Chook Me!

When we left in June 2006 there was bare rebar where concrete

Summary: When we left in June 2006 there was bare rebar where concrete would be poured for the supports   Money ran out before that could happen   In Haiti an inactive building site invites thieves   Some of the rebar was stolen but most was in place   Why   The neighborhood boss man watched over the property We found out on Saturday that the neighborhood boss man was one of the volunteer laborers and he told the young unemployed neighborhood men to work unpaid for us   He thought that the church was good for the neighborhood   On Monday we talked at length with him   Gilbert the boss man was born on the church property and his mother lives immediately across the road   He likes the fact that a church is being built there   He thinks that the church will help organize activities for the youth of the community   Gilbert tries to do what he can with almost nothing so I gave him a few hundred dollars for his community activities The team shoveled gravel carried rocks carried concrete carried concrete blocks carried water   For those of you who have been there you know the labor intensive environment   Thankfully the decision was made to buy concrete blocks instead of making them   The current price is $750 for 1000 concrete blocks    After I do some sorting photos will follow           A neighborhood boss man I do not know the Creole term is not an elected position   He is a person respected by the community trusted by the community to mediate disputes to advise and to help the community   If he had said No to our project no one would have volunteered to work on it             On our four work days we fed all who were on the site   I hired ladies from the church to buy and cook food   The menu was left up to them and the meals included chicken pork or goat   The first day we fed 25 30 the next 50 55 then 75 80 and Monday just over 100   Most worked unpaid just to have a lunch   The young men were so excited to be eating meat   You would have thought it was Christmas           The paid workers ate first followed by the unpaid workers   The non workers had to wait until the children many who were working were fed   Then others who heard about the free food were fed   It was an amazing scene it was like a party each day with everyone smiling joking and laughing as they ate   If we had too much there was always someone willing to eat one s left overs           On Sunday seven of these young men including Billy Kool came to church for the first time   Billy Kool was a nick name that we gave to a young man who attempted a gangsta persona   At first he was too cool to work but did eventually   When we left he gave all of us a hug           Friday and Saturday evenings we hired a music teacher to be our team s choir director   We practiced a couple hymns in Creole and sang them in church   It was fun and we did a respectable job           We also hired a young man to take video and stills   There are a couple CDs that now have to be edited   When they are finished in a couple months each of you will receive a copy           Next year maybe January or February there will be another VIM team to work with Croix des Mission   Who wants to go   Forget about the negatives that you have read about Haiti   Improvements albeit small ones are noticeable   All the stop lights work in Port au Prince   There are many more Haitian police patrols and fewer UN patrols   The electricity at the guest house was on most of the time   In the Croix des Mission neighborhood potable water trucks sold water like our summer time ice cream trucks   The former chaos at the airport is under control   Three years ago not one stop light UN armored cars at major intersections many power outages things are slowly changing           Will each of you look at the addressees   I have probably omitted some people who should be on this   Will you please forward this to them and to anyone else who you think would be interested

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