Sunday, October 19, 2014

Friends, Can you Dig it? Plant a Tree in...Haiti?

One upon a vision, a Facebook friend made some introductions and behold, some years later, construction begins on a seismic-sound school building above the plain of Leogane...And then, Samaritan's Purse, a big NGO, facilitates the hauling of materials by building a road!  Bulldozers up at 3500 feet, somehow?  Yup.  And now, so's not to loose the soil and the road, wouldn't it be nice to plant fruit trees, and bamboo - a potential cash crop as it is now being used to make textiles in China and... 

If you have strong legs and strong hearts, we welcome you to collaborate with our habitants and plant trees near the hill you see on the right, below. And, well, anywhere else to hold the soil.
Earlier this year, the partially-finished school and the beginnings of the road - in the background. Foreground is the path winding up to Mon Bouton proper.  The hill down on the right is Gran Dodo's house, Ti Eli's cleared field and Madame Karolis' home, with Watson, Watkliffe, Minooche and many others of the lakou, area-based extended family.

The view from the top.
Our team clears part of the hill and constructs and escalier making the ascent to Gran's easier for her - and us!  And this is part of the team that will plant trees - mango, zoranje and others - si Dieu vle - along the road to hold the soil.  Are you ready to join this work?
The way up...and up

Below, from Mon Bouton, the bulldozers from Samaritan's purse chomp through mountains.


Mon Bouton proper rises in the background.  And now-finished school buildings proudly rise!
  


It's just one miracle after another up in them thar hills!




Yon Ti Godet a la Fwa: The Application of Gravity and Physics of Momentum


Once upon a mountain time, Mon Bouton.
Schlepping water over hill and dale taxed the residents, particularly children, in terms of caloric input.  In an area of severe malnutrition, every calorie counts.  In collaboration  with the habitants, a system for pumping water with solar energy was designed, deployed and then, significantly, re-deployed in-situ by our expert partners.
 Last summer on Mon Bouton, the panels and pumps and tanks were vulnerable to rock falls - and the reach of the water could have been better deployed than in the original design, conceived here in the U.S. ("site unseen").  With a better understanding of the terrain, and using gravity sans pumps, sans solar, and PVC simply, Elisee Abraham and the  region's residents relied on momentum and gravity to propel water from the reservoir down, and not up, but to a place where pumps and solar panels would be safe from rock fall.
Elisee and a trained crew (by now!) expertly move the assemblage, dig new trenches and place PVC, protected by primer, along a new route, so the water will be closer to settlement areas/

The 2nd stage intermediary tank

A bit of work to flatten out the terrain,
not too much had to be carved out from the slope at the new sites.

Soon, Nelis constructs a bamboo fence around the apparatus.

Meanwhile, testing the, uh, waters...and the system.  The sun is strong, the pumps are going and here is the intermediate tank with overflow during the test.  More PVC pip will continue up from here, pumped up to a huge, 300 gallon tank a goodly 250 feet or so (pump's capacity) higher.  From there, Elisee Abraham and team rely on gravity once again, to propel the water downward, and closer to settlements.
Adjustable solar panels for slight season shifts.
 
 Everyone helps in a cement nd sand carrying brigade.  After learning this summer, 10 year old Zanda wants to become an engineer.  Let's help her  family make it happen!
One happy end-user shows California how-to, when "in drought" do it Haitian-style, ti godet par ti godet.

Below, water in two worlds:  While Melianiece fills a bokit in Mon Bouton, water  runs in a drinking fountain in Miami airport for thirsty travelers. 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

This is our land: Dancing, Loving, Singing, Living

Sing as though no one can hear you,


Live as though heaven is on earth...



Dance as though no one is watching you,

Love as though you have never been hurt before,
Sing as though no one can hear you,
Live as though heaven is on earth.” - 
Souza

Dance as though no one is watching you, 


  Live as though heaven is on earth...


Live...