November 8 ,2008

internet access has been very spotty recently. we have had uncharacteristically cloudy days and it messes with the satellite. you have a connection then you don't, so I just gave up for awhile. warm here still, highs each day in the 90's with humidity in thge 70's at best. nights are starting to cool some though, so the early mornings are actually not bad...until the sun comes up over the mountain behind us! warms up quick then. went thru a bout of dehydration, getting over that now. I have learned the importance of salting most everything you eat here. it is needed to retain fluids. so I salt now, and I am feeling better. Jessica had a bout of dengue fever she is getting over. It was a fairly mild bout as dengue goes (as I am told) but she still felt really bad for about a week. and life goes on. school is moving along, kids are doing their best to avoid working, but love recess and lunch. why would I be surprised at that? kids are kids everywhere I guess.

I had not heard about the school collapse in Port until my son Luke told me about it. I pray the kids get out alive. seeing construction practices here I am really AMAZED this type of thing doesn't happen regularly. I am not a construction person, so I can't judge well, but others who know (and some of what we take for common sense) would indicate these things are possible. the concrete blocks used for constuction are very poor quality usually. they are not pressed, they use a bad mixture and the blocks..NEW blocks..can be broken by hand some times when doing finishing work. the construction at the orphanage going on now confirms this. Gary and I went there yesterday to deliver some supplies and Al told me that Joe, the worker from school who has some mason skills, was breaking the blocks by hand to fit in rebar reinforcement. nothing here is square, everything is "eyeballed" and it shows. the rebar is literally what provides most of the support for the buildings. this house we are in was built in the early 90's, I am told. And truth be told it is in not bad shape. but a 20 year old concrete block building with rebar support in the states would be in MUCH better shape. so the next time you c/o the local building codes that run up the costs, think twice. it may be overkill, but it may also save your life.

I have several things to blog on now but I don't want to run them into one long "war and peace" blog, you know, a thousand pages long and after you are done you can't remember anything that was in it! so I will end this now, let everyone know things are going pretty well. I am even picking up a little creole here and there. So I will end this with a request for those that do. "Yo bezwen nou priye". They need our prayer. thanks for reading. bye for now.