We started out by surveying the site to place the first building. Then we cleared off the land and began digging the footers for the foundation. This part was made easy because of the backhoe that we were able to use and the fact that we had Marty Hilt who proved to be a very skilled backhoe operator!
One of the hurdles we had to overcome was the scarcity of resources to be found in Haiti. We would need rebar, gravel, sand, cement, water, and various tools to complete the foundation. These are not easy things to get in any third world country let alone in Haiti where so many organizations and others are vying for those resources. But once again God provided. It seemed that just when we are about to run out of a critically needed item, Dr. Etienne or his brother Yvon would come through with the supplies we needed. One time as we were in a rush to finish a section of concrete before the end of the day, Val poured out the last bucket of water from our 300 gallon water tank. We thought we were going to be done and that we would have to wait until the next day to finish that section. Just then Alex, Dr Etienne's nephew came driving onto the property with 2 55 gallon barrels of water. What a blessing from God!
The week was filled with many such stories of God at work on the construction site, in our devotional time, and in the relationships we built in the community. Below are some pictures that I hope will show what a great time we had serving our God!
Marty and Gene surveying the site
Marty clearing off some of the thick brush and thorns
The ground is officially broken with the backhoe!
The first foundation trench
Gene checking the depth of our ditch
Thomme, Trent, & Gene bending rebar
Offloading a 300 gallon water container. Thanks God for the backhoe!
Stone gets delivered
First batch of concrete comes out of the mixer. Thank God for the mixer too!
Spreading the concrete
Gene in repose
Gene "The Machine" tying rebar
Filling stone buckets
Marty and Thomme in the ditch
Couple of the young men from Haiti who helped us on the project
Jack had to do a little ad hoc boot repair. Duct tape is a short term mission necessity!
We drank a lot of water all week to combat the heat and dry climate.
Anywhere from 160 -200oz each day!
Here is a picture of the team before work started on Wednesday...
And here is a picture after work! We poured a lot of concrete that day
Ditch getting ready to be filled
Delivery of stone.
Sometime it would come in a flat bed and needed to be shoveled out instead of just dumped!
These boys watched us work one day so Thomme let them put their hands in the concrete
Some of the guys
Dirty Jobs!
Power was intermittent at best.
This night we used "headlights" for planning.
Mixing
Toward the end we needed to pour the concrete
into the bucket to stretch it to where we needed it.
The final pour!
Dr Etienne had the honor of smoothing out the last pour
Dr. Etienne drew "Christ is the foundation" in the wet concrete.
Finished
Team time!
