Day 6 Final Work Day

This is our last day on site.  We know the day will start with some intense work hauling sand, sifting, and mixing concrete.  We hope to give as much as we can our last day as we will leave the site around noon or so to go meet the Pastor for a tour of the city.

The first order of business is to finish the last of the main walls including the front window.  These window blocks are very delicate and very expensive.  Even one brick that was broken in half gets used to avoid another trip to the brick yard (and possibly pay a lot more the second time because one costs more than twenty).
 Wood planks are used to form the mold for the cross beams.  They make their own steel reinforcement bar (or "rebar") for over the doors and verticals, with more steel horizontally along each wall to hold the poured concrete in one sturdy slab. The bags the mix comes in are torn in sheets, dipped in water, and used to plug the gaps in the wood to

One last mix of concrete for us--the second most intense workout for us all week, shoveling and lifting buckets as fast as possible to create the vertical corners and beams.  With little breather, heart rate soars.  


It's a great way to end our work week.  It's going to be a whole different world going back to our regular work on Monday.  Walking down the corridors or carrying computers or files just aren't the same.  We gather all the guys for a team photo, one with Ric and one with Tim.  Considering I didn't speak a word of any language (other than point and make monosyllabic grunts) and never could figure out each of their names, I feel a kindred spirit to these men, some of which seems obvious they know the Lord.  All the guys laughed and joked all week, and once we showed our work ethic and energy level, they treated us as part of the team.  It was a genuine blessing to serve here. 

We didn't see the widow who would move in here before we left, but that's okay.  We were part of the process of moving her back into a home after more than two years of living in a tent. Hopefully, they'll send us pictures of the finished house next week and maybe we'll get back here to see how she's enjoying her new home.

After work we ate one last lunch--a Haitian pizza--got cleaned up, packed up, and went for a tour with the pastor.  It seemed every turn we made through the city was a whole other world than the one we just were on.  Some of the sites of earthquake devastation, the many people and street sales, and incredible poverty I don't think we'll soon be able to grasp completely.  Here are some of the sites:

Refuse and rubble are everywhere

Everyone sells something!

 

The Presidential Palace still sits in ruins. Government buildings are completely gone, leveled in the earthquake.  The President lives in a new building on the grounds.

Shanties, villages, not sure what to call them, but serve as homes on the sides of the hills, all are unbelievable living conditions.  Ric says there are villages like this in Mexico and other Central and South American countries.

So much to take in, and it's hard to just grasp the depths and breadths of what we've seen and heard.  I'm not sure I'll ever come to grips with it all, and I don't know what to make of my own life, living conditions, and way of life.  It's more than just appreciating what we have, more than wanting to do more for others.  In that village on the hill we saw the whole town gather together and hoot it up over a small soccer game.  People everywhere, regardless of conditions, find joy, and the Lord is prevalent in the lives of His people.  Can other say the same of us?  Is it harder to see Jesus in me when I have all I need and much, much more?  "How now shall we live?"  I don't know.