Here goes
This is my attempt to explain what happened yesterday.. and then some amazing things that happened today.
So.. last night… before dinner, one of the groups of workers came by the compound to get paid. They were working on 3 houses that we had already finished with the foundations. So, that being said, the contract would cut in half. Everyone knew this – I went over it numerous times. Anyways, they came by the compound to get paid. I went through everything with the boss and then I went and ate dinner. After dinner, I realized they were still sitting down there. I went down there and they were talking about how it wasn’t enough money. I assured him it was exactly what we had gone over. All of the workers were upset with the bosses. There are 3 bosses and 7 workers in each group. Byambison and I sat down there for a long time with all of them and tried to help them understand what was going on. After awhile they said that it was good and there was no problem. I went back up stairs and was talking with the engineer and working on bills when someone said they needed me. I said I would be right there. Madam Pierre then came and said she needed me… followed by Nadege and Pierre. Pierre told me that the workers were so upset with the boss that they had broken some bottles and had rocks and were waiting on the bosses to leave the compound at that they were going to attack them. I grabbed Byambison and headed down to check out what was going on. I walked out of the gate and found a mob of my workers waiting for the bosses to leave. When they saw me they immediately hid their “weapons” of choice. I walked up to the main guy causing the problems and started asking what in the world he was doing? He immediately knew that he, as well as everyone else, was about to have a BIG problem. My level of “upset” quickly started to rise. I called for everyone to go inside the gate. I made them sit down on a pile of blocks and not move for this whole conversation. This whole ordeal lasted for an hour and a half. I tried to figure out what the major problem was and he most I could figure out is that the bosses told them that they were going to make more money than I told them. So all the workers thought the bosses were keeping money from them. I explained to them what was going on and that no one was keeping money from them. At this time all of them are still ready to kill the boss. Next, I started going through a series of questions including: Why are we building houses? Who are we building houses for? What happened to those families? Why can’t they pay for their own house? These questions were followed by : How many people around here have jobs? The only response I got was “No one…” I said “That’s right. No one has a job around here. So do you know how lucky you are to have what you have? You see all the people everyday that cannot even afford food for their families, but yet you are complaining about a couple dollars when you know you are going to get paid again next week.” This all started to sink in with all of them. Nadege started to speak up now saying “Stephen and the rest of the American workers came down here to help and to work. They do not get paid at all and they do not need your help, however, they choose to give you a job. When you sit here and try to hurt each other and complain it really makes me sad.” This whole conversation brought me to tears. It is so sad when money and greed take over. These guys are such hard workers but something wasn’t working out. I still don’t understand what was going through their brains. Finally we began to work some things out, then everyone got fired, and then we started working out a new deal. I was mainly trying to change the guys mind that was leading this revolt. I worked out a deal with him and we were able to call it a night. I let the bosses go about 20 mins before the workers and then finally let the workers go. It was a crazy night.
I know there are probably a lot of details left out of that but I think that gives you a pretty good idea. Please don’t let this give you the wrong idea. It is very safe here. This was just a small disagreement.
Now for today. I got everyone up and got them started. We had groups for the retreat, construction and site seeing today. I went with the site seeing group to start off. They wanted to see some of the houses that we had built so I took them for a walk through in Cite Soleil. We had a really fun time. We the group got to the first house we ever built, the lady was so happy to see up. She is one of my favorite people. Her name is Michelle. The group wanted to pray for her and she gladly accepted. The lady that prayed was so awesome. She thanked God for the light that this lady was to the community and for all of the wonderful things that she is doing. There was nothing in the prayer about any situation that she is in or to get her out of the situation or to only bless her. She asked that God would continue to bless her with even more amazing things in her life. Michelle was glowing. She was so happy after the prayer. I was almost crying again. It was amazing to see this group come in and want to talk, pray and meet with people so bad. Their interaction with everyone has been so inspiring. When teams like this come it reminds me of what broke in my heart when I first came.. to see the love of these people towards everyone.
Well, it’s time for me to head to bed. Sorry for leaving out so many details…. I’ll try to do better next time.
Always with Love,
Stephen