construction...

today i was IN CHARGE of a construction project. and the project was putting a roof on the security station. Lawrence is dr. cheryl's husband and he pretty much runs all the construction, maintenance, and building projects of the mission. i was assigned to him today and he said that i would be overseeing a construction project. half the workers were haitian (kreyol speaking only) and the other half were american. i obviously had no idea how to put a roof on, but he explained to me how it would work and what was supposed to be done and by whom.

the first phase of the project involved hauling gravel and stones to a cement mixer which was quite a task considering the heat and sun and the fact that the children had been let out of school early. one thing about all haitian children is that they flock to you like a herd of wild animals. they are always grabbing our hands, pulling at our clothes, wanting to be picked up. considering that the MOH school teaches somewhere around 2000 students, it really made for quite a scene trying to get the construction done! the kids are all so cute in their uniforms and it is great because they can all speak french. we filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of gravel and stones and the kids would hold alongside to the dumping pile, in exchange for rides back. i wish i could have taken a picture of them piling into the wheelbarrow in handfuls...it was like a tap tap for kids! it of course made the task a little bit harder, but they just wouldn't take no for an answer...and of course none of us could say no!

once we had finally transported all the supplies it was time to mix the cement and lay down the roof. this all worked out really well bc we formed an assembly line....2 guys f/ the group were in charge of loading and mixing the cement, one of the haitians filled all the tin buckets, passed them one by one to me, i'd lift them to the first man on the ladder and he would pass it to the second guy and then there were 4 more guys on the roof that were laying down the cement. then they would pass the empty buckets back down on a rope and we'd go another round. this went on for probably over an hour and i was pretty exhausted by the time the roof was done. and bc i had to lift all the buckets above my head, i was covered from head to toe in cement. we all were burning up but it didn't matter bc it was really neat how it all came together and was really efficient. and it looked great!

i've been so impressed with how the entire mission is run. it is like an ant hill with tons of people everywhere working hard in the hot sun to get things done. everyone has a task and NO ONE is lazy. nothing is easy, but no one complains.

the 5 of us interns each have a schedule and are assigned to a different task and leader every day. basically, if there is something dirty that needs to get done, they call on the interns. we all joke about who had it worst that day...girls and guys have it exactly the same (mal was operating the bobcat the other day) they rely on us a lot, but we also get special priviledges which is nice, and we get to spend a lot of time with the people at the top. seeing all the great things that MOH does provides the ultimate motivation to always work as hard as we can...i am grateful that i am able to be a part of it all!

after lunch we hopped in the truck to do some work on the new property they had bought a couple towns north of titayen. MOH is going to expand to the new property which is 70 acres right near the ocean. right now it is like a safari with tons of animals and trees and haitians working the land....our job was to find the property markers which was quite a task considering it was like walking through a jungle. and it was so hot and sticky and buggy, i imagine it is what a rainforest is like. sarah stepped in/sunk into something that made her entire shoe pitch black, and a massive thorn went through the bottom of mal's sneakers all the way to her foot. there were some haitian boys who knew the land and they helped us out a bit. i carried a little boy named samuel on my back for a while until he basically started slipping off due to all the sweat. he was also covered pretty good in concrete. i really enjoyed this job bc everything was so beautiful and we got to see a lot of crazy looking plants and a whole slew of different animals. the new property is really flat so to the east you can see all of the beautiful mountains and to the west you can see the crystal ocean. lawrence said that clearing all this land would be the interns' next job, but i think/hope he was kidding!

we got back around dinner time and i ate my weight in spaghetti and meatballs. i think i will be pretty sore tomorrow, so it is great that it is my first day off! i will probably spend it in the clinic. i've gotten sick the last 3 nights....what they call the "haitian sensation"...it wakes you up in the middle of the night, but then i always feel fine in the morning. i must be getting some of the water in my mouth when i shower...it's been happening to all 3 of us...they say it's just part of intern's right of passage...

we are all going to bed early tonight...it is especially hot and muggy today, very difficult to find a way to cool off.... sometimes the only way to escape the heat is to go to sleep!

peace :)