Life with my two Haitian Mothers

I mentioned that I was moving in to a new apartment on Monday in my last post. So far things are working out pretty well. My two roomates are about 10 years older than me and are named Gertrude and Daphney. So far they have treated me very well. In addition to rent, I am paying them to clean, do my laundry, and cook. But they have gone far beyond that - they cook me way too much food, make fruit juices by hand - I wish they wouldn't pamper me so much. They told me the other night that they want to be like mothers to me while I am in Haiti (hence the title of the post) which is really nice of them. We are in a part of Port-au-Prince that does not have electricity (Delmas 24) but my roomates think power will be restored in a couple of weeks. The biggest challenge has been the communication barrier. Both of them speak Creole and French, but little English. However, I think this will help me learn Creole quickly. Already I think I have gotten a lot better. The apartment consists of three consecutive rooms perpendicular to the street -two bedrooms seperated by the dining room. My room is furthest from the street and the apartment has steel doors and locks, which adds to my feeling of safety. On one side of the apartment is the roof of a neighboring apartment where I have spent a lot of time reading and talking to my roomates this past week. On the otherside is a hallway that leads to a bathroom and small kitchen. I will take pictures of my room and my roomates and try to post them on Picassa.

The apartment is not as close to work as I would like (about 3 miles) but so far my boss is picking me up in the morning and driving me home at night. Because my boss is leaving for Miami next weekend to visit his wife and kids (they left for Miami right after the earthquake), I need to be able to find my way to work. On Thursday we caught a taxi to work and then a tap tap on the way back. Typical of Haiti, the morning ride in the taxi (a rusted out sedan) was a tight fit with 9 people (4 in front, 5 in back). The tap tap, which is a pickup truck with extensions on the bed to fit a couple more people, was even more crowded and uncomfortable with 19 people. But it only cost $0.10 USD vs $0.50 for the taxi ride.

I have still been working on compiling a list of victums affected by the earthquake. Although it seems surprising that they're doing this 3 months after the EQ, I have learned about all the challenges with determining who was actually affected versus who is just trying to take advantage of the situation. In reality, all our clients were affected by the EQ at least indirectly through falling prices and reduced demand due to all the humanitarian aid coming in. One of our clients, who sells coffee, saw all but one of his clients die in the EQ. It is very difficult to be objective and determine where to draw the line.

I did not get to go on any trips into the field this week but I will in a few weeks. This morning I met and investigated a house for a group of nuns. I will be traveling to the northern part of the country to investigate some chapels for them but they wanted me to look at their residence in PAP. They had already had a structural engineer look and say it needed to be knocked down but they wanted a second opinion. When I got to the house, I found it hard to beleive because the damage was mostly cosmetic (some doors wouldn't close, the plaster was cracked). I gave them an ok but told them to have the government inspectors look it over before making the minor repairs. Buildings that have been inspected by the Haitian government in PAP contain painted numbers on the outside. The numbers are in green if the building has been deemed safe, yellow if repairs are necessary, and red if the building needs to be destroyed (or already is). Anyway, I'd be shocked if the building didn't get green based based on the damage I've seen.

I haven't gotten to do much service outside of work yet but hopefully will get a chance to one of these weekends...maybe next week. I've been working from about 8-7 so haven't had a whole lot of free time so far. But I know the work we are doing will be very important for helping people restart their businesses (and hopefully generate money to rebuild their homes) after the earthquake.