Engineer

The maze of another day has come to a close. We started out our day with a visit to the new property, and it is amazing! Robinson has been sending me a few pictures of the progress, and while they say a picture is worth a thousand words, being here and seeing it first hand is just stunning. What they have engineered for the property and are doing by hand right now is a wonder. The foundation for the property wall is progressing very well, and I know it sounds crazy, but where the property is located in a valley coming out of a mountain great care has been taken to be able to control and handle the flow of water the mountain will produce. A viaduct will run through the middle of the property that will allow proper drainage from top to bottom and side to side. Our engineer is one bright man. It’s always a concern who you can end up working with in third world countries, but one of the graces we have been afforded over time is being surrounded with really great people. I was able to catch a quick glance of the work yesterday and on the final descent into the front of the property Robinson pointed out a boulder 4’ by 4’ in circumference. He said he had two men move it from where they need to put in more foundation to across the road, about 35’. It took the men two days, and they moved it without any equipment. Robinson paid them $400 Haitian dollars to move it. That’s $32 American dollars for two men for two days. Divide 32 in half and they made a whopping $8 dollars apiece per day for two days doing the impossible. The next time you want complain about working too hard for your wages, remember this story. I cannot believe they pulled it off. Seeing it reminded me of something out of ancient literature, except they didn’t have horses, or logs, or even 10 more men. I still marvel at their ingenuity. Given proper tooling, combined with their tremendous work ethic Stateside, they would be hard to compete with. We spent about an hour there today, and it didn’t take long for many children to come out of the mountain side and join our young bunch for games. They grab ahold of your heart quickly. The area is desperate for water, and we have found a couple wells recently hand dug in the neighborhood across the highway that indicate we won’t have to go very deep for our water. With a solar pump installed I calculated today that we could deliver the upwards of 8000 gallons of fresh water a day. It’s going to change the lives of thousands, and they can hardly wait. Our rig and trailers are crossing the ocean coming at us, weather permitting and smooth sailing we should see the ship Friday morning and get access to our trailers. It will take a couple of days to get the rig out of customs, but then we will be able to commence our drilling activity and hopefully have a well up and working in the next few weeks. Beth spoke for another segment of her teaching the Power of the Praying wife series with the married women this afternoon and I followed her with our first men’s meeting which went very well also. We shared on the story of Gideon and God’s selection process for a few good men. It was well received. Tomorrow we head to Desdunes to express condolences to Naromie’s family on the loss of her Grandma who passed away last week. The funeral will be Saturday. This death has caused our trip to change around a bit, but we are making it work. We are having fun with the orphans, and trying to stay cool. Weariness is stealing my thunder for tonight, will send more updates tomorrow. Tidings of joy from St. Marc!