January 22, 2011 -- I woke up late today -- about 7 am. It's Saturday, and there are no rehearsals taking place outside my window. After our pancake breakfast we took an excursion with David Waters, a young engineer working here with Partners in Health for the past six months. We went down the pumping station that provides water up here. We 
walked a mile down the road, then down the hillside 600 vertical feet below to the lake.
What a gorgeous view -- and fortunately there are stairs going most of the way down. The station is very impressive -- built by Episcopalians from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina -- civil engineers like Pierce Williams, Clarkson's dad, 25 years ago. It was quite an engineering and construction feat. Very impressive system of turbines that pump 72,000 gallons a day up a 600 foot hill to the village of Cange and Zanmi Lasante.
David is a super young guy from Maryland, recent college grad who loves putting his engineering degree to work doing good in the world. He's also a very reflective guy, and made a wonderful addition to our group last night during our reflections.
We were back at Zanmi Lasante by 10:30, did some shopping at the art center, then set out on our next field trip with Marie Flore to a few of the 18 missions of ZL. The first was a place along National Highway 3 (a part of it that is nicely paved -- unlike Cange). In spite of the good road it has only the most rudimentary school/church building, much like the place we visited yesterday. And this place doesn't have water. They have to walk a mile away to get water. The second place we visited was a similar community, but one that has developed a partnership with a church in North Carolina over the past 10 years. They now have a beautiful school and a church building nearly complete. We're e
ager to find out how this community in NC built this kind of support in their parish to fund such a project!
We then drove through another town (Doman) then back-tracked to yet another, where ZL in partnership with Digical (the largest telephone provider in Haiti) has built a beautiful school. They're still looking for funds to build a church to follow.
We were back to Cange by 1:30, had some lunch, then an afternoon of rest, journaling, soccer game for some (with one of the indestructible soccer balls Clarkson brought), walks, talks, and more rest. I ventured up to the top of the hill where the cross is and met a group of four Americans -- two doctors from Asheville, NC, and two youngr guys from Oregon and somewhere else. The two younger ones are volunteering with an NGO doing water projects to get clean water to schools.
Had a good conversation with the two doctors, one of them now on his first trip to Haiti, and the other one has been coming once or twice a year for 25 years.
Dinner was a special spread with typical Haitian food -- stewed mean on bone, a white rice with a brown (like mole) sauce, and fried plantains. Drinks included beer this evening which all of the guys indulged in. Following
dinner we had entertainment by the band we have heard rehearsing so often outside our windows. Fr. Lafontant and Marie Flore joined us, as well as some of the other staff.
We closed the evening with a brief time for reflection on the day's experiences, once again in awe of all that we were seeing and hearing.
walked a mile down the road, then down the hillside 600 vertical feet below to the lake.What a gorgeous view -- and fortunately there are stairs going most of the way down. The station is very impressive -- built by Episcopalians from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina -- civil engineers like Pierce Williams, Clarkson's dad, 25 years ago. It was quite an engineering and construction feat. Very impressive system of turbines that pump 72,000 gallons a day up a 600 foot hill to the village of Cange and Zanmi Lasante.
David is a super young guy from Maryland, recent college grad who loves putting his engineering degree to work doing good in the world. He's also a very reflective guy, and made a wonderful addition to our group last night during our reflections.
We were back at Zanmi Lasante by 10:30, did some shopping at the art center, then set out on our next field trip with Marie Flore to a few of the 18 missions of ZL. The first was a place along National Highway 3 (a part of it that is nicely paved -- unlike Cange). In spite of the good road it has only the most rudimentary school/church building, much like the place we visited yesterday. And this place doesn't have water. They have to walk a mile away to get water. The second place we visited was a similar community, but one that has developed a partnership with a church in North Carolina over the past 10 years. They now have a beautiful school and a church building nearly complete. We're e
ager to find out how this community in NC built this kind of support in their parish to fund such a project!We then drove through another town (Doman) then back-tracked to yet another, where ZL in partnership with Digical (the largest telephone provider in Haiti) has built a beautiful school. They're still looking for funds to build a church to follow.
We were back to Cange by 1:30, had some lunch, then an afternoon of rest, journaling, soccer game for some (with one of the indestructible soccer balls Clarkson brought), walks, talks, and more rest. I ventured up to the top of the hill where the cross is and met a group of four Americans -- two doctors from Asheville, NC, and two youngr guys from Oregon and somewhere else. The two younger ones are volunteering with an NGO doing water projects to get clean water to schools.
Had a good conversation with the two doctors, one of them now on his first trip to Haiti, and the other one has been coming once or twice a year for 25 years. Dinner was a special spread with typical Haitian food -- stewed mean on bone, a white rice with a brown (like mole) sauce, and fried plantains. Drinks included beer this evening which all of the guys indulged in. Following
dinner we had entertainment by the band we have heard rehearsing so often outside our windows. Fr. Lafontant and Marie Flore joined us, as well as some of the other staff.We closed the evening with a brief time for reflection on the day's experiences, once again in awe of all that we were seeing and hearing.
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