A Typical Day at Habitat Haiti

I have to admit that when we first arrived on Sunday night and I looked around the tent, saw my cot with the foam padding, and realized that we were jammed with way too many people. . . I thought I wasn't going to make it!  I was hot and overwhelmed and looked at Jeanna and said "This was your idea!"  After saying that, survival mode takes over and you just adapt to your new surroundings and conditions making the best of it!  My lesson learned is that I am very resilient (okay I might have had one or two small meltdowns).

 The pictures above are of our camp at Christainville.  They give you the idea of how close our quarters were in the camp.  They used every square inch of the land provided to put up tents.  We were in one of the long white tents, the blue tents were for the lucky people that only had 4 -6 people in a tent.

Our typical day began with alarms going off between 5:00-5:30am.  As you can see our friend Gayle loves the morning and was ready to go!  You can also see how close our cots were together, it was almost like sharing a bed with someone!

 They did a really good job on the bathrooms!  There were flush toilets and water for the sinks, the water was treated but it was not safe to drink so you had to brush your teeth with bottled water.  There were shower stalls with pretty decent flow of cold water.  It actually felt good to take a cold shower at the end of the day.  The showers were open every day from 4pm-9pm.

We would then head to the mess tent for breakfast starting at 6am.  Breakfast usually consisted of some kind of eggs, oatmeal, cold cereal, bread, and juice.  After a quick breakfast we would gather our tool bag and get in line for the buses to the work site.  The last bus left at 7am.

Just outside the camp fence we passed a school when we were boarding the buses.  The children were all in their uniforms playing in the school yard waiting for school to start.  There uniforms were neatly cleaned and pressed!  We did wonder how their uniforms were so clean knowing the scarcity of water in the surrounding area.  

When we arrived at the work site we would unload the buses and head to our respective houses.  This was a good day for me. . .I think this was Wednesday, I had on a clean shirt!!

The entire work site was fenced in and there was barbed wire on the fence to keep people from stealing supplies.  There were guards everywhere inside the work site to protect us from any danger.  I never felt in danger at any time during the trip, however we did have some materials stolen from our house.

 These were our bathrooms on the work site.  The port-a-potties were very clean, but they were like thermal heat boxes!  You had to be very quick doing your business because the heat could overtake you.  One of my biggest fears was passing out in the port-a-potty and not being found!

 Our House Leader was with a large group from Florida so they had pink flamingos for each of the houses they were working on.  On the last day we each signed the flamingo and gave it to the homeowner!  The tradition is that on each anniversary on their move in date they are to put the flamingo in their yard!

 I am nailing in the hurricane brackets on the roof trusses to help prevent the house from being destroyed in the event of another hurricane.  The unfortunate problem with the hurricane brackets was the fact the nails were too large for the metal plates.  So in the picture below you can see me using a punch and a hammer to make each hole in the hurricane bracket bigger so they could be nailed on the house.  Each bracket had 8 nail holes and there must have been around 100 brackets.  I am now well skilled in this area!!!

This picture was taken at the beginning of Day 2 and you can see that everyone has their roof trusses and purlins up on their houses.

This is the house by the beginning of the day Friday.  The house had all the siding installed but we still had to build the porch roof, add the roof cap and install the window coverings by 3pm!

 Jeanna was the Queen of the porch roof construction!  She set all the porch posts, built the roof frame and installed the purlins.  The porch purlins "disappeared" sometime in the first few days and there were no more 16ft lengths of 2x4's so we had to measure and cut 9 separate pieces for the porch roof.  Trust me the roof would have been much easier if those materials had been around!!

 Our work day ended each day around 4pm with clean up starting at 3:15-3:30.  We boarded the buses back to the camp.  The big decision of the afternoon was whether or not to run the gauntlet to get to the shower before dinner or wait until after dinner.  The shower right away felt better because you were so hot from being out in the sun all day but there was often a long line if you were not in the first bus.  But showering after dinner was nice because you had the place pretty much to yourself but the water felt much colder!

After dinner each night there was so form of entertainment and the bar opened at 7pm.  Monday night we had Haitian singers and dancers perform for us.  Tuesday night was an incredible impromptu concert by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood!  Garth hadn't brought a guitar with him but they found him one and he played a great concert!  Thursday night was a wonderful evening with President and Mrs. Carter talking about their work since leaving the White House.  I am so impressed with the work the Carters and the Carter Center have done!  Mrs. Carter spoke of her passion of ensuring equal rights for women and girls across the globe and preventing various diseases in third world nations.  President Carter does a lot of work in foreign policy and opening the lines of communications across the globe.  These are people that have dedicated their lives to public service and definitely "walk the talk!"  

Bedtime came early because we were beat from the heat and the hard work and 5:00am comes pretty quickly!  So that was our typical day during the Carter Work Week in Haiti.  Tomorrow's blog will talk about the last day on the site and heading home!

Welcome to Haiti

We arrived in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon and checked in with the Habitat Staff.  We were handed our tool bag, hard hat, and shade hat!  We then headed off to the Opening Ceremonies with the other 400+ volunteers!  We heard from Patrick Corvington, Senior Vice President, who asked us "How many people had questioned our decision to come to Haiti?"  He told us he did not question our wisdom for one second! My favorite quote of his was "No matter what we see in the news; no matter what we read or what we hear - humanity always wins - service always wins"

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

President Carter welcomed us to the Haiti Work Week and thanked us for our participation!  He also told us to work hard and not spend time taking pictures of him working on his house. . .he had a lot of work to do in 5 days!  President Carter reminded us that he is 87 years old and has had two knee replacements so he might not be able to work all day every day but he will work hard!


Mark Andrews, in charge of the Haiti recovery, told us that we would be: Shocked. Saddened, Overwhelmed, Confused, Frustrated, Angry, Energized, and Transformed during the week.


As the night came to a close we were reminded by the CEO of Habitat that the conditions would be less than ideal and we should feel free to voice our frustrations but should end each sentence with ". . . and that's the way we like it!"

Delta Habitat Plane

We woke up bright and early to board the Delta flight to Haiti!  I have to give Delta huge props for the sponsorship of Habitat!  They had dedicated check in counters for our group of 400+ and the check in was swift and smooth.  The service on the flight was better than any first class service!  We had a full hot lunch, snacks, and a movie!  Way to go Delta!!!!

Home Sweet Home

We arrived in Port au Prince and from the moment we stepped off the plane the heat was shocking!  We boarded our buses and made the drive through Port au Prince to Leogane, we passed people living in the most deplorable conditions that I have ever witnessed!  There has not been any rebuilding in Port au Prince in the slums - it is heartbreaking to witness.

We arrived in Camp at Christianville late in the afternoon and they were not kidding about the primitive conditions!  We were assigned tent #95 and it was a 10 person tent now holding 14 cots. . . Just the way we like it . . .Not!  The tents were hot, hot, hot!  They have so many tents crammed into the camp that there is not enough space between tents to open the side windows to allow a cross breeze!  We sent up our personal mosquito tents and went off to dinner!

Our Tent Row #95 at the end

The dining tent was huge and the best part of it was it was air conditioned!!!!  The Irish group "Haven" was running the camp and the food was pretty good!  The first night the lines were really long for dinner and we realized that a lot of the week would be spent in lines and waiting. . . and that's the way we like it!

We spent a first rough night sleeping in the hot tent and were scheduled to wake a t 5:30am to go to breakfast.  I was woken up at 4am because one of our tent mates decided to repack her suitcase!  She had packed everything in plastic grocery bags so the crinkling sound was loud and irritating. . .but TTWWLI!

We were on the busses headed for the site at 6:30am!  Jeanna and I sat together and Eva and Gayle each took a window seat in the rows in front of us.  I was tired and not paying attention as we were waiting for the bus to leave, Jeanna jabs in the ribs and points at Eva and Gayle.  I look up and Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are sitting with our friends and chatting away!!  They were so nice and down to earth!

One of our Houses

We were assigned to houses #101 and #122!  Our crew leader, Rob was from Florida and had done a couple of the Jimmy Carter Work Weeks.  Our crew consisted of the four of us (Gayle, Eva, Jeanna, and I) and three other volunteers.  Jeff and Karen worked at their local Habitat Chapters and Stephen was an English teacher in New Jersey.  Eight of us were going to build two houses in 5 days!

Setting the walls

 The concrete stem walls were done before we arrived and all the building materials for each house were stacked in the back.  We took inventory and then were ready to put up the four walls!  It was so hot and humid that we were dripping with sweat the entire day!  Culligan provided us with bottled water and there were coolers of ice cold water all over the work site.  They also came around with electrolyte replacements twice a day to prevent dehydration!

Chaos of Building

 The building is very satisfying and the new homeowners were very appreciative of all our work!  All of the Haitians that we came in contact thanked us profusely for coming to help them.

Adding the Roof Trusses

End of Day 1

We worked until 4pm on the first day - we were able to get up all the walls and the roof trusses on one of the houses.  Tomorrow will be a lot of hammering as we have to put all the hurricane braces on all the walls and trusses!

We came back to camp and had dinner then off to the showers.  The showers were cold but it felt great!  Then I was off to peruse the local craft vendors.  After a short shopping spree I was sitting on a wall talking to a couple of people, we noticed an increase in secret service in our area.  We were commenting on how nice Jimmy Carter was and how we admire his commitment to public service.  After a couple of minutes we heard a familiar southern drawl and realized he was sitting two people away from us!!!  The secret service guy smiled as we realized how close he was and then gave us this piece of advice "the first rule of thumb is to be aware of your surroundings!"  Rosalynn Carter then walked up, she had been shopping and like any other man Jimmy was sitting waiting for her!  She showed him her purchases and he stood up and put his arm around her and they walked away. . .it was a very touching moment!

I spent the rest of the evening in the air conditioned tent until it was time to go back to my hot and humid tent to sleep quick. . .5:30am comes awfully early. . .but that's the way we like it!

Heading to Haiti

We are heading to Haiti for the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project for Habitat for Humanity.  Jeanna and I will be joined by our Oregon friends, Iwa and Gayle to help build 100 houses in one week!  We are both excited and nervous as we prepare for our trip.  HFH has sent us a lot of literature and emails to help us prepare for this journey. . .it has been repeated several different ways that the conditions "are primitive at best" and my favorite quote "The conditions under which we will be working are a little different this year, and our time together will likely require an extra measure of grace"!  So I am trying to get mentally prepared for the conditions and find the grace as suggested above!


One of the biggest threats is the mighty mosquito!  They are a real nuisance and it seems like there will be a lot of them buzzing and biting!  We are taking malaria medicine to prevent the disease.  We have also tried to take as many precautions to prevent even one mosquito bite. . .we have Bug spray, mosquito nets, and have sprayed our clothes with some nasty stuff ( I think I am developing a third nipple from the exposure!).    The other serious concern is cholera but we will be eating only food prepared by HFH and drinking their water. . . we will be vigilant about hand washing and that should help.


We will be staying in 6 or 10 person tents with cots, mattresses, and mosquito nets.  We have to bring a sleeping bag and pillow.  There will be latrines and showers. . . they don't elaborate here so I am planning for the worst.  I have been known to forego showers for longer periods than my friends would want me to, but I have some body wipes in my bag to use as back up!


The typical work day schedule will be:
6-6:45 Breakfast
7-7:30 Buses leave for worksite
8:00     Work begins
11:30    First Lunch
12:30    Second Lunch
4-4:30   Buses leave for camp site
6:00      Dinner
7-8:30   Evening Entertainment
9:30      Lights out!


We will be working in working in the district of Leogane in the Santos community which is located about 18 miles west of Port-au-Prince.  HRH is building the houses on a 34 acre plot of land.  They have involved the community in the process from the very beginning.  There are about 700 Haitians employed by HRH!  We will be working side by side the Haitians to build the houses.  The houses will be compact, about 200 square feet, with a porch and a separate latrine.  This is the first development and there will be many more houses built in the coming months and years.


I am grateful for this opportunity to go to Haiti and do my small part to make life a little better for the Santos community.  I am also grateful to my friends and family for donating the money needed to be a part of this endeavor. . .together Jeanna and I raised $11,000, which will be used to build this community.  I send out the deepest thank you to all who have supported us.


I will be taking photos and writing the blog every night while in Haiti.  I might be able to send a blog from Haiti but most likely not because there will be 400 people trying to use the few computers they have for us.  Put I will send the blogs once I get home next weekend so you will all be able to share in our adventure.


I found this quote and I think that it will ring true of this week. . . probably more than I can even imagine. . .


"Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives.  Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself.  For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even."  ~Daniel Berrigan


Godspeed!