Take It As It Comes

Yesterday I worked with Leslie and one of our Haitian staff to conduct a test using the biosand filter. I won't bore you with the details, but I got to see how a filter is filled with gravel, sand, and a diffuser plate. Pretty interesting stuff and it's cool to see how they function. After the test I worked on my Creole for a bit with Evens and then on my own. I have a hard time memorizing things, but I hope I can learn the language relatively fast if I spend a decent amount of time with it each day.

Later, Chris and I ran to the hardware store to grab a few miscellaneous parts. After stopping by three hardware stores, we found what we needed at the fourth. When I say hardware store, I am referring to a concrete hut on the side of the road where someone has collected random parts and will sell them to you if you have some money. During one of our stops we were offered something to eat by the vendors in the street. Chris took a cup and started eating and I followed suit. He asked me if I wanted to know what I was eating and I thought for a second....then said, "Let's wait till I'm finished." I later found that it was conch. Like the shell you blow into to make a sound. I found a picture of the thing online:

A Conch In Its Shell

They had cut it into strips and then poured some kind of hot sauce on it. It didn't have a whole lot of taste other than the hot sauce, but it chewed like it was made of rubber bands. After we ate a cup full and got our hardware supplies, we made it about 100 yards before the truck stalled and we couldn't get it started. We determined that we had run out of fuel and borrowed a container from someone on the street and hitched a ride back to the local gas station. After filling the tank with a gallon of gas, the fuel pump decided not to prime. Chris popped off a few tubes and minutes later we were back up and running. When we got back, Chris ran me through the basics with the dirt bike. It is a one cylinder, four stroke, 600 cc bike. There is no key and no electric starter...to kick start that large of a bike takes a good jump in the air. Chris warmed it up for me and then let me start it a few times.

The Bike

I'm pretty tired today from the work that I did. I started the day helping one of the workers put together five filter molds. Theses are the steal forms that are used to construct the filters. We brush all the pieces with vegetable oil so that when break apart the mold, the concrete won't stick to the steal. After that we put the molds together using bolts. Then we insert the water tube and start mixing concrete on the ground. If you've never mixed concrete on the floor with a shovel, your missing out. Let's just say that two guys get pretty tired mixing enough concrete to make five filters. Below are the completed forms filled with concrete.

Filled Forms

I forgot to mention. Since our concrete vibrating wand is broke, we have to use a rubber mallet and hit the sides of the mold to get all the air out of the concrete. After hitting it a few thousand times, my hands stared to hurt and I knew that I should be wearing a pair of glove so I wouldn't get blisters. However, that would require me to go find a pair. As many of you know (mostly guys), it's a lot easier to just keep working. Well, below is one of the blisters I received because I didn't feel like going to get a pair of gloves.

The Aftermath

By the way, we use the same filters to get our drinking water in our home that we install for Haitians. After completing the filters, Chris had me get comfortable with the MIG welder and the plasma cutter. I cut out a large fan shaped steal beam structure from the doors that we are going to be installing on the new dorm building. Then I welded a steel sheet in its place.

Door After The Fan Structure Has Been Removed

Door With The Steal Sheet Welded In Place