It's been another busy week here in Haiti, and while we often share with you our plans and strategies for sustaining the orphanage and the organization as a whole, we don't often talk to you about growth! That's right, with as much as we have going on already at Be Like Brit, we are always forward-thinking, and always examining and planning for our growth and changes as an organization over time.
Some of what we are planning for is general improvements to the building and grounds at BLB. You have seen the great work that Len and Gama have been heading up on the construction of our 100,000 gallon cistern - a water catchment system that serves so many functions! Not only will the cistern allow us to water our 1+ acre of gardens, but it also allows us to use the water from our well source in better ways - including the daily distribution of water to the community - clean, treated water. With the amount of people at BLB, water really is such a precious commodity so easily taken for granted by those of us who have been fortunate to always have access to it. It's not even something most of us think about in the USA. We don't often pause before we turn on the tap and wonder if our water is going to make us sick; we certainly aren't carrying 40 pound buckets of water on our heads up and down mountains on a daily basis. The completed cistern project will bring countless benefits to BLB and to our surrounding community.
We did recently suffer a small setback on that project. Unfortunately, while covering the cistern with top soil now that the structure itself is in the ground and complete in the first phase of construction, a bulldozer operator quite literally forgot that it was in the ground, and when his 20,000 pound machine drove just a little too far over the line he was supposed to be in, the "lid" of the cistern cracked. A project that was almost complete is now being backed up for just a bit, but we are so grateful that nobody was injured. It's a long way down to the bottom of that cistern!
With Len here in Haiti this past week, we were able to meet daily to discuss up and coming projects and plans for moving forward. As most of you know, Len is a visionary with an ability to see something well before it is developed, and to plan for something to happen that others might think is impossible. Of course, when the decision was made to start up the organization after Britney's death in 2010, Len's announcement that he was going to build an orphanage in Haiti was met with some doubt. Susan Wornick tells the story best: "Yeah, OK Len - you go ahead and build an orphanage in Haiti."
And of course, we all know that he, together with Cherylann, Bernie, Richie, and countless family and volunteers did just that! Seeing through Len's eyes sometimes is a unique experience, as he has a vision like no other I have met! Even for our Field of Hope and cistern project, when Len told me he was going to put a soccer field on top of the cistern, I looked at him with some skepticism, as there was nothing even remotely flat about the land he was pointing to. He quite literally moved mountains to build BLB, and the same is true for our cistern project and our Field of Hope.
We are in the process of designing a new, permanent staircase to serve the Britsionary area and the rooftop access. Currently, we have a wooden structure, originally meant to be temporary. The upkeep on these stairs is difficult, and the tropical climate does not lend itself well to wood stairs. The amount of use and traffic is also a factor, and so this week, Len started planning out the specifics for the stairs.
A metal fabricator came to provide us some details and a revised estimate. Len, working through a translator, was trying to describe his vision to the man. Of course, Len's vision is often so far beyond many of our own capacities to understand. While Len was working this out with the metal fabricator, I was working in the office. A bit of commotion caught my attention, and there he was - Boss Len - setting up a place to work so that he could build a mockup of what he wanted. The staff thought that seeing Boss Len with saw in hand working alongside our laborers and staff was too funny to not see. A small crowd gathered around him while he worked, and I just had to laugh. A great teaching moment from a great teacher, indeed!
We are also busy planning the construction of a storage facility just off our main building. As our children grow and we grow as an organization, we are running out of space! Moving the majority of the storage to an out-building will allow us to bring more specific and diverse programming to BLB, and it is long overdue. Construction is planned for June of this year, and we are busy working with supporters on how to bring this to fruition. We'll be sharing some big news with you soon about that!
While in discussions planning for the storage facility, I introduced the idea that we should build a Britsionary guest house on top of the storage facility. We are blessed with hundreds of Britsionarys to Haiti each year, and the truth is, we actually have to turn some people down because of the level of interest and our limited space. For strategic growth purposes, to me it only made sense to take advantage of the fact that we'll have a sound structure outside of the main orphanage, and so with Len's initial drawings, we've held a few meetings already about this project. Not only is it great that we'll be able to host more visitors to Haiti, but it's also good in that Britsionarys will have their own space to go "home to" at the end of a long day working in the Haiti sun! Stay tuned for more announcements on this project, too! Maybe I can even convince Len to let me share his drawings with you!
These projects are big news, not because of the project themselves, but because of the challenges of undertaking these tasks in Haiti. Even 6+ years after the earthquake, Haiti's infrastructure is still underdeveloped. While conditions are far better than they were and some major projects have been completed through the rebuilding of Haiti, the reality is that there is still only one road from Port-au-Prince to the southern tip of the country. One road, two lanes, shared by all vehicles public and private, livestock, pedestrians, motorcycles, donkeys, wagons, and more! One never knows what to expect when driving the short distance from Grand Goave to the capital.
This has been especially true recently, as the rainy season is upon us, and while Haiti is in desperate need of the rains for a successful planting and harvesting season, like so many things in Haiti, the rains are both a blessing and a curse. Route National #2 runs along the coast, at the shores of the Gulf of Gonaive. Most of you know that Haiti is very mountainous, and the Haitian proverb deye mon gen mon translates to "behind mountains there are mountains". This means that during heavy rains, most things run downhill. When rain waters are strong enough to form a flow of water down a dirt road, people often take advantage of this by throwing things into the water that they need to get rid of. Mainly, this is trash. You can always tell when it has rained in Port-au-Prince when you drive in and the streets are especially littered with trash, the remnants of people's lives and existence carried downhill and thrown onto the pavement below. It is almost eerie in some ways; quite innovative in others. Another dichotomy of Haiti.
We always plan for 4 hours to travel to the airport in Port-au-Prince, whether it's a group or just one of us. One never knows what one will find on the journey to Port. Just this past Friday, in fact, Len and I were traveling to Port when we noticed dozens and dozens of people combing through the sugarcane fields along the coast. These fields were sitting with water that came up to the mid-shin area. It was odd, as we've never seen people walking through the fields before. Our driver informed us that the driver of a bus had created an accident in which two people were killed. The people in the fields were looking for the driver who had run off to hide for fear of being beaten, or worse. In the absence of justice, justice is served in other ways.
Think about that for a moment. Perhaps you live in New England and you travel on highways and interstates on a regular basis. Imagine being the driver of a vehicle that killed someone, and instead of stopping to try to help, or calling the police or an ambulance, you instead have to literally run and hide! Our standing rule for drivers at Be Like Brit (myself included) is that if you ever cause an accident, you do not stop. You find the closest police station you can, so that when the angry crowds find you, you at least have some protection. The people we saw combing the fields along the coast on Friday morning were prepared, rocks and sticks in hand. Good, bad, or indifferent, they didn't find the driver. He had successfully fled. We are told that he would likely have to stay in hiding for some time, and certainly never return to that area. That's the reality in which we operate.
Our friend Bobby Curlee from Lifeline Christian Ministries had posted on Facebook on Thursday this past week that the drive to the airport from Grand Goave took him 6 hours! Thus, on Friday morning, we left early because we couldn't risk Len missing his flight and certainly didn't know what other obstacles we would have to face en route. Bobby took some incredible pictures along Route 2. Mud, garbage, water, and rockslides littered the highway, and in many instances blocked it altogether. Local governments have no capacity to respond, and while Bobby tells us that a front-end loader and other heavy equipment were en route, Len and I saw only local citizens with shovels in hand chopping away at the debris. In one instance, locals blocked the road on purpose, asking for a small amount of money because they had cleared the roads themselves and we were, after all, using the road. 50 Gourdes was enough, less than a dollar. A child collected the money in an old hat.
It's the reality of Haiti that reminds me of just how impressive and gargantuan a task the construction of Be Like Brit was, and the challenges that exist in our day to day lives here. As the Director with nearly 100 employees working under my direction, I have had to learn to adjust to the reality that is Haiti. Being late for work because it was raining is not an excuse that would garner much sympathy in the United States. Here in Haiti, nearly 3 and 1/2 years into my time here, I no longer get frustrated or angry when an employee is late because of rain. I suppose that is in some way a bit of personal growth, too. Growth is a good theme this week. I am grateful for the experiences to allow me to grow.
As always, thank you for helping us help the children of Haiti at Be Like Brit. Thank you for reading.
