Monday, 19 July 2010 15:42

Not sure exactly what to expect, I must say that it is an honor to go to Haiti on behalf of the Barrels of Hope (BOH) project.  The itenerary so far includes a visit to Petit Goave, Leogonne, Jacamel and the final destination, Kenscoff where we will build our first earth bag homes.  Thanks to Earth Givers here in Gainesville, we will be connecting with Jane Wynne of Wynne Farms in Kenscoff and building this first shelter as part relief, part hands-on education as how to build earth bag structures and learn from the local community.

The representatives of BOH will be myself Mike Amish, and Haitian-born, Gainesville Job-Corps graduate, Mathaus Charles.  Mathaus has not seen his mother since the earthquake and this will be his first time back so it will be an emotional homecoming to say the least.

What many relief agencies have experienced -even the big ones- is that it has been really difficult to get many supplies into Haiti.  Many agencies are reporting that their shipping containers are being held up at Port Au Prince's port and cannot get  their supplies into the country.  What that means for Barrels of Hope is that we will be bringing the bags to build the earthbag shelters with, into our checked luggage.  This may be a slower way to proceed, but it will at least get the first houses built, establish some relationships and help us plan for the next phase of actually getting the barrels and supplies in bulk to port in POP or perhaps Jacmel.

We will be leaving the 27th of this month and returning on the 3rd of August and plan to build the first structure within 3 days starting on the 28th.  We hope to connect with Hands On Disaster Relief in Leogonne, with Grace Lutheran and Aid For Haiti in Petit Goave, and then From Gainesville With Love and a unique clay pot water filtration operation in Jacmel.

Thank you to all of you who have helped, including the USGBC Heart of Florida local chapter,  we will definately be taking lots of pictures, video and blogging about this online.  We hope to have a slide-show event after we return to talk about all of this.