Day Nine

The last day with the Haitians was really rewarding, but sad too. We miss them now they've gone, as the crew wont be coming back for day ten. We'll be back though, that I'm sure of! With all of our joined effort finally coming to fruition there was a lot of emotion today.

Me and Brian finished off the tiles on the skylight/ mushroom. Rory then plastered the re-bar structure, making sure that the middle is waterproof. I then followed Rory round and cleaned the bottle tiles afterwards. We also finished a few final touches to the main domes gutter, double checking that the gradient is just right to funnel all the water down the right way, and leave no standing water.After that we got the edge of fine plaster on the main dome finished, so that the shape and flow of the gutters lip looks good from the ground.

Phil and Bellasone finished all the packing out of the plastic bottles in the bathroom, (with the help and sometimes manic enthusiasm of the Haitian crew), the clean up for that little space took an incredibly long time! haha...

I also mixed quite a few batches of cement today, by hand. Our mixer has finally given up the ghost, which means working a lot harder to supply a good batch! Not too bad though, as the vast majority of the cement has already been used, and finished take a lot of time. but less material.

After lunch we all sat down together in the communal area of the build. Mike Reynolds presented each Haitian volunteer with their certificate (which will enable them to participate in further Earthship builds, as well as being a good work reference in Haiti), as well as the surprise of a $50 note. We paid them a very good labourers wage for the nine days, and they were overwhelmed! Every time someone took their cert and money they all cheered and clapped their approval. There was singing and they danced afterwards! It was definitely the highlight for everyone there.

Sadly they had to leave shortly afterwards, due to the election and their effect on the city. If the result is bad for the people there is rioting and often the danger of violence, if good then a ruckus of street parties spring up around the city. But it's not good to take risks.

So our Haitian friends left and we all shook hands, or hugged, exchanged e-mails and wished each other happiness and luck in the future- at least until next time! But part of me cant help thinking they'll need luck and love a little more then we will... I'm very hopeful that there will be a next time. Building have been built. and people inspired. This is just the shallow foundation of what could happen in Haiti!

Later in the evening we relaxed in the dome for a bit (narrowly avoiding a blown recluse, which move incredibly fast), then met up with a few people from another compound close by. Walking through the streets was nice, people seemed hopeful about the election, and on many street corners clusters of people gathered around old home made speakers (all warbling, or grating, out a multitude of Haitian music), eating, drinking and indulging in being happy. At the compound a few people player poker, but I just sipped a beer and thought about what we've achieved. And what we could still do...

Day Eight

It's starting to sink in I think. Going through the catacomb like Port Au Prince, working with the local Haitians, riding around on motos and talking with people in the city. This situation, and the conditions people live in are not going to get better soon.

The cramped unsanitary living conditions, the three feet band of rotting rubbish lining all major thoroughfares, huge land fills, geographical and political instability... The more I think about Earthips, the more they make sense! I'm starting to believe, really believe, that they could seriously help how the Haitian people live. In Earthships Haiti could clean up their cities, and build sustainable, earthquake proof housing for it's people all at the same time! With $3000 a house for two families can be built, so just imagine what Haiti could do with say a few million dollars of funding? This could totally explode :)

Anyway, today I working for the whole day with Mike R, Amzy, Peter Cos and Saiswa on the big mushroom-like structure atop the main living dome. Amzy was busy using a vertical cross-stitch like pattern of heavy wire to strengthen the vertical re-bar base, whilst the rest of us started to clad the top in plastic bottle shingles. The cladding was more difficult than it sounds, as many of the tiles retained their original bottle shape memory, and fixing them all in place with wire was fiddly sharp work!

The design is very extravagant, and took a ton of time to shingle. but the overall effect is quite eye catching! The different coloured bottle tiles create an amalgamation of colour, that becomes especially interesting when the sun is setting. But the structure is still a little crazy for a simple ventilation cover, and probably won't be replicated on other builds.

Today Brian was busy creating nice finishes with local materials. For example he used bamboo and fixed strips of it to the inside of the ventilation shaft, giving a very pleasing finish out of free materials! He's also engineered a table out of bamboo to sit in the communal space between the main dome and the utility domes. It's this ingenuity that I love about Earthship. They really do USE their environment.

The Haitian crew though seemed very tired today. A solid week of hard manual labour is not what most of them are used to. I'm sure they will pull through though. They all seem to have a very strong resolve when they need to. Most of the hard labour has been done by now though- the excessive digging and tyre pounding- leaving us with mostly aesthetics to finish, and we still have a few Haitian hard cores :)

There was a little friction in the air though, as the security guards are now equipped with billy clubs, and in my opinion this, after the laptop incident doesn't help things. But you cant blame GRU, they're always trying their best.

Day Seven

Day seven was difficult in terms of materials. We were running seriously low on sand, and had to spend much much longer than usual sifting the raw stuff to get the amount we needed.
Luckily we ordered a truck load of new sand for the afternoon, and got on with plastering and packing out the bottle walls.

|For most of the day I took James and Billy to pack out a lot of bottles on the exterior of the dome. However James was a little over-excited and cemented way too much of the material! This left me at the end of the day to chip off cement and clean hundreds of bottles... ah well :) We got a lot of finish work done though, and I finished a portion of the carapace (top area of the guttering).

Paul also interviewed me, James, Peter and Emmanuel, towards the end of the day. The questions asked revealed a much deeper perspective on the Haitian interns. Both an incredible enthusiasm for what they are doing, and the horrific trials that they have had to endure. Most people have lost someone in their family, and all have suffered both the initial earthquake, and the great instability that was caused in its wake.

Petercos couldn't resist taking a few pictures!

Day six

Today was Sunday, so the Haitian crew took the day off, and invited us to go visit some of their houses. We only worked until about 12am, then ate our lunch of red beans and rice- getting a little bland at this point, haha.

I filtered a lot of rough sand with some new volunteers, Shaun and Ean, who used to work for GRU. Sand is now becoming an issue, as we need to sift so much rough sand to get the fine stuff needed for plaster mix. As a group we managed to finish digging the black water overflow, cement plaster the bathroom dome, adobe plaster the main dome further and create a nice communal space between the main dome and the other facilities.

After food we took motos (motor bikes driven by crazy dare devil Haitians) to where some of the Haitians live. The bike ride was an experience in itself. Weaving in and out of traffic at mad speeds, with three people on each bike. Everyone driving in Port au Prince is constantly honking their horns, and gesticulating wildly. It was a lot of fun getting there!

We were first invited to Billy's home, which I think used to be a school. Lots of children and their families share this large compound, and they're constantly doing little restoration jobs to make it better. Billy has been doing sculpture work using car tyres as his material. He started with hanging birds like the photo below, and has progressed to child's swings, plant pot flamingos and other imaginative creations!

We then walked to Samuels house, perched high atop a concrete cliff, accessible by half dozen precarious steps. The walk there took us past many ruins, and every one had a harrowing story behind it.

Samuel is training to become a reverend, and is very dedicated to his work. He invited us all into his house for a refreshing drink, and to talk. He and his family were more than happy to talk about their situation, their experiences around the earthquake, and their plans for the future.

After talking to Samuels family he offered to show us around the local community, and show us a plot of land he is planning to turn into an Earthship. We trekked around a maze of side alleys and streets tightly encompassed by concrete building and ruins. Open sewage pipes ran through many alleys, and stray cats and dogs streaked past constantly.

We then walked though a market place where Brian broke one of his sandals. Dozens of Haitians laughed at the sight of an American walking though the slums of Port au Prince bare foot! We then spent some time at Maritas, where we got some good food and talked.

Later, Marita, Brian and Paul convinced me to go to a Haitian carnival called Rara. The music was unusual, but unique. I like the fact that Haiti has it's own sound, as too much local music has become westernised. We danced with the locals and had a fantastic time!

Day Five

Day five was a really big day, as we got the bathroom and shower operational! I started by mixing batches of adobe and concrete for various people, sifting sand and cutting rebar pins. Later I organised interns to help collect the rubble needed to fill in the blackwater cell. First you add large pieces of flat rubble so you dont damage the plastic liner. Then smaller pieces, a 3" layer of sand and finally about 2 feet of earth.

Next me and James made the drainage tubes (4" diameter plastic tubes with holes periodically drilled into them) for the partially filled planters. These allow the water to flow from one planter to the next, and also make it possible to see the water levels.

After fixing in the tubes for the planter Brian, me and about 5 other people shovelled a ton of earth into the planter. After finishing that we started digging the overflow trench.We really do seem to dig a lot of holes, haha. I also attached the overflow to the cistern.

The roof structure is now almost finished and the water catchment almost operational. Rain is captured on the main dome and fed by gravity across the gutter (on top of the archway leading into the courtyard) and around the bathroom roof, finally emptying onto the roof of the cistern. It looks pretty awesome!

At 3pm Mike R called a meeting and the whole compound met over the laptop incident. GRU apologised for how they reacted over the incident, and the meeting gave people a chance to say what they needed to say, and express how they felt. It ended on a light note with the owner of the laptops saying "It's just a laptop guys". The interns left feeling upbeat I think.

We finished the last touches to the shower facilities- a rock bench and concrete platform to stand on - Rory finished lathing the bathroom dome, Phil and Salty continued to adobe inside the main dome and I helped Amzi and Brian to dig the overflow. The overflow will probably never be used in this climate. but legally it gives the whole septic system more credibility.

Finished and knackered for the day we had dinner and joined in with a few special festivities, as it was one of the GRU member's birthday.

Shneiders E-mail

Shneider (one of the best workers on our Haitian team) just mailed me to say how much he appreciated what we did. The letter is so beautiful that I have to put it up here.



"My dearest friend,
             
How are you? Your family, your business and staff Earthship?
Today, with a heart full of love, full of goodness and full of satisfaction that I write you this letter in order to greet you, thank you and congratulate you for the training you Earthship have given me.
                        
                  I wish you more courage, more patience, more wisdom and more knowledge.
                                                 

                                                     I love you!
                                              May God bless you!
                                                       
                                                                                      It's Shneider!

Day four in Haiti

Day four started with a lot of mixing batches for Phil, Rory, Mike etc. I got a few guys on sifting sand (were running out!), splitting cement bags and fetching water from the cistern.

The bottle walls are now almost done. Especially the bathroom and cistern veneer. Everything was progressing smoothly until we were alerted to an incident that just occurred with one of the other organisations in the compound. Two expensive laptops holding the plans and data for a years work were stolen, and everyone was told to go to the entrance. This caused huge friction between the grassroots organisation (GRU), and the Haitian volunteers. GRU searched the compound, and finding nothing they confronted the Haitians. After some time our extended team members were sent home for the rest of the day. Disappointed and confused they left.

Me and the team pushed on and had to work a lot harder without our friends and co-workers. We dug the blackwater cell, plastered the bathroom floor to finish and filled the greywater cell with rubble, followed by earth. Phil and Rory plastered adobe inside, and increased the height of the gutter. But we all did these things slowly...

We worked hardest today I think, and with heavy hearts.

The evening though was fantastic! Brian and Paul convinced me to take a walk with them, and some GRU people, outside the compound to see some local people (and buy some chocolate if possible!). We walked for about 20 minutes and found a petrol station to buy supplies (Luxuries). We then continued on to a tent camp. We were invited to play domino's and drink a beer with some Haitian locals around a table, surrounded by a structure made out of corrugated metal, canvas sheets and reclaimed wood, all built around a live tree. It was definitely an interesting place. The guy who left the table to give us room turned and I realised he had at least 30 clothes pegs attached to his face! We soon learned that every time you lose a game you get pegs to clip to yourself as a forfeit.

The games were fun but confusing. The Haitian guys were fast and slammed their domino's onto the table, gittering everything and making the whole scene even more confusing. Me and Brian followed suite and soon we were all slamming domino's onto this old table, surrounded by a shanti structure, playing with people we had met only moments before, in the middle of a tent camp!

Me and Brian had a fantastic time and collected a lot of pegs.

Soon though we walked back to the compound and got some rest for the next day.