Getting to Know You

Getting to Know You

I was curious.  What background did some of these ex-pats, people who came from the States, have and what was kind of feelings did they have for Haiti.

Saturday was a lazy day of reading, catching a cat nap and wandering down to the kitchen for some lunch.  Later in the afternoon I walked through the expansion project to overview their progress.  Nat was also meandering through the project with his phone doing some intermittent texting. He seemed massively bored and, eventually, we struck up a conversation. 

Nat is single and in his early thirties.  He is an architect by trade and came from LA.  He loves to design buildings but was tiring of the exhausting work and deadlines that the firm he worked for placed him in under.  I think they call it burnout.  An opportunity came along last year for him to come to Haiti and volunteer for some work with SP.  He took it and was here for a couple of weeks working with the team in providing temporary shelters and housing. Nat was overwhelmed, of sorts, by the living conditions of the Haitians, but he loved the work; it changed the way he thought; so, upon returning to the States, he asked HR to keep him in mind if something longer term popped up. 

A few months later HR called and suggested a staff position in managing the Lamb Center, an orphanage being constructed with SP help in Leogane.  After prayer and thought he accepted and relocated to Haiti for a year to design the building and manage the project.  “Yes, there are challenges,” he told me.  “But there is no place I’d rather be right now in my life.” 

After discussing some of those challenges I’ve decided that the mission field is not only a place to give of oneself to the project at hand, but also provides a great opportunity to grow into the image of Christ; one of our goals in our Christian walk.  Reaffirming Gods voice in coming to Haiti, determining who’s the boss, learning the skills of patience, and moving on in ones’ designated role contributes heavily to the peace one can find in being here.  I’ve seen that progression of God’s reaffirmation in many of the members here that helps them cope with inner problems knowing that God is growing them from the inside out.

Lisa has been here a month.  She is also , single and a professional.  She is working on the clean water, well drilling program.

Haitians know how to poke a hole in the ground to get water.  But they don’t know how to make that water clean.  Ground water can be found quite shallow here; 5 feet or so.  But the shallow water is contaminated and does not make a healthy water source.  So Lisa is trying to educate the Haitian well drillers with the need to drill deeper into the aquifers for better quality water; 150 to 250 feet deeper. 

Along with deeper wells comes the need for proper drilling techniques.  Haitians use river water for the drilling mud which lubricates the drilling bit.  Unfortunately, this also contaminates the aquifer they are drilling to.  Ungrouted casings let surface water down the well which also corrupts the water.  Lisa says,
“It takes time to educate the drillers with new ideas and reasons for not doing certain things that they’ve done all their lives.”  Along with educating, she has to arrange contracts with the Haitian government and drillers to bring the new wells online.  “It takes a lot of time,” she adds.  “I just finished a contract that has to be reviewed by 10 officials before I can even start drilling my first well.”  She will also keep drilling records for each well punched.  As an environmental geologist, she knows the importance of keeping detailed records of the rock strata and contents as each well is drilled.

Lisa has been here only a month but is moving along with the program and is excited about bringing clean water to the people of Haiti.  I think she also suffered from corporate burnout from her prior job in North Carolina.

I find many single, younger people in this type of work.  It gives a respite from the fast paced busy, make money lifestyle in the States and provides an opportunity to feel a part of something worthwhile.  I wonder what their perception might be when their time in Haiti is over; where will they go, how will they find meaningful work and how they will feel about their futures?