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.