Penn State and VT students were in attendance.

 

 

 

 

Receiving communion.

 

 

 

 

Sharing peace.  We had over 30 people in attendance!

 

 

 

 

Chris, Becca, and Byron serve as the choir.

 

Front of the mission house taken 7-11-09

 

Right side of mission house

 

Back of the mission house.  These captions are pretty boring so I think I'll stop for now...

 

 

 

On the roof facing towards the front of the house.  This part is pretty cool and the rooms below have some great ceilings!

 

 

View from inside the kitchen looking down the hallway.  The room immediately down from the kitchen is the dining room.

 

Yes, we do need more money to finish this project and to make the house liveable.  This includes putting doors and windows on, and mortaring the walls inside and out.  We will need nearly $50,000 more to make this dream complete!  Thanks for looking.

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