Hi Friends and Art Fans,
In February of this year, I spent a little over three weeks in Haiti helping with the Lifewater Mission there. We were testing wells which had been installed by various other humanitarian missions over the years. Our work involved testing the wells and also noting the locations of the wells, putting numbers on them and taking down a description of the well, how deep they were, where the water was, etc.
Our tests had to be quite simple, since there are no available testing laboratories in Haiti. So, we tested for basic water quality parameters using test strips and then we tested for the presence/ absence of bacteria. A further test was conducted on wells which were found to have bacteria, to determine whether the water contained harmful bacteria such as coliform bacteria or e-coli. For this test I found a little incubator in the USA for a small sum of $500, shipping it to Florida cost $100, getting it to Haiti cost an additional $300, but getting it through Haitian Customs and their Port in Cap Haitien apparently cost $1200. Go figure!
To make a long story short - our mission was successful, but there is still much work to be done. Our volunteers will continue to go to Haiti to try to bring safe water to the people.
I have attached some slides of the places I was and the people I was working with. These are not the best photographs in the world, but I think they convey a sense of the experience I had while I was there. Many of these were shot through dirty truck windows as we lurched our way through the egg carton like roads of potholes. They haven't done much work on their roads in the past 20 years, and they are long overdue for re-surfacing. Currently, a dog can safely cross any road in or around Cap Haitien during rush hour, with little risk of being hit. I didn't see a dead dog the whole time I was there. I thought I did a few times, but as we passed them, their tails would flick or an ear would twitch - they were asleep. When the roads do get repaved, there will likely be carnage!
There was cholera in the villages we visited. There were many little stores selling coffins and auto parts. But, we found the people to be for the most part warm and receptive to our work.
I did find some time to do a little painting while I was there, but I was restricted to painting on the compounds, and was not allowed to venture out unescorted. While I never felt the least bit threatened, this is still a lawless land and you have to be careful. To paint in public for half a day might draw the wrong kind of attention. So, I will be generating some paintings from the other 1700 photos I took while I was there and in my next post I hope to include photos of the sketches I made while I was there.
Enjoy the slides,
Cheers,
Charles
