Back at Home

Don and I spent the morning, yesterday, going over our notes and revising the work scope details for Radio Lumiere.
At around 11:30 AM we were picked up by a driver from the radio station and transported to the airport. This drive took about an hour. Some of the other teams had left before us and the one team from the Bible Fellowship Church near Reading was still at the airport when we got there. If communication had been better we would have gotten a call to bring along Chris Merrick's carry-on backpack, which he had left at the guesthouse. We never got the message, so it is hoped someone can retrieve it ad get it to Chris sometime soon. It was great to get to know these people from that team, who were working on housing for a staff member of Radio Lumiere.
On the way to the airport I snapped a few pictures trying to get a feel for the devastation and despair that still exists in this large city over a year after the earthquake.
The plane from Port Au Prince contained about 90% short term missionaries. I sat with John, who was with a group from a church in Pittsburgh, and we had some good conversation.
The plane from Miami to Washington Dulles was delayed about an hour on takeoff, so I did not get to Washington until almost 12:30 AM and then had to get to the parking lot to find my truck and drive home. I was tired on the flight from Miami, so much so that I must have blinked when we were backed away from the Jetway and the next thing I knew we were at 35,000 ft. I kept looking out the window to see if we were still parked on the tarmac, but could not see the concrete. Then the pilot came on and said he was turning off the seat-belt sign because we were at cruising altitude. He also apologized for the delay on takeoff. I guess I am thankful for a little sleep. This is the 2nd time in my life I can remember falling asleep while a plane was taking off. I guess I needed some rest. I was able to doze a little more on the flight and once I fished my wrinkled winter jacket out of my luggage at Washington and got to my truck I was wide awake for the 2+ hour drive home, arriving at home around 3:30 AM. Thank you for following along.
These few pictures will give you a feel for the crowds the destruction, as well as the colorful buses and Tap-Taps.

Radio Lumiere

Don Ames and I from I-TEC were asked to come to Haiti to survey the electrical needs at the Radio Lumiere Radio and TV Station. We arrived on Tuesday, February 16, around noon.
We were picked up by Peniel, who drove us to the radio station where we met up with Paul Shingledecker. He gave us our initial tour of the facilities, after which we were taken to the Villa Ormiso Guest House where we would spend our nights while here.

The radio station has just celebrated their 52nd year of operation. World Gospel Mission has partnered with Radio Lumiere since the earthquake of January, 2010. Fortunately, Radio Lumiere suffered very little damage to their structure. However, at the time of the earthquake they would not enter the building until they were given a clean bill of health, and thus transmitted programming from a tent set up outside the building.

The streets of Port Au Prince are mostly dirty and filled with potholes and much people. Peniel told us that anyone who can drive in Port Au Prince is capable of driving anywhere in the world, and he is probably right. It seems to take forever to get through town. The buses in Port Au Prince are very colorful and unique. I will attempt to take some photos of some of them before we leave on Saturday. The tent cities are still in place in the city and it is hard to imagine having to live under these conditions. However, there is a lot of outside aid going on and this city will eventually recover. Estimates range from 3-4 million for the population of Port Au Prince. It seems like there are hundreds of thousands living in tents with very poor sanitation.

The wiring in the radio station has been modified much since its original installation. All of the electrical panel covers seem to be missing or in some cases the interiors of electrical panels have just been removed and installed in wooden enclosures along with generator transfer switches and other relays and switches. The pictures will show some of this. Our job was to survey the needs and come up with a proposal to upgrade and repair the wiring to make a clean and safe installation that should last for many years to come. We did a few repairs to the system while here, that included replacing the Main Disconnect Switch fused mechanism with a new circuit breaker. We also repaired one of the transfer switches that has been giving problems. A new switch had been purchased recently, but we did not install this in the hopes that we can use it for the future upgrade. Once we get back home we will work together to create a proposal for the mission that will be used for fund raising to actually do the needed work.

I was not initially going to do a blog, but felt that these photos might give a feel for the work needed here as well as give a little view of life here in this Metropolis. If I can get some more photos tomorrow, I will post them to close out this short blog. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for us this week.

As you view some of the photos, you might consider how you might be able to be involved in the future as we plan to come back here to actually do the electrical upgrades. Think of the talents God has given you and consider how you might be able to use them either to help us repair the wiring at Radio Lumiere or to help out with construction for housing for staff of the station who have been displaced by the terrible earthquake. There is much need here!