Yo relem "injenyè"

"Yo relem injenyè." - "They call me 'engineer.'"

As you read this first line, you may find yourself thinking "that doesn't sound much like a proverb, we usually start with proverbs" and you would be correct. I've been thinking about my final post to this blog for a while and I tried to decide what I wanted to talk about, the things I wanted to say and the things I wouldn't say. Since the blog is written in almost report format I was (admittedly relieved) to realize I needn't restate all of the things we'd already discussed! After near-excessive thought, I decided I wanted to keep this closing message short with a couple thoughts more personal in nature than technical. The title of today's post comes from a thought I'd actually had shortly after arriving in Haiti. I'd realized that the team and other people in the village referred to Zach and I (later Ashley and I) as "engineer," sometimes appending it as a prefix for our names and other times simply by that. It was no surprise to me of course, why we were referred to in this way, but I found myself immediately pondering its implications. I realized two things about this immediately with the second in effect a result of the first. The first was that I noticed an air of respect that came with the title which conveyed a sense of both confidence and trust between myself and the people of Cangé. I found myself reminded of the way people at home might readily trust a doctor or a priest of their respective faith. The second, as a result of this conveyed trust, was acceptance and attentive listening to what I said and my ideas involving solutions to problems. This seemingly small gesture had an appreciable effect on my personal growth these several months.

As I worked in Haiti and with the team I realized that both my approach and my position in working with them was very different from what I'm used in a work environment. I'm used to a more hands-on work experience and completing tasks myself. I found myself in a different dynamic here in which my position was more consultatory and managerial in nature which I found honestly maddening at times. However, I realized this had more to do with my preference for consistency over changing dynamics and retrospectively, I'm beyond grateful for this exit from my comfort zone. I gained a confidence I didn't know I lacked, and I gained leadership skills I didn't know I needed. I've learned what it means to work cooperatively, how to recognize my own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of other so that we can plan to work tandemly such that our collective strengths are amplified and weaknesses minimized. It would take me a lot of time and likely a couple thousand of words to talk truly about all that I've learned, but these are a few of the quick things I wanted to share with all of you.

To say that my time in Haiti and its people have affected me would be an understatement. It would be more accurate to say my time and all of the connections I've made have begun and continue to mold me into something more. I don't yet know how this "more" will look in the end, but I understand that it signifies the person and engineer I am becoming. I will treasure this time for the rest of my life and confess that I too have received much as a result of it. As I finish writing this and wrap up this blog, I want to extend my thanks for travling alongside me from home and assuring me that these writings actually have an audience. It has been a pleasure for me to share my experiences with you, and I would be more than happy to share my future endeavors with each of you so interested!

Kreyòl pale, Kreyòl konprann

"Kreyòl pale, Kreyòl konprann." - "Creole spoken is Creole understood."

Today's proverb is another common one in Haiti and is used in different situations to mean a couple of different things. I've found two main meanings of it, one being that spoken Creole is understood Creole (the one we're using today,) but also used to convey the meaning of "speak simply and plainly." This was said to me a lot when I first started in Haiti back in May (which seems almost a lifetime ago,) to say "you're going to make mistakes in your speaking, but keep practicing and that the Creole you know inside your head isn't any good if you don't use it." As I practiced and learned Creole I remembered this, but I also found it to be true of building relationships and working in Haiti in general. The connections I've made during my time in Haiti took time and understanding to develop and I'm proud to say that each of them is worthwhile. It is with great pride that I've served CEDC and Haiti these past seven months and with a tinge of sadness that my time, for now, has come to a close. However, I cannot officially announce this stay as "finished" until I've updated all of you on how Ashley and I spent our last week before we returned home for the holidays (and in my case to return to classes in Clemson next semester.) So, without further ado (and minimal tears,) let us begin this last update.

On Thursday Ashley and I accompanied once more by Gaelle, Kolón, and Sadrack to the village of Belle Aire, a few miles southwest of Cangé. Previously CEDC completed a small project there consisting of a single capped water source and treated at distribution with filters and UV. We’d yet to visit the village since our re-installation and so set out to see how the system is faring. There are a few problems which have simple solutions of replacing of old pipe fittings and carrying replacement filters. There were two larger problems as well. The cap at the source is made of concrete which is being eaten away on the rear wall by run-off from an unknown source. Documenting and observing the problem we decided quickly this problem is easily remediable by constructing a diversion to route the water around the cistern and harmlessly to the side. The second problem we encountered was with the UV treatment, namely the disappearance of the solar panel providing electricity to it. A man who lives nearby approached us and began speaking with Kolón who asked him frankly but quietly where was the solar panel. He said that he wasn’t sure and that it had disappeared one night. Seeing that we would learn nothing else from him, we made our way up to the village’s school, a short walk uphill from where we were treating the water. On our way up, we encountered a man who works at the school who Kolón and Sadrack recognized. Kolón asked him what happened to the solar panel and he replied similarly to the first man that it’d disappeared overnight, and also mentioned (importantly) that the UV treatment was working until there was no longer a solar panel to provide electricity to it. He also told us (as we noticed while there) that it was truly curious that the box containing the filters and UV was open with the lock on the latch intact and unbroken. Noting everything we’d seen while we were there, we departed Belle Aire and returned to Cangé.

Friday, we descended to Péligre, a larger town about twenty minutes by vehicle down the road form Cangé. There is a man who lives there named Gaston we know from the ZL campus where he does social work. Before I’d left Haiti in September, I’d promised Gaston I’d visit Péligre to see how CEDC might be able to help with the water problem in Péligre. We went to Gaston’s house first where we were greeted by him and some other elders from the town offering us refreshments as they gave us a brief synopsis of the town’s water needs before walking around the town. Due to Péligre’s proximity to the dam that formed the lake (for which the town is named,) drinking water that is piped to the dam for the workers is shared with the town as well. The largest problem is lack of sufficient supply for the town; many of these people don’t actually live in Péligre but walk from the surrounding area to gather their drinking water from the system in Péligre. Gaston also interjected that as a result of the deficit, people who live in Péligre have to walk to unfamiliar places which has placed these people (often women or children in the developing world) at risk for violence with prior occurrences. As we begun to tour the infrastructure there are already cisterns and fountains in the town in good working order with small bits of piping in need of repair. We walked further down the road where we were shown the original cap and were told that water availability used to be intermittent but now water flows year-round, a boon to future work on the system. We were also shown an electric power water pump actually installed by the power company who distributes the electricity generated at the dam who pays and works to maintain it. As we talked and asked our questions we determined the likely reason for the water deficit is the pump being underpowered and overworked. We determined this could easily be rectified by conducting a census of the town to determine the size of the need in Péligre and installing an appropriately powerful pump. We let Gaston and the other elders know what we were thinking and told them that with all we’d seen their water problem should be easily fixed with the appropriate resources. They thanked us for coming to see them and we told them we looked forward to being able to work in Péligre soon. This visit was the last on Ashley and I’s list before we returned home for Christmas. This visit was my sixth to another community and also the last of my internship, a bittersweet realization. I was happy to have made good on my word to Gaston and filled with excitement to have documented their need so that we might help them in the future.

From Saturday to Monday, we went to Bas Cangé for some work at the dam. As I’ve written previously, we have dedicated piping at the dam for each pump as well as an overflow which feature metal grates for keeping large debris from entering the piping. Over time, the water has rusted the metal. To remedy this without replacing the grates, David brought a product called Corroseal which through a series of chemical reactions reverses the rusting process. To protect the coat of Corroseal (with help from Marcelin) we secured epoxy paint to be applied overtop. With the two coats having a full cure time of twenty-four hours we planned to fill the cisterns as much as we could during the week so the village would still have water while the knife gates at the dam to the pumps were closed. We had five pieces total to treat and paint with four fully curing in forty-eight hours and the last (requiring a second coat of Corroseal) requiring an extra day. As of yesterday, all of the grates had been replaced at the dam and the pumps re-opened and working. Officially wrapping up our work in Cangé for the year, Ashley and I began preparing for our trip home and spent some time with our friends before our flight on Wednesday. 

This week was very busy for Ashley and I as we tried to accomplish some big items on our list before it was time for us to return to the U.S. for the holidays. I’m pleased to say that we did accomplish everything we set out to do (with a good bit of fatigue,) and I’m further pleased with all the work I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate on and do during my tenure in Haiti. I’ll dearly miss all of the friends I’ve made as well as my work there, but I can leave comfortably knowing that Ashley is well-prepared to carry on our work and represent CEDC in Haiti. I wanted to make sure I talked sufficiently about the work we’d finished this past week (because it was a great deal,) but to save space and time for a single blog post, I will be publishing one more with some lessons I learned and some of my past and current thoughts. I think I’ll try to publish that later this weekend, so stay tuned for it!

Here'e the capped source in Belle Aire. Much of the foundation and ground around the system is un-eroded, but we would do well to address this before the situation worsens. The solution should be relatively simple, install a diversion for the runoff and then shore that which has already been eroded. This is definitely one of the more straightforward problems we've encountered. 

When everything is working as it's supposed to be, a solar panel mounted on this pole captures sunlight and converts the energy into usable electricity that can power the UV treatment. It is unfortunate that the solar panel is no longer there, but with the information of the UV working until the solar panel's disappearance, we know that everything on that end should still be functional. 

A quick look at the filtration system in Belle Aire. Inside we have the UV, four-filter system, as well as a water meter and pipe which exits the housing and has a spigot attached to the end. Most of this was in good shape with a need of new filters and replacement of some old fittings to make the whole system operational again. 

This is one of the main cisterns in Péligre. It was exciting and great for us to learn that much of the infrastructure needed for a water system in Péligre is already built and in good repair and that with which the town needs help is supply. 

Here we have one of the fountains (not far from the cistern pictures above) and Gaston. The fountains in the town we were told work well when there is water to distribute, making a project in Péligre that much easier for not having to build new fountains for distribution of the water. I met Gaston shortly after I first arrived in Haiti. It took some time for us to visit Péligre, but he was very patient after having my word that we would come. He was very happy to receive us for this visit and is greatly looking forward to working with CEDC in the future. 

This is the electric power pump installed by the local power company to send drinking water both to the workers at the dam as well as Péligre. I was told that the pump had had four or five major repairs during its lifetime and that it's required regular maintenance attention. From what was described, we inferred that the reason the pump has required so much attention is that it lacks sufficient power to supply the demand for water. As part of our plan going forward, we'll reach out to the power company in order to collaborate with them on securing and installing a pump with appropriate capability. 

As we concluded our visit, we thanked repeatedly for coming and were asked to pose for this picture in expectation of our future partnership. It's visits like these and the work to follow that first interested me in coming to Haiti and I'd like to underscore that I was not disappointed in my expectations. 

The team formally replaced the grates at the dam in our absence while we wrapped up other work before we left, but here you can Greg and Oddjob applying the epoxy paint we found on Sunday after we'd applied the Corroseal on Saturday morning. They were amazed to see the chemical process the Corroseal catalyzes on the rusted parts of the grates and after explaining the paint would protect the coat of Corroseal, we painted with great enthusiasm. This particular project we planned as far back as the summer, but circumstances surrounding interruption in regular water flow to the village for two days delayed us until now. I'm pleased to say I was able to see it completed before it was time for me to leave. 

Bondye Bon

 "Bondye Bon" - "God is good"

I'd had this update ready to post yesterday, but internet issues contrived for delay until now. I'm taking the time to mention that because as of yesterday, Ashley has officially been in Haiti a month! It has been a month full of adventure and an equal amount of work. She'll have a while in Haiti yet, but we couldn't pass this milestone without some recognition. The past week has had sufficient amount of adventure and work of its own and our final week doesn't look like it'll be any different, but I prefer it this way; this way, we have plenty of interesting things to share. Today's proverb is straightforward, celebrating the milestone of a month in conjunction with occurrences of the week past, I think the reasoning of my choice will be obvious. Without further ado, let's begin. 

Picking up where we left off last week, on Saturday night (25/11/2017) after returning from Port-au-Prince, Ashley and I solidified our plans for the next day to re-work piping in the Filter Building to incorporate the new pressure relief valves. Our final plan consisted of two objectives and three changes to the piping:

            The Objectives 

1. First of our objectives was to install the new pressure relief valves we acquired in Port-au-Prince in strategic locations through which water could easily be bled off in relief at a pressure more than 150 PSI.

2. The second was to create more distance between the flow-meter and control valve installed on the chlorinator’s inflow line before replacing the caps. An oversight during our initial installation of the chlorinator saw the flow meter and control valve for the line next to each other with little space in between them. As we began attempting to regulate flow in the pipe, we found it difficult to have an accurate idea of how much water was flowing through the pipe as every time we adjusted the control valve, turbulence skewed the flow meter’s readings. Detailing the problem with David previously, he stipulated we create twelve inches of space between the flow meter and control valve. Reviewing Hayward’s (manufacturer of the chlorinator) manual of the model we were using, we learned that more PVC (as opposed to galvanized pipe in our case) before the line was ideal. Learning this, we set upon going above our given twelve inches to as much distance as was possible for us to create with the materials we had on hand.

The Piping Changes

1.      If you’ll recall, we used vacant space where the non-functional UV treatment was previously located for the installation of emergency chlorinator (nouvo nouvo machin klowoks.) The first part of our plan involved dismantling the other line of the old UV (still intact until this point) to place the first pressure relief valve there. Doing so would place a relief valve between the chlorinator and the filtration system (where we monitor the pressure of the incoming water.)

2.      The second change was set for just after the chlorinator. Parallel to the line which passes through the chlorinator is another line, unfiltered, which is rejoined by treated water from the chlorinator before a static mixer. The now mixed filtered and chlorinated water flows together before it is split into two lines going to the Summit Cistern (from which the water for Zl’s campus and the top-most fountain in the village are sourced) and Village Cistern. We decided the best location for the second relief valve was after the static mixer but before the separation of the line to the two cisterns.

3.      The first two changes realized the first of our objectives, and this last change accomplished the second. The galvanized pipe nipples making the distance between the ball valve for the chlorinator’s inflow line and the control valve was vital to our design for the piping of the first pressure relief valve. We had twenty-four inches of one inch PVC which we aimed to use as the chlorinator’s new inflow line. The only thing we needed to figure out was if we had sufficient fittings to put our new pipe together.

We met with the team early Sunday morning (26/11/2017) showing them everything we’d bought the day before and explaining our objectives, we set to work. I’m pleased to say that the work progressed very well and we achieved everything we’d set out to do. However, the day was not without its challenges. These manifested in a culmination of trouble at the dam in Bas Cangé relayed to us by Djapanou. Pausing briefly for lunch, we descended to Bas Cangé to see what was happening down there.

Before we actually left for Bas Cangé Djapanou described to Sadrack and I what the problem was down there. Admittedly, I did not understand Djapanou’s explanation even after Sadrack tried to re-explain it to me. After which, I told them that for more reasons than one now, I needed to see what was happening at the dam for myself. It turned out that what Djapanou was explaining to me was earlier that morning when he was shutting the water to Pump Two (which currently needs to be turned off at the dam due to a separate problem with its butterfly valve normally used for regulating flow,) he noticed that the rod connected to the pipe’s door below was not properly seated and turning effectively. After he’d succeeded in shutting off flow to Pump Two, he saw that the rod simply turned in place instead of rising, thus preventing us from opening the door to Pump Two’s pipe would not be possible until the rod was successfully re-seated. To accomplish this, we actually had to detach the rod from Pump Two’s door along with the threaded bracket through which the rod is meant to rise and descend. Unable to have the rod and bracket seen by the welder that day (as it was already early evening just before sunset,) we knew we would have to wait until the following morning to see the welder and return to Bas Cangé.

The following morning (last Monday 27/11/2017) we met with the team again and saw the welder immediately after breakfast. Grinding down the inside of the bracket, smoothing chipped areas on the thread of the rod, and reinforcing the integrity of the aging bracket, we descended again to Bas Cangé to replace the rod and bracket. This went relatively smoothly and we were once more able to open and close the door for Pump Two. We would soon realize, however, that we were not finished for the day in Bas Cangé. In draining the dam to a level where we could work on the door for Pump Two, we needed to route water through the overflow. When we went to reset the door for the overflow to its normal place, the housing for the rod on the door itself broke. With the rod now separated from the door, we were unable to move the door in the intended way. To fix this, the team produced a replacement door stored in one of the pump houses, with which we replaced the door for the overflow. Now able to adjust the flow for Pump Two and the Overflow pipe at the dam as intended, we were finished for the day with our work at Bas Cangé. All that was left for us to do was await the pipe glue we’d applied the day before (needing to wait until Tuesday morning following a modification we’d made after discovering a leak in our new piping) to finish setting and we could replace the tops on the chlorinator and use it once more.

All of our piping set and not leaking, we were at last able on Tuesday morning (28/11/2017) to add chlorine to the system via the chlorinator for the first time since its original caps had both blown. We spent much of the remainder of the week reviewing what we’d learned about how the chlorinator was working in the system its first week and are working to fine-tune its integration in the system. The last couple of weeks have had their challenges, but with determination and teamwork, we developed effective solutions for each of them. Much of this week will be spent wrapping up for the year as Ashley and I are scheduled to return home next week! Though this month (Ashley’s first officially as of today) has passed swiftly as has my time in Haiti. I expect to pen one last post before we depart, so stay tuned for that by this time next week. Until then, be well and enjoy these pictures!

P.S. If you’ve already read the post from last week, those pictures (as promised) are now posted, so don’t forget to go look at those!

One of the finished products, the first pressure relief valve set up before the chlorinator, parallel to the emergency chlorinator we installed. 

The second pressure relief valve placed strategically after the rejoining of all the lines before distribution to the cisterns, but before the separation of the lines to the different cisterns. 

Here, we have Djapanou, Nol, Sadrack, and myself putting together the rod and the replacement gate for the overflow pipe. We needed to come up with a clever array of pulleys to lower and set the gate from the top of the dam, but we did figure it out and successfully reset the new gate. 

Here are Kolón and Sadrack taking apart what was left of the UV piping so that we'd have the space to install the new pressure relief valve (they were big fans of the new 24'' wrenches we picked up in PaP so they wouldn't have to use the 48'' ones for anything bigger than inch and a half.)

Ashley is usually behind the camera and as a result, not in many of our pictures, but here she is getting her hands dirty helping Sadrack apply some Teflon to the pipe before we fit it in its new home.