Update Overload

Wednesday was a really great day for the most part. It felt so good to get back to work. I led a rubble crew in the morning and we went to a site called Wesley Vernet, which has been an on-and-off site for about two weeks now. It’s a pretty straightforward site – mostly just shoveling, wheel barrowing, and rebar removal. The site itself is quite nice, it’s in the countryside so it’s quiet and peaceful. About halfway through the morning another rubble team who had finished their site came to assist at our site. So at this point we had over 20 people, which was maybe a bit much. But we did get a lot done. In the afternoon I had to do some work with the disaster preparedness team I’ve been working with. Unfortunately all of the team aside from me has left HODR so we have the difficult task of training up an entirely new group to train the teachers. We’re also training new translators and considering the difficult degree of the material this is also going to be tough. So yesterday I went through the material with the new volunteers and then worked with two Haitian guys who are looking to become translators on this project. We essentially went through the documents line by line and we would stop and discuss especially difficult words or concepts. My work yesterday was really great in getting myself back into the swing of things.

When I say that yesterday was great for the most part, I say it because there was some sad news. A Haitian translator and HODR employee named Jacob, who I’ve gotten to know well and become friends with, announced he will be leaving the project. Now Jacob and I have worked together on the disaster preparedness project since I started working with it and we even went to Jacmel together. And he’s been working for HODR for years. He did the last Haiti project (Project Gonaives) in its entirety and has been with Project Leogane for as long as HODR has been here. As he was saying goodbye he explained that he couldn’t discuss why he was leaving but that it was for personal reasons. I went to give him a hug after the meeting and he explained to me that he had received a very threatening note from (we believe) is one of our local volunteers. The note explained that since Jacob is from Gonaives (a town several hours away) and is getting paid, he is taking potential jobs away from Leogane residents and must leave HODR or else there will be violent consequences. So it seems that the bullying worked as Jacob fears for his life and will thus be leaving the project.

So I’ve sort of been writing this post over the span of a couple days so things are developing and changing. Today was a normal day of rubbling. At lunch we were told there was going to be a meeting to discuss something important but it fell through so we worked through the afternoon. This evening we had the meeting and discussion. So today the highest up people in HODR made the decision to essentially cut the local volunteer program because of the threatening note. Now the local volunteer program is a cornerstone of HODR. It’s probably our best connection with the community and overall just amazing. Basically the program is set up so that local people can sign up to volunteer with HODR in many of its projects. In return for work, the locals get lunch and dinner but no money. The people that are doing this program seem almost exclusively awesome and are really just doing it to help their community. So anyways, without volunteer consultation, the decision was made and told to the local volunteers. It was then announced to the international volunteers at the meeting. Long story short – there was an eruption of outrage from the volunteers. We feel that cutting the program will be a huge set back in so many ways. The meeting turned into a heated discussion and things are pretty weird on base. Some people left for the night. One of the main staff members here is talking about resigning unless the policy is changed. Everyone is just really upset. Apparently the local volunteers are also really upset and hurt. They’ve expressed that the note does not express the views of the group as a whole. There has been a lot to take in so I will post more as things develop. On a positive note, Jacob may not be leaving the project after all. We’ll see.

So tonight hopefully things will simmer down and begin to work themselves out. Tomorrow I’m supposed to be leading a rubble team at Wesley Vernet so hopefully things will be cool by then and we can go out and get some work done.

Missing you all.

Love,

Daniel

P.S. I’ve played soccer (futbol, as some crazy people call it) for the last couple days on base. It’s been pretty awesome, surprisingly. With the World Cup right around the corner people seem to be getting in the mood for soccer. We even have a huge pool going. I picked USA as winning it all. Some call me foolish.