Day 17: Lightning Strikes (w/a NEW, forgotten addition)

It’s been several days since a huge storm has rolled in. For an hour before the rain fell, lightning and thunder ruled the sky without mercy. Leogane is notorious for threatening storms that never fall. Dark clouds rarely make it over the ominous mountaintops. But tonight, when the rain finally fell, it fell harder than I’ve ever seen. The thunder was so loud it was deafening and the lightning lit the sky like Times Square on a Saturday. A quarter of the base ran out into the shower and literally took one. People laughed and danced in the downpour and everyone looked out onto the storm with lighthearted laughter.

I smiled watching the rainfall – I’m a sucker for a good thunderstorm. But then I caught sight at how quickly the base was filling with puddles that would never flood more than a few inches, and my stomach turned. Inside our cement home we accepted the rain with open arms. We made merry without fear of destroyed homes (except those unfortunate tenters on the roof…including me.) But, the worst that would happen would be a wet floor and an air mattress that would need some drying out. Not even a hundred yards away on the other side of the wall there are hundreds of tents that will not fair this storm as luckily as ours. On the other side of the wall people’s “homes” are filling with water, mud (full of garbage and human/animal waste) is destroying their possessions as it drains through the streets with incredible speed, stopping only to fill puddles that often make it to knee-deep. On the other side of the wall they are not welcoming this incredible storm in the same way. They fear for their homes. They wait out the incomprehensible inconvenience and damage mother nature is exposing them to right now. I can’t help but think of the other side of the wall. And in doing so, I can’t find it in me to smile anymore.

...

I spent half of the afternoon working on the pre-fabrication of school #3 that HODR will build. All of the parts of the school are built on base then transported to the school site where they are put together like pieces of a puzzle. I love building things. My brother used to do a lot of work flipping houses and adding rooms and ceilings and such to clients' houses. I used to adore going with him and being able to construct something visible with my own hands. It's such a satisfying feeling to see the fruits of your labor. Even more satisfying to know that what I sweat over in the blazing sun on a concrete floor would allow many children to return to school and receive much needed and deserved education. Once again I felt life come full circle as I helped build a school after spending so much time here helping children learn. (I also got to use power tools and as my roommate will tell you - I really love power tools.)

More than just using power tools, what I really loved about today was being able to add to Haiti. I enjoy removing rubble (up until I tore something in my shoulder), but removing rubble is exactly that - removing. We are destroying something that is already destroyed. Yes, it absolutely needs to be done and by discarding the rubble we enable the owner to receive a temporary home - that is amazing. But you can only rubble so much before you start to get rubbled-out. All I've really wanted for the past few days or so is to create something for the people Haiti, not just destroy. Buildling this school has been what I've been waiting eagerly to do. And truthfully, it's what I thought I'd be doing more of here. Wow, not to be repetitive but here also lies another example of full circle: I both destroyed and created. Maybe you can't do one without the other - which is why as of recently I've felt as if something has been missing (both here in Haiti and my life before it.)