A flurry of activity

Sitting outside relaxing after work, with avid story teller Osprival Descommes, founder of CIJ

February 22, 2012

There is a refreshing cool breeze tonight, which is quite out of the norm for here. It was yet another stinking hot day here on the jobsite- we really can’t do any work between noon and 3pm- it’s just too hot. So, we worked from 3 until about 6 tonight- much better. Oh, and of course, we worked the morning shift too.

We have had to shift our goals a few times here…everything happens slower than you think, and even when you know this, you can get caught.

February 24, 2012

The crunch is on- we have one more full day with the entire crew to finish whatever we can, and then one day with a partial crew, as we will be traveling to Port au Prince on two different days. This first Endeavour crew to come to Deslandes has been terrific- everyone has adapted quite well to the pace of life here- we have realised that while it’s wonderful to set goals, they aren’t always attainable- sometimes due to lack of materials, or budget, or energy. It is quite draining to work in a really hot climate when you aren’t used to it, but everyone has done well.

We set a goal to finish the compost toilet facility, and will achieve it, but for making the doors. That was out of our control, as they said they couldn’t find wood locally. This was pretty disappointing to the crew, as we really wanted to have the toilets completely ready for the compost toilet folks to come and install the toilets & compost buckets. We’re close, but not quite there. We did manage to finish the clay/straw on the building, do all of the partition block walls (which took longer than any of us had anticipated), two coats of plaster, and today, JP is doing a sculpture on one side of the toilet building.

Laying partition walls out of compressed earth block

We have had lots of help here and there on the project- especially with collection of materials, and doing jobs that might be more fun, but as for the really dirty jobs, it’s hard to get people to join in. It seems to be cultural- people don’t like to get really dirty here. We always have plenty of spectators at the jobsite- a mixture of kids and adults. There is lots of curiousity and praise in what we are doing there.

Plastering the toilet building- the jobsite is a busy place!

We added some green trim around doors & windows to break up the yellow

We are also in the midst of painting the first school building- it’s rather an experimental paint, with nopal cactus juice, pigment, and water. The colours are vibrant, but it’s a difficult paint to work with- it involves lots of pressure, and going over the same spot several times to work the pigment in- the cactus juice seems to suspend the pigment. We’ll try to paint a clear protective coat over the paint (likely a glue/water paint) to preserve the finish. Unfortunately, this was the pigment that Jim provided us with, but no one checked with the community about the colour (big faux pas!). It turns out that one of the nastiest prisons in Haiti was painted a bright yellow, and for Haitians of a certain generation, this colour is still associated with the prisons. We painted the posts green, and put green trim around the doors and windows- this definitely adds something to the building, and cheers it up in a different way. But again, an important reminder to consult a community before moving forward on any project!

We had lots of help painting

We have been most warmly welcomed here in Deslandes, and the relationships with the kids here have had a strong impact on all of us. The kids genuinely love spending time with us, and we each have certain ones who will follow us everywhere. Some of us have been advancing in creole, while others are able to speak in English and be understood just fine.

We’ll be sad to leave Deslandes in a mere two days, but the people of Deslandes will have had as rich an experience as we have in our time here. We look forward to progress reports on the composting toilets.

Our gang, hanging out on the porch after a day of earth block training

JP sculpted a tree onto the side of the building, and Shane did a sun- I forgot my camera in Verrettes, with shots of their finished artwork.