Haiti November 2008

On the trip were Gary and Louise Lirette and Ken and Yolanda Trahan.

Monday, Gary and I went to Blue Ridge Drilling and spoke with Wilber who was very informative in giving a tour of the facility and providing a very good explanation of the process of installing a manual pump.  He also showed us the tools that they use to connect the sections of pipe and rods.  Before installing a pump, BR uses an air compressor to blow out any debris that may have stopped up the intake holes on the last section of casing.  There were approximately 50 manual pumps on hand at the facility.  We spoke with Wilber about the possibility of sending two of our team members to observe the installation process.  He did not think it would be a problem, but would have to be cleared with his boss.

We then went to meet with Mr. Duval to discuss the purchase of a building for chickens.  Mr. Duval tried to get us to expand the project with a facility that could accommodate 4000 chickens.  After much discussion, he agreed to provide what we asked for.  Gary worked on a material list, which was sent to Mr. Duval.

Next, we visited Eko Depot which has an extensive inventory of hardware supplies, including plumbing, electrical and tools.  We also visited Batimar which has a much smaller inventory as compared to Eko.

At noon, we met with Henry Chatalain to discuss the purchase of chickens.  He is willing to provide the chickens that we need and also encouraged us to go to a larger scale project.  He also encouraged us to join the AHPEL association and purchase our feed through him.  Currently, he gets feed from the Dominic Republic, which is of higher quality that what is available locally.  The DR feed costs a little more, but the ingredients are of high quality, which results in faster growth of the chickens. 

While Gary and I were making these contacts, Louise and Yolanda joined a mission group at Sisters of Charity where they spent the morning attending to the children that reside at the facility.

After lunch, we made a visit to Enor’s house to visit with his wife and children.  We then returned to Matthew 25 to review our notes and plan for the next day.  We shared dinner with the other mission groups who were staying at Matthew 25.  It was interesting to find so many groups with similar goals of providing clean water.  We exchanged email addresses and plan to share ideas with our new friends. 

Tuesday, we left early to visit Clean Water for Haiti, which is near St. Marc.  This organization manufactures sand filters, which appear to provide a valuable serve for the people in Haiti.  We were given a tour of the facility and an explanation of the process of making filters.  The simplified process is to assemble a mould, pour concrete into it, let it dry, then remove the mould.  The concrete structure is then filled with layers of gravel, sand and very fine river sand.  Five gallons of water can be poured into the filter, and after about 45 minutes, clean water drains into a clean bucket.  The filter will function for 10 years or more without maintenance if there is not too much dirt in the water that is poured into the filter.  The process removes 95-99 percent of bacteria and virus that are in the water and 100 percent of the protozoa and parasites. 

Before training can begin, an organization needs a facility, a source of materials, funding and people in place to manage.  The ideal situation is to train one week and begin production the following week.  A team can produce one filter a day per mould.  After 3 months, he will visit the site to answer questions and make recommendations.  Training takes a week and cost $150 per person, which covers room and board.  A mould must be purchased at a cost of $450 each.  Lids can be made locally which creates additional jobs.  Normally, a filter is installed at a home and serves about 10 neighbors.  The cost to produce is about $40 but would be higher in a smaller operation.

Tuesday afternoon, we traveled to Jeremie where Fr. Joe met us at the airport.  He shared good news/bad news.  The good news was that two manual pumps were installed at Nan Champagne and Kay Rond.  Also, the pump at Ravine Sable was repaired.  Bad news, there was no feed for the pigs for two months and we had two pigs die leaving us with 3 sows and 2 bulls. The weather was terrible all night long.

Wednesday morning, we presented Fr. Joe with checks for Feed the Children and the first installment on the new school.  We talked about the problem with the feed supply for the pigs.  Fr. Joe made some calls and we found the feed in Jeremie.  He sent his driver to pick up the feed and bring it to the farm. 

With a break in the weather, we began site visits beginning with the well at Nan Champagne.  We pumped water and took a sample for analysis.  Next, we visited Ravine Sable school.  The pump was working and the kinder-garden building weathered the storms with no damage.  Opposite RS school, we looked at a piece of property as a possible location for the chicken farm, looks promising.  Fr. Joe will see what the owner wants for the property.  It may be large enough for a water filter factory also.  Gary talked about a metal fence for ventilation of the chickens, but Fr. Joe prefers a solid fence for safety.  Haitians like to eat chicken.

We then stopped to see how Mr. Lamy’s house faired with the recent storms.  The house had no damage, but we noticed that the windows were never finished.  Later we found out that there was enough money to finish the project.  On to Mr. Maturin’s house.  The foundation has been started with a few gaps which we anticipate will be filled with the vertical rebar.  Mr. Maturin was on the porch, as usual, and allowed a visit inside for the ladies to see the rocks on the floor.

When we returned to Fr. Joe’s, Gary and I took property measurements for the depot to house the drilling equipment.  This will be a great blessing because it is very difficult to keep track of our equipment under the present conditions.  The rest of the day was spent working on the solar pump.  We found that the float was shorted, disconnected it but that did not correct the problem.  The cisterns were nearly dry and the back up pump was not working.  Fr. Joe called his plumber who was able to get the pump working.  Yea, we had water to bathe. 

Thursday, back to work on the solar pump.  We replaced the controller, but it made no difference.  The readings on the new controller were exactly the same as the readings on the one we just replaced.  We measured 227 volts coming from the solar panels so the only conclusion was that we had a pump problem.  Fr. Joe rounded up the drill team, along with a few others and we pulled the pump from the well.  What a job.  In addition to the weight of the pump and tubing, the tube was full of water.  Thankfully, we were able to get the pump up without anyone being injured.  Once the pump was above ground, we made more test and the results were the same.  We attempted to get access to the impeller to see if possibly it was jammed.  We could not reach the impeller, nor could we reassemble the pump.  At this point, we had no choice but to bring back with us and send it to the factory.

In the afternoon, we visited Kay Rond and the site of the new school.  There were workers who were digging the trenches for the foundation.  We also took a water sample from the well even though we were told that of all the wells, this one has the best water.  On the way down, we stopped at the sugar mill which is not operating because the gears and bearings of the crusher are worn out.  Gary was given two estimates for replacing the mill, one for $6600 and one for $10000.  The main difference in the estimates is in the capacity to crush cane.  Only one vat is close to being functional.  Fr. Joe’s preference would be to establish a completely new mill at a different location.  We visited for a while with the locals and enjoyed fresh coconut.  Before we left, some breadfruit were harvested which Fr. Joe had prepared for us that night.  It was wonderful as were all of our meals.

On Thursday we went to Jeremie where we met with Roxanne and looked at a gris mill.   The mill is in a small room with a hand crank diesel engine for power.  After a demonstration of how the mill works, we estimated that it could grind about 500 pounds per hour.  This visit gave us an idea about grinding our own feed for the chickens and pigs or possible making food to serve to the school children.  When we left Roxanne, we dropped off the water samples for testing.

At noon, we met with Bishop Wily and had a great visit.  Following our meeting, Fr. Joe presided over mass in the Bishop’s chapel.  We then returned to Fr. Joe’s and began preparing for our return home.  Gary and I prepared the pump for travel even though we had some concerns that it may not be allowed on the plane. 

Saturday morning we left Jeremie and took a short taxi ride to American Airlines.  Six people plus luggage and a pump in a Nissan Sentra, glad it was a short ride.  The pump was checked with no fan fare, bought our rum and away we went.  Great trip in spite of the disappointment with the pump.

Ken Trahan