But the work goes on! Just when you think 94 lb bags of cement is enough to carry up a mountain over tough terrain in crazy hot temps, we are told the gravel has now arrived down on the shore. Yes. I said gravel. I can only guess how many cubic foot we hauled up from the beach to the church. Let's just say this, seven of us, plus our interpreter, about six Haitian women, and at least another 10 Haitian young men hauled half full 5 gallon buckets from 8:30 am till noon non-stop. Up and back down and up and back down and up and back down the mountain. Over and over again in 90 plus degree temps. Jeremiah had so many blisters we stopped counting at 17! Jaime and I carried just 1/4 to 1/3 full buckets and it still wooped our butts! The Haitian women, from 15 to 55 year olds (1/3 my age to 10 years older!!), carried full buckets...on their heads! Over and over again! And with no hands, I might add. Did I mention this was about 1/3 mile trek up rock raveens that were spattered with tree roots and broken chunks of cacti? Did I also mention the Haitians were all barefoot? How about the fact that I wore gloves, shoes, and took breaks after every trip or two?? They took none. Unbelievable my respect for these people. And all of it was with a smile on their face. Superman's descendants, I'm telling you. Unbelievable.
By mid afternoon it was very clear we were dying. No. Really. This was killing us. I blurted out "Aren't there any horses or mules we could rent?" Sure enough, there were. I wish I would have blurted earlier! Believe it or not, the Haitians were wearing out too, so they quickly agreed to get prices for us from others on the island who owned mules and line up assistance for the next day. We smiled. And since we were now out of re-bar for the front porch of the church, our work was done for the day. We quickly headed back to the ocean for another salt bath....aaahhhhhh...paradise. And then a nap after lunch. My back was killing me...my gut was wrenching. Jerry's belly began to wrench with pain as well, as he began to make friends with the outside potty pit also. We both decided it was time to start taking an antibiotic. We are required to bring a 10 day script with us for a time like this. It was time. Jerry stayed in bed half the day. I wasn't as bad, though I lived in the potty pit most of the day.
There was one problem there. Those pesky Haitian sized cockroaches! After dark, they covered the floor and lower walls of the potty pit. And I do mean covered. Hundreds! Grossest thing I've seen in my life! Jaime would actually poo in there with them scurrying about. Me? NO WAY!! She was crazy. Well, now they were there during the day too. Jerry thought it was because of the bacteria we were poo-ing out. It attracted them. I don't know. It was just CREEPY! So I began poo-ing out behind the poo pit and covering it with large leaves. Yah. Attractive, eh? Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go! And I had to go...alot and often. Someone must have noticed because later that day Darryl said he went in there and the cockroaches were laying on their backs with just a few here and there...and there were lots of little legs laying around the rest of the floor!!
"You've got to be kidding me!" I said.
He said, "No. I'm not kidding. I think Madame went in there and turned them all on their backs, because as soon as she came out, a bunch of chickens went running in there. I think they ate them all!"
OMGOSH! I hadn't thought about the natural food chain. You got cockroaches? Buy some chickens. They ate the entire kit and kaboodle by the end of the day. I saw one cockroach late that night and none, read my typing: NONE, the rest of our time there.
Hero of the day: Chickens!
No comments:
Post a Comment