Battle Royale

So as we hit the ground running in Haiti, I would agree with those that say you can never really be fullyprepared for the reality of the life here.  Thankfully we had a strong start as some amazing friends joined us this week as part of the moving A Team; you know like the 80’s show minus Mr. T!  Forgive me, as I may ramble and wonder as I try to unpack the stirring of our hearts and minds!

Some thoughts I pondered this week as we dive into this beautiful chaos called Haiti!

Never take a cool breeze for granted!  And for the record life with no AC is not that bad!  Very tolerable and you get use to it…

The cool, refreshing, life giving rain is always welcomed, but it does come with a painful reminder as we know many are flooded out of their homes as we sit high and dry in our preverbal “palace”. 

Electricity is really amazing; please don’t take it for granted!  Heck we would be stoked to have a strong enough current to power our fans at full speed!  Even with crappy electricity we are oh so thankful for our fans and that small trickle of current that allows us to sleep not covered in sweat! 

Going to the open air street market for our daily vegetables and grocery needs makes me feel like I’m starring in a Jason Bourne movie.  At any minute a guy on a dirt bike waving a machine gun may jump a shanty house and crash into a pile of rotting cabbage!  Very exhilarating!

Kwik Kar for car oil changes and other vehicle maintenance is truly a gift from God!  To my dear friends Kirk and Brian, I want you to know I actually changed my own oil!  Shocking, yes, but it had to be done!  And, for all you non-mechanic types, like myself, motor oil is NOT and I repeat, NOT, supposed to look like road tar!

In reference to the previous line item!  Nowhere in my imaginary “Haiti missionary quick reference guidebook” did it say anything about me having to be a full time, qualified and experienced mechanic, electrician and plumber!

And with this, allow me to explain my on going Battle Royale! 

So as our prep team (who were amazing) left last week, they said there might be a minor issue with a water tank but they were sure we could figure it out and have it fixed in no time.  Sure, why not, I have nothing else going on…

First, let me briefly explain our water situation and catch you up to speed.  We have a giant cistern that holds a few thousands gallons of water under our carport, we have a pump that pumps water from the cistern to the pressure tanks on our roof.  From the tanks we receive our precious nightly cold showers! 

So, we fire up the ole generator, yes generator, remember no 24/7 electricity, to start the task of pumping water.  We fill all our roof tanks and come down with a very strong sense of accomplishment.  Heading to the bathrooms and sinks to check our handy work we find 2 showers not working.  With it beginning to get late we decide to tackle this problem in the morning!  As the warm brilliant Haitian sun begins to rise the next day we are up and at it.  As we go to the roof to check our tanks we come to find that we are missing 200 gallons of water!  WHAT THE HELL!!!!!  How do you lose 200 gallons of water?  Did someone steal it?  Do we have some crazy leak that will cost me a fortune to repair?  This is not really how I wanted to start my day.  I called back home to our prep team and ask them about this.  They say, “Oh, yeah we lost 200 gallons too!”  Oh, fantastic, so now I have actually lost 400 gallons.  Never in my life would I of thought I would be so upset over losing water!   So, like any normal American I call our landlord, Mr. Jeanott, and ask him to come over.  We walk the property, the roof, check faucets, toilets, fittings, pipes and tanks and find ZERO leaks; no sign of my precious water!  Mr. Jeanott, says, without missing a beat, “Maybe the devil drank it…” Great, now Satan himself is consuming my water!  After the assumption of satan’s evil scheme against me, we decide to fill again.  Let me allow you to guess what happened the next day…

Yes, my freaking water was gone again!  So to help you keep up with the math, I have lost 600 gallons of water in less than a week’s time!  Now, many may not think this is a big deal but water is like gold in Haiti and getting my cistern filled will not be easy and definitely not cheap!

So after a few choice words and a laugh (to keep from crying) I call Mr. Jeanott again!  This time he pulls out the big guns and brings the homeowner over who luckily is in town from New Jersey.   He walks right in and says lets fill the tank so we can investigate.  Now, I’m sure you can imagine my hesitation, as I don’t really want to lose another 200!  We have to do it, so we fill ‘em up.  By this point, I’m actually praying over the water!  With the tanks full we are off to do our inspection again for the hundredth time.  Luckily the homeowner is much smarter than Mr. Jeanott and myself!  He heads for the toilet and finds the smallest, most minuet crack!  Even when he pointed it out I still couldn’t see it but I really didn’t care.  Halleluiah our water problems are solved!  Thank you Lord! 

So as our Haiti day moved on with a renewed sense of joy and accomplishment we continued to unpack and settle in. 

To spare you the long and boring details: we had to work through some major issues (again) between the crappy city power, our generator, batteries and inverter.  With this under our belt we believe we have come to a close of our Battle Royale, but see that is not Haiti’s style.  So with new wires ran, breakers adjusted and ready to do their thing, we fire up the pump to fill the tanks.  For about 4 seconds we have pumping bliss and then the most awful, not water pumping sound and sparks come from the pump!  So toilets are fixed, no leaks to be found but now the freaking water pump is broke; FANTASTIC!  Thankfully we are laughing this chaos off and thankful that one of our tanks still has some water in it to sustain us for a few days until the new parts can be found and installed.  So with this new round to our battle royale underway please enjoy the below pic of the prettiest dishwasher ever; improvising with some Haitian ingenuity! 

Yes, that is Jen washing dishes in our one working shower. 

Each day we learn new things and make new discovers!  Please continue to pray for our journey as we settle into our new home, neighborhood, town and country!  And please don’t hesitate to pray over my Battle Royale!