Haiti Team #1: Day 6

Well, the roosters finally won and woke all of us up after crowing since about four o'clock in the morning. Dave says the dogs bark until two and the roosters start at four. Regardless, we have been able to sleep thru them more this year than in the past. We had some kind of hot cereal that was good and then we went off to work. 

Darryl started the day trying to help the tile guy, but with a lack of tools he just slowed him down. Dave finished the front wall with the stucco and then he and Darryl started on the gutters. The gutters are 4" pvc pipe cut in half and screwed and strapped to the building. All you see is the pipe and no hangers and it looks good. Tom and Odlin went back to the door frames after spending much time looking for tools, like charged batteries and electricity, they persevered. They were able to get some door frames done. Jaime and Ulrick went to the national high school in the morning and took some pictures of the 8 -13yr old girls who belong to HAPI's dance group, Nouvel Etwal (New Stars). They visited and came back to the work site and started painting again. 

The walls inside the building are made of Styrofoam and wire with re-bar down into the floor and throughout the wall.  They tie the panels together, then they spray two layers of cement on them inside and out (with a gun like you would spray a textured ceiling).  After that, the Haitian workers hand trowel the final coat of cement onto a smooth finish and paint it. They are getting more and more of them finished, but of course everyone wishes more of them were done already. I think they should finish the spraying of the walls today.

The ladies cooked an amazing dinner. They had put a pan of mashed potatoes in the solar oven for the day, which was very good and thick.  We also had some rice, chicken in sauce, salad, and vanilla and chocolate & mint cookies. We then hung out with the locals and played cards for awhile. Dave stayed at Paul's house and played another game with 3 kids, Doris, McKenzie, and Magena. Tom, Odlin, Darryl, Urick, Jaime, and a few of the locals decided to try and see Angelica again. We walked down to the Living Media gallery, then to Lee's house, and then back down to the Living Media Guest house. We never did find Angelica but we did find the team from Iowa that is doing some work with Living Media and spent time getting to know them for awhile. One of their team members, Rick, grew up in Reading MI. It was nice to get out and walk around.