February 2019 Report

This report covers the January visit to the various construction sites. I was accompanied by Rick Giles and Marcelin during this visit. We met with Jacky, Profaite and Nadege over the course of the week.

Our goals were to review the progress of the school kitchen project and the new Youth Building at Repatriote; the revised school kitchen, classroom truss project and clinic projects at Cite Soleil; review progress on projects at Terre Noire, the sunshade project at Barye Fe and the new Fifth campus survey.

November 2018 Report

This report covers the November visit to the various construction sites. I was accompanied by Marcelin the entire time. We met with Jacky, Profaite, Nadege, Luc and Leon over the course of the visit.

Goals were to review the punch lists for the two large projects, Bary Fe II and Repatriote Classroom IV; finish the drawings for the new Repatriote Kitchen project and begin it’s construction; review the progress on the Repatriote Youth Building; plan for the next two months work and update the Project List.

June 2018 Report

This report covers my June visit to all construction sites.  I was accompanied by two of HOM’s design/build team, Rick Giles and Bill Etheredge.  Our goals were to review the upcoming work projects for visiting teams, schedule work for the next 2 months, inspect construction progress, review cost reports/budget, refine the drawings for the CS school toilet upgrades, the CS church toilet upgrades, the TN Guest House cafeteria upgrade and the new TN Guest House kitchen project.

We were able to meet with Profaite to review all projects and met with Jacky, Nadege and FloAnne on school items and Cenot to update the schedule for upcoming teams.

Cite Solei Campus

Medical/Dental Clinic

  • Funds have been received to divide the clinic intake area into two rooms, adding an ultrasound room.
  • Construction to begin on this project this next month.

School Classrooms Phase II

  • Interior & exterior block work is complete.
  • Electrical work is complete.
  • Block fill painting is complete.
  • Toilet fixtures have been purchased.
  • Layout of the underground waste and water lines has begun.

School Classrooms/Children’s Church, Phase III

  • Sufficient funding has been obtained to begin the Children’s Church, second floor.
  • The concrete columns, shear walls and top ring beam have now been poured.
  • Second floor block work will begin shortly.
  • If sufficient funds are available, the exterior will be stucco’d and painted.
  • Remaining unfunded is to provide a roof over the second floor, the windows, doors and interior finishes to the second floor. Estimated cost $75$90,000.

Basketball Court

  • The side adjustable basketball goals have been installed and are being used.
  • The end goals have been ordered and are in shipment to Haiti as we speak.
  • Concrete is complete for the basketball court.
  • Funding has just been obtained to purchase and erect the majority of the basketball goals for the court.
  • This project should be complete by the next report.

Church Kitchen

  • Clean water has been piped to the sinks.
  • Security grating has been installed.
  • Stuccoing has been completed.
  • Electrical remains to be completed but should be complete by the end of the month.

School Toilet Upgrade

  • Final design drawings were completed while on site by Bill Etheredge and Rick Giles.
  • Demolition and reconstruction began after the CS school ring beam was poured.

School Library Expansion 

  • With the addition of two added classrooms, the library is expanding into the adjacent temporary classroom.
  • A team undertook this project using our drawings and completed it last week.
  • This team is the same team that built the library furniture last year at TN.

Church Offices & Classrooms

  • The exterior of the front of the church as been painted.
  • New jalousie windows are being ordered for the offices facing the front of the church.
  • Electrical is complete thanks in part to a team with two electrical engineers working with our Haitian electricians.
  • Finishes in Pastor Jean Charles office, apartment and toilet rooms are ongoing.
  • A small amount of funding ( less than $950) will be needed to finish the Pastor’s apartment space and bathroom.

Bathroom Maintenance

  • The church toilets are clogged with foreign material and need to be unclogged.
  • Evidently this is not the first time these toilets have had to be unclogged.
  • It was reported to me that a major reason is the church does not provide toilet paper and containers to dispose of the paper.
  • This problem needs to be addressed by the Pastors.

Soccer Field

  • The field remains in good condition.

Administration Building

  • Electrical power to the second floor, including the library is complete.
  • Curtains have been added to the library.

Classroom Building III & Cafeteria/Kitchen

  • The Construction Group has finalized the budget estimate for the next classroom building, cafeteria and kitchen and it has been submitted.

Screen Project – Campus wide

  • Due to the close proximity of the PAP landfill, flies have been a constant problem.
  • A team has tentatively agreed to undertake a project to provide screens to all windows and doors for as many classrooms as they can finish in a week.
  • If their project is successful, the school may fund the finishing of this project.

Site Work & Basketball Court

  • Basketball Court is complete.
  • Espayder is having the continuing education students, (7th grade & above) spend at least one week of the summer preparing the site for the second building by moving gravel and leveling the area that will become the future soccer field.
  • The week I was on site, a team of youth worked with the continuing education students in moving gravel in preparation for the excavation for the second building.

Phase II Building

  • The Architect has completed a rendering and a preliminary set of plans for the next building.
  • The budget estimate for the building is ongoing.
  • The next building will include a science lab, a teacher toilet room and  8 classrooms.
  • The building corners were laid out to assist the continuing ed. students in their summer project.

Terre Noire Campus

Play Field & Security Wall Upgrade

  • The play field is complete.
  • The security wall on the west side needs to be raised 4’ but no funding has been secured.

Sanctuary Expansion – Phase I

  • No update this period.

Guest House Cafeteria Upgrade

  • Considerable time was spent this last week by the design team to finalize a design that will encompass the Guest House requests.
  • The design has to encompass the need for mosquito and fly control, rain control and sun control.
  • The design is in it’s final stages and a budget estimate will be forthcoming shortly.
  • The budget will be in two phases. the first phase will incorporate window screening below a facia that will, most likely shield from rain.
  • The second phase will incorporate jalousie windows in lieu of the screens if it is deemed that additional rain protection is needed.

Guest House Kitchen

  • The Guest House has requested a kitchen be located adjacent to the cafeteria so all meal preparation will be done on the third floor.
  • The design above is incorporating a kitchen preparation and serving area in the old cafeteria area.
  • The old screens in this area will be replaced by a combination of new screening and hard wall sections.
  • The design will be finalized in the next several weeks and sent out to the Guest House administrators and cooks for final approval.
  • After that, an estimate of the work will be made.

Solar Project

  • No update this period.

Library Project

  • The roof has been repaired.
  • The ceiling of the library will now need to be repainted.

Future Science Classroom

  • A team is upgrading the electrical for the room.
  • Drawings are needed to provide furniture for the room.
  • Science materials are needed to furnish the room. Some have been obtained and have been delivered.

General

Revised Project List

  • An inordinate amount of time these past 18 months have been expended by me in providing drawings, answering questions and giving direction to the numerous visiting construction teams. These are duties that in the past have been jointly handled by myself and an American volunteer. Marty was the 6th such volunteer since the earthquake I’ve trained and worked with and the one who was with us the longest and worked closest with teams. He’s now been gone for 1 1/2 years and I need help.
  • A plan will have to be in place by the end of this year to spread the workload between planning, designing and executing projects for visiting teams. Much of the work teams do relate to the general maintenance topic below.

Vehicle Update

  • The F-650 is licensed and being used and it is up for sale.
  • The ministry has received a F-250 with service boxes, winch and pipe rack. It will make an excellent maintenance vehicle for the ministry.

General Maintenance

  • It was noted above that most toilets at the Repatriote Church were clogged.
  • I’ve observed that student toilets sometimes experience the same problems due to lack of toilet paper.  
  • This problem needs to be addressed by the ministry at all campuses. It is a sanitary issue that could result in disease within the ministry.
  • This summer many student toilets and sinks will become clogged if not used regularly, especially at Repatriote.  The school administration needs to insure a plan is in place to regularly flush toilets and run water in sinks.
  • These bullet points are just an example of the maintenance issues that challenge us. The Ministry has to put in place a maintenance plan and a trained facilities staff in order to maintain these campuses.  Funding and targeting the right people is paramount unless we want to see the massive construction effort the past 8 years slowly crumble.