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Woke up feeling a lot better! Today’s job was to frame a 30’ x 50’ Community Center / Church. Eric and I headed out early so we could get organized. There’s nothing worse than showing up to something completely unknown with 30 people asking questions or giving their advice. BTW, I’m still not sure how we became the de facto PMs!
Anyway, the ride was supposed to take about 2 hours (we did it in 1), and there were good roads for about 15 minutes of that ride. We were following the coastline but going straight up and down mountains on winding roads that would be challenging for almost any rider. This road is the local main road. We passed lots of kids walking to school, adults going to work, drove through a few rivers, and saw some beautiful scenery. The roads were slick from the morning dew, but nobody wiped out or hit a cow.
We met our Haitian crew at the site. I might also add that, as far as guys to work with in third-world countries, they may be the best I’ve worked with so far. Eric showed the crew how to prefab the trusses on the ground, make a cut list, and organize the crew efficiently. We took a few measurements and figured out the foundation was 29’8” on one side and 30’6” on the other. Not the best, but not the worst we’ve run into.
The rest of the group showed up about an hour and a half later, and everyone got right to work. We figured out first thing in the morning that we didn’t have plywood for the gussets on the trusses, but we had made a call to get some brought from Jérémie. By 11 a.m., we were at a total standstill waiting for the plywood. The trusses were too flimsy to lift without it installed.
Most of the group went for a ride into town, about 2 miles away, while Riley and I hung out hoping the plywood would arrive. It did not. The group got back from their ride, and we all had lunch and waited some more. I should mention that this is the first time on this trip that we’ve had to wait for anything. They are very organized, and you’re always on the go!
The plywood showed up around 1:30, and we got right back to work. We had an assembly line going. Some guys were nailing the trusses, others were setting them up on the walls, and others were strapping everything as we went. By 4:30, we had the roof on and strapped. We took a few pictures, and the Haitian crew was going to return tomorrow to finish the tin roofing.
We loaded up in our typical fashion, revving our engines and edging each other out for a better position up the line. Zackery dropped his arms, and we were off! The group typically gets split into two: the teenagers and the old guys who think they are teenagers up front, and the people with some self-restraint in the second group.
We drove for around 20 minutes and peeled off down a side road to a beach. It was beautiful! Too bad there were no surfboards. The Haitians were building a big boat on the shore, and we took pictures on it like the shameless tourists we are!
We headed back to the compound, had a quick shower, and enjoyed another awesome dinner. Berek gave his testimony tonight and talked about his 3 Passions Project. He runs a soccer ministry, and it was moving to see how passionate he was about it. His goal is to build a stadium with lights so the kids’ parents can come watch their games. The boys commented on how they used to complain about going to hockey practices, while the Haitian kids look forward to soccer all week.
