Kevin O'Brien - Reporting from Haiti - Tuesday, February 2, 2010

  • Kevin O'Brien
  • Feb 3, 2010
  • Series: Reports from Haiti

Thank you so much for all the prayer support.  I really believe that is what is sustaining me.  As I mentioned earlier, I am having stomach problems and an associated general malaise/tiredness. But I think it has been pretty mild - especially when I consider what others are going through.

I was pretty discouraged last night as you probably picked up.  Then waking up sick was just another level of oppression.  Drew called me as I was getting up from a rest and he told that the small group of men Bible study he meets with spent 1.5 hours praying for me.  I just broke down and started crying. I couldn't help it.  I was so overwhelmed to hear that I had that kind of prayer support.  In fact it is making me start to water up again.  Thank you for your faithful support as well.

Living this past week on the roof of the police station and suffering part of what the Haitians are suffering (no running water. no toilet facilities - OK, there was one toilet for about 60 people, I never to got to use it.  Heat and humidity, the constant noise and cacaphony.  Mosquitos. No luggage. The crowds, the chaos. Being totally dependent on others to provide for you.) has really made me sympathetic to their plight.  I can't say I have developed a deep compassion for Haitians but rather a compassion for people who are suffering.

The Walls Intl Guest House has turned into a dead end.  What I had hoped would be a solution for both the short term and the long term base plans for YWAM has not materialized.  Peterson has gone ahead and rented a house for his family so that they can be re-united - she is still in the US.  The apartment he had rented before the earthquake had a building fall against it.  He could easily have been in there had it not been for the complications with the pregancy.  They decided to go to the US (his wife is American) 5 days before the quake.  It's funny how we often time complain about life's difficultys when in fact they turn out to be a blessing.  I wish I could remember that all the time.

Drew is really helping me think of ways to use my skill sets to help over here.  The direction I am taking now is to serve as an engineer and assess the structural integrity of the buildings that are damaged but not collapsed.  The Haitians want to tear down everything out of fear, but I think there are a number of buildings that can be salvaged.

As Providence would have it, I met a structural engineer, Doug, who is licensed in CA.  He has designed several buildings in zone 4 regions and he has done a number of assessments of damaged buildings.  He and I are going out together tomorrow to assess some buildings.  Even though I majored in Structural Engineering, I have not practiced it (except for the homes we build which are pretty simple).  I am hoping to have Doug train me before he leaves Thursday so that I can carry on.  I feel that the things I studied will come back to me - most of it should be common sense based on engineering principals.

We made contact with the Director of City Works in St. Mark hoping to get the name of his counterpart in PAP.  He asked us to come to their office to train his staff.  Unfortunately, I dont think I will be back up there.

Our plan is to develop a relationship with the director here and multiply our efforts (that's why i want you to scan my PE license on the wall in my office and email it to me).  A relationship with Haitian engineers will also lend credibility to us in the eyes of the Haitians.  I am afraid that even if we determine that a building is safe, the people may not believe us.

One last episode before I turn in here.  Doug and I took public transportation from St. Mark to PAP today. We went to the "bus station" (no signs, no office, no ticket window , no bus schedule - you really need a Haitian to go with you to walk you thru the process).  There was no bus either, it was just some guy in a mini van who decided to drive to PAP.   20 of us passengers (plus luggage) shoe horned in for the 2 hour ride.  About halfway there, he stops the "bus" gets out and walks over to the side of the road and pees on a wall, gets back in and drives off like it was no big deal.  No one on the bus seemed to think it was unusual. 

Kevin

NOTE:
Kevin O'Brien, owner of Agape Construction in Kirkwood, Missouri and a member of Greentree Community Church, left St. Louis on Monday, January 25, to work alongside YWAM (Youth With A Mission) to quickly resolve unique technical challenges in construction, logistics, and machinery with limited resources short term and/or be a part of reconstruction long term.