I found out from Elias that Saturday and Sunday are more casual days. However Berman, our Purchaser has to buy some materials for our Cash for Work construction projects and David, our warehouse man was unavailable on Saturday. So I told Berman that I would go with him since I also have keys to the warehouse. Berman told me he would be in by 7 am and we would leave at 7:30. I had a pretty good night sleep and was ready to go a little before 7 am. Berman was nowhere to be seen. So i returned to the upstairs office area where i hang out with Elias on the weekends. I went downstairs at 7:30 am and still no Berman. I left him a note saying I had been at his desk at 7 and 7:30 and that I was available upstairs.
He arrived about 8:30 and we left for what I thought was the warehouse but it was to a building supply store. Berman had to complete the sale, hire a truck and pay laborers to load it. They loaded on 120 2x4x16 feet lumber, some doors, wire mesh and angle iron. I sat in the air-conditioned car that Joseph, the driver, moved to get it in the shade. There was some kind of argument with the truck driver over whether he was going to transport the plywood or not. We headed out past a UN military compound and the US Embassy on our way to the warehouse.
When we arrived I was surprised to see how much food had been dropped off - the "mistake" that Nelson had spoken to David about: 600 - 55 lb bags of Rice, 81 - 50 k (22.7 lb) bags of Sugar and 64 cases of Mazola Corn Oil, each having 8 - 64 ounce bottles. As Nelson had expressed to David, this warehouse was for construction materials. I took the inventory of all the additional food that was there before David's mistake, which includes 858 cases of rice; 45 - 50 lb bags of beans; another 30 - 20 lb bags of rice; 650 packages of Speghetti and 120 boxes of shampoo and rinse.
After the lumber and doors were unloaded, Berman informed me that the plywood he had ordered would not be delivered until Monday. So we locked up and headed home to the office. I updated Elias on my morning and the need for him to meet with the other program head, who are responsible for food and other distributions and our need for warehouse space. We also asked Berman, who speaks a fair amount of English, to check on our one hot meal a day, our blessed chicken leg, with rice and beans.
Did I say earlier that we do not have a kitchen? We have an office space with a small refrigerator, a table for holding some dishes, some food items, like raisins (Praise the Lord), cereal, coffee, tea, canned food, some US military MRE's (haven't the faintest idea how to prepare them), peanut butter (yeah!) and beef Jerky. In the refrigerator is some "nuclear" milk that does not need to be refrigerated, some native grapefruit, some bread and some unidentified food stuff. This is how we fend for ourselves for breakfast and supper.
Up to Saturday, I had a Styrofoam container with a chicken leg or thigh and beans and rice delivered to my desk sometime between 12 noon and 2 pm. It usually included a cold (relative) bottle of coke or 7-up. We finally had some food procured and I watched the elite 8 games on my computer, a little choppy, but doable. I worked out and had a great call from Patty as I ate my PB and raisin sandwich, with a couple of slices of processed cheese on the side and a small cup of trail mix (from Costco) for dessert.
I went to bed around 10 pm, in the first rain we have had. It was not raining hard when I went to bed and the rooftop was dry when i arose at 5 am on Sunday - Palm Sunday. We had to be ready to leave at 6:00 am to leave for a 6:30 am church service at Christ the Rock church, not far from us . It is early to try and minimize the heat! We arrived at a very large compound (almost all building are within a compound) that was a school and church. "Home of the Warriors" painted on a wall of the basketball court showed our "western" influence. We had passed scores of people all dressed up - woman in beautiful western dresses, complete with stiletto heels, trying to walk on non-existent sidewalks, strewn with rubble and debris. (The church completely ccollapsed during the earthquake and 47 people were killed.)
After we parked with several cars, we walked down a packed gravel road to a area that had recently (post earthquake) that had been leveled the space large enough for a football field size circus tent with people poring in. When we entered about 6:25 the folding chairs were 3/4 full and we took two seats together in the last row. We could put 3 rows of these chairs and their spacing in the space of two rows at HCC. We estimated the final standing room only , 3 deep in the back, to be between 3 and 4 thousand people! The worship team was a drummer, a base player and a keyboard with 15 -20 singers. The sound system was impressive, with the sound board at the mid-line of the tent about 5 rows ahead of us. The tent floor was beautifully poured concrete.
The music started after a prayer in Creole. The songs were mostly in Creole but some started in English, familiar praise songs. "Your my Prince of Peace and i will give my life to you" - all in Creole but unmistakable - i sang away in English. Much hand raising and joyous praise from a people who were suffering by our standards before the earthquake. I was very surprised to see a caucasian take the stage as the music wound down. He spoke to the audience in Creole. Then he began to preach in English and a co-pastor translated. The first thing he did was say a prayer to heal the earth - he then indicated that we had had another earthquake during the night. Elias and I looked at each other in bewilderment. (There was a 4.2 earthquake @ 2:17 am, 10 miles west of Port au Prince. Our friend and co-worker Jillian, who was buried alive for 10 hours said she bolted up from her bed, ran through the mosquito netting and was ready to jump from the balcony as her husband, Frank, groggily asked, "Honey is there something the matter?")
His sermon was from Philippians 2 - having the same mind of Christ - that we should be the same person of integrity when people or watching as when we are unseen. The pastor has led the congregation for 25 years. This was one of two morning services and they have a youth service during the week.
I spent the afternoon working on some unemployment documentation. I just happened to be selected for an in-person job search log review on Monday at 10 am in Tacoma. Not going to happen. But I finally faxed and e-mailed all the info. Started to watch the Lord of the Rings - a call from Patty, dinner and bed. A very good day. TTFN.
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