Back in Haiti for a week

To all who follow this blog, you may be wondering what has become of the red hat water guy and this Haiti experience!  Well, plenty has happened during the past year and I hope I can paint a quick picture for you here.  During past blog posts you heard about the Pignon water system and a new student, Raynold.  The Pignon water system received funding from the Haitian government and is being built by local labor and managed largely by Raynold and Haiti Outreach.  The success of this project led to another large water project in Saint Raphael, which is also being built under similar conditions.  Raynold now has an assistant and lays about 700 feet of water pipe a day.  The trenches are dug by hand to a depth of 3-4 feet, the pipe layed in a bed of sand and pressure tested to 50 psi to check for leaks.  The pressure tests led to an overhaul of the traditional methods Haitians use for glueing PVC pipe together.  Here are a few photos of Raynold and his crew in action!

I am now back in Haiti for the fourth time in the past year.  I've been trying to keep a regular schedule of visits to check up on the progress of the Pignon and Saint Raphael water projects.  Each time I am blown away at the progress that has been made and the maturity of Raynold in these few short months that he has been working on water systems.  But I continue to push him to either develop more skills or find people willing to do the work so that my services are no longer necessary.  This, I am learning is neither a short nor easy road.  But I am committed to the task and hopeful that we will be able to recruit and teach more students like Raynold. 

During the next week we will be laying a pipe under a small stream in Saint Raphael.  We have a plan and I hope all the tools necessary to make it happen.  I'll keep you posted...