On the Eve of the Eve

Aside from getting a bottle of Coke from down the street I didn’t leave base at all today. I was just so tired from these last few days that I decided to stay on base and work on bio-sand filters. It was more physical of a day than I was hoping for, but I suppose we are about to get a nice little break. Tomorrow, being Christmas Eve and all, we’re only working in the morning. We get the afternoon off, all day Christmas off, and Sunday (our usual non-work day) off. So I’ve got two and a half days to recover and get ready for next week! As I said, I worked on bio-sand filters today. Basically they are a concrete structure, maybe three feet tall, that provides clean drinking water. I don’t know the exact science behind it, but you put a layer of gravel, a layer of coarse sand, and a layer of fine sand into the filter. You put contaminated water into the filter everyday for two weeks and it forms a bio-layer. This layer acts as the filter, purifying any water you put into it (except salt water). It’s brilliant, cheap, and easy to make! Using molds our team made four filters, which are setting as I type this. All we did was put concrete into the mold, beat the hell out of the outside of the mold to get rid of air bubbles, and leave it to dry. What’s also so great about these purification systems is that they can last ten to fifteen years! All Hands is pushing this project and it’s becoming really successful.

I had lunch today on base for the first time since I’ve been here (I’ve been at all-day sites all previous days) and did lunch dishes after. Then I lied down for a bit and listened to part of a This American Life Episode. Ira Glass’s comforting voice nearly put me to sleep, but I fought it and got up for afternoon work. I spend the afternoon working with all local volunteers, sifting sand behind base for the bio-sand filters. The sand was wet so sifting it was a real pain in the ass, but I listened to same Haitian music and learned some dirty words in Creole, so that made things better.

People are starting to get into the Christmas spirit around here. We’ve got a (tropical) Christmas tree, with pieces of wood as a skeleton and huge palm-tree-like leaves. There are little hands we’re all supposed to write our wishes on and they’re going to be the ornaments. Plus we’ve got a little secret Santa thing going on! I’m excited to see what this “Christmas” thing is all about. I figure since finding Chinese food in Haiti is unlikely, I might as well go all out with this holiday!

I just spent the last couple of hours hanging out on the roof of our base. The stars and moon are brighter in Haiti than anywhere I‘ve ever been. To be able to relax up there is a perfect ending to my night and puts me at peace. Tomorrow morning I do house cleaning. I’m off to bed.

Happy eve of Christmas Eve!

Love,

Daniel