One week down, One to go

One week ago today we arrived in Haiti. We did not know how things would go with the radio station project, but were confident we would be able to get it finished in a week. That worked out well and we had yesterday to begin work at Boutillier. That was helpful for us and we are anxious to get started again this week. The project looks like it mitght take two or three days to complete. We will leave early Monday mo0rning to go to Eko Depot to pick up the parts we now know we need to do the job right. Then we will split into pairs and Don & Art will start putting the jumpers onto the new batteries and Michael and I will work on the electrical system modifications. These will be significant and will require us to take the station off the air for some of them. We would appreciate your prayers for safety in the work as well as safety in the extensive travel to and from the site each day. As planned today we hired a driver to take us to Berci Cabaret to look at the progress of the new CPR-3 headquarters there. The first floor is devices, but previous tams did a fine job of roughing in the wiring. The roof is not on yet and CPR-3 is waiting on advice from us at I-TEC as to the angle and sizes of the roof areas. We will begin calculating the loads and will come up with a relatively good estimate for fundraising for CPR-3 by May 15 (that is our target for an estimate). As CPR-3 raises funding, it is likely that I-TEC will provide a team of volunteers to do the Solar Power Installation at some time in the future. We are not sure if this would be in 2012 or 2013, but it is very likely within those dates. The driver we hired is a very good Haitian cab driver. He had his mother in the passenger seat when we struck out and we deposited her at the airport for a trip to New York. Some of the area we traversed was through some very dangerous territory patrolled by police and the UN, but we never felt unsafe. It is definitely better to be inside a locked vehicle in these areas than to be outside. We got to see some very pretty countryside, as well as lots of temporary housing for people displaced by the earthquake. Tomorrow we will head across town to the House Church we visited last Sunday. We have no plans for anything after lunch, which will be in a nearby restaurant. I am expecting to get some good reading time in.