StephenByxbe.com

Tonight’s blog is going to be a work in progress. I will type some now, but will have to come back and add later. So many things happened today.

To start.. Bill Fudge is here for the month. He loves Marconelle, almost as much as I do, so when he is here… he wants to use Marconelle. I am nice, so I let him. Therefore I have to find someone else. I have been trying to go to the cheaper route. I have been using a motorcycle. It is awesome.

First problem. Little old man stealing rebar from the job site – at his house. We finished.. there were 10… we came to get them.. there were 5. Not sure what happened.

Second. Rented a bobcat today. They decided I didn’t pay for transportation so they drove the bobcat all the way across town to Repatriote. They used all the fuel so we had to get them more. Then the driver pretty much just played in the mud.

Third. The police stormed one of the job sites at Ibo Beach claiming that the land we are building 4 houses on is not ours to build on. Funny thing is they have no right to say that… that is the Mayor’s problem. But besides that, we have the papers for the land. Ugghh… they told everyone to stop. I told them to keep working.

Forth. We are building a roof in Cite Soleil. I look over the wall and his backyard (private blocked in area) is full of my block and rebar… wasn’t quite sure what to think other than take it all back. As I start taking it I realize there is a huge pile hidden under some old block. I was pretty upset… I broke a few things.. but it all worked out

We worked on the roof until almost 6pm in Cite Soleil. 5am – 6pm is a long day.

Pastor Leon is back in town now. So glad to have him back.. it’s just not the same without him.

That’s it for now.

Always with Love,

Stephen

I don’t know if it really is possible to melt… but I think today was pretty close. I started sweating the moment I got out of bed and continued to sweat until 9pm tonight. I lost at least 10 lbs today in sweat. I got up this morning with intentions to go to Ibo Beach and look at the construction. There wasn’t really a reason for me to go to Ibo today, but I was going anyways. However, I didn’t end up going. I decided there were a lot of things I needed to do today.

I gave Ronic everything he needed and then I started working here. I have been building a “depot” or storage shed over the past week or two. We have so many supplies coming that I needed a place to put everything out of the weather. I had two sections already built.. about 32′x16′. We went ahead and put all the boards in that came the other day. So this morning I moved a huge pile of rocks out of the way, which were in a gigantic ant pile. We lit the ant pile on fire after this. It was a lot of fun. We spent a few hours moving rocks and broken blocks. After we had cleared it all out we put gravel all on the ground to make a nice floor for everything.

Once we finished cleaning up, I built the next section to the depot. It is 11′X16″. It was about lunch time when we got the first 2 rafters up. We stopped after the first 2 and ate lunch. After lunch we finished with the rafters, lats and with the gravel under the new portion. I didn’t have any roofing nails so I couldn’t finish with the tin. I took a break and waited for the nails and the generator. As soon as that arrived I was back at work finishing the metal and starting the next section of the depot. It is the corner piece. I got half of the rafters finished and then called it a night around 6:30pm.

It was a productive, sweaty day. I liked it.

Now it’s time for some much deserved sleep.

Always with love,

Stephen

P.S. – the internet was down at the Insurance and Tag office today so we couldn’t do anything. Also, the alternator was bad so they had to get it fixed.

That is the question.

The goal today is: Go to the office of the “Haitian Papers” aka the ID office and take 3 hrs to get an ID that takes Haitians 1+ months to get.

Next – drive to St. Marc, work out the price, pay, drive home and get ice cream.

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Now on to what actually happened.

I went to bed around midnight last night. Not good, but O well. I woke up this morning around 4am to my phone ringing. Ronic is calling. If you don’t remember, he drives the big tap tap that carries all the supplies to the job site. I figure, if he is calling at 4am.. we have a problem. I answer.. he does not sound good. He tells me he has been at the hospital all night. His wife has been really sick with fever and really bad symptoms, but what makes it worse is that she is pregnant and due very soon. I tell him to let me know if I need to do anything and I told him I would cancel work for today. I hang up with him and start texting all the bosses. The word starts spreading fast. I called Ronic back to ask what his kids were doing. He said that they were at home with someone. Autumn was going to watch the kids if he needed her to, but he said he needed help at the hospital so she went over there.

After all the workers finally figured out we weren’t working today I headed to Cite Soleil with the American team. They were starting a new roof so I wanted to look at it with them. Also, we are roofing the caretakers house at the C/S compound so we had some specific guidelines to follow. I took are of all that and then it became truck time.

Our first meeting was with Marconelle’s brother (9:45am). He works for the government in the “Haitian Paper” department. We showed up at his office, bypassed the gigantic line, sat down at a desk, wrote our info on a piece of paper, paid our money and finished. Marconelle’s brother hopped on a motorcycle to go have it processed and said he would meet us at lunch (12). We headed over to Visa Lodge to sit and wait. He showed up at 1pm and handed us our papers. How easy was that. Three hours to do what normally takes at least a month (or so they say). We start looking at everything and realized Bill Fudge’s name is spelled – Billy Steven Fedge – not Fudge. Big problem. They could have messed up on mine for now and it not be a problem, but his was the one we really needed. He says no problem. We will just run back over to the office and fix it. Next we realize that the birthdate on mine is 1955 and Bill’s is 1985… that probably isn’t going to fly either.

We get in the car and head back to the office. Long story short, we couldn’t manage to get it fixed today because the director who needed to sign it had stepped out, but it will be ready first thing in the morning.

We could have been finished with the truck if it had not been for the stupid “E”. Goodness… what were they thinking haha. I want to see the faces on the guys at the port when the realize how fast we got out papers.

Anyways, we called it a day around 3 and headed home. We are trying again tomorrow.

It’s going to be a good day.

Thanks for everything.

Always with love,

Stephen

I know I know.. I didn’t write a blog yesterday. Just shoot me now… I probably ruined someone’s night because I didn’t post. Sorry.. really.. I mean it. I can’t say it won’t happen again, because it will.

Anyways.. nothing fun happened yesterday that I can remember. So on with today. I woke up a little late, but we had planned to go to Cite Soleil Church, so it was ok. However, we all had our own “English Church service” so we didn’t end up going to C/S at all.

The new group arrived around 9am or so. They got settled in, I talked with them, explained the work for the day and moved on. I was supposed to have a meeting with the bosses but I moved it to 5pm. I remembered that I needed to go to Cite Soleil to pick up some money for a door, so I hopped in the truck with Marconelle and rolled out.

I needed to leave for the mountain around 11:30am but I was waiting on Cola to arrive. He finally showed up around 11:45am and we started on our journey. I didn’t want to use a tap tap today because it was so hot so I rode with Cola on his motorcycle. It was a great time weaving through traffic, not getting stuck in traffic jams. I think I need to get Marconelle a motorcycle and just let him drive me around on that. Bad news though. When we got to Petionville we had a flat tire. I hopped off and waited about 30-45 mins while they fixed the tire. I arrived at my friends house around 1:30 – just in time for lunch. Lunch was amazing by the way. I was stuffed. Over lunch we talked about everything that is going on, what the government is doing/isn’t doing, other things we could do to help, how they could get involved with helping and lots of other things. After lunch we hopped in the car and drove up the mountain a little further to look at a piece of land that he owns. He wanted my opinion on it for an idea that he had. It is beautiful land on the side of the mountain. It was a fun drive getting back there to it as well.

I left my friends around 4:15pm and headed home. I made it home just in time for my meeting at 5pm. I worked everything out with the bosses and then joined everyone for dinner.

After dinner I rode with Pastor Luc to his house because I need to use his truck really early tomorrow morning. It was nice to ride out to his house. After we dropped him off, me and Byambison stopped at a fast food place and got a snack.

It was a relaxing day. This is going to be a busy week. The group here is ready to work. The goal is to build 8 roofs this week. I’ll keep you updated.

Gotta get some sleep now. Headed to St Marc in the morning.

Always with Love,

Stephen

The alarm clock sounded – 5:15am…. snooze. Again at 5:20am… snooze. Again… no snooze.. just turned it off. Finally I got up and ate breakfast.. I didn’t get to finish breakfast. I had to go out to the gate and make sure all the workers were here and ready to go. When I got up I had a pretty bad headache, so I had decided I wasn’t going to the job site in the morning. They didn’t need me there anyways. I had worked out the majority of the problems yesterday.

So.. I returned to my room and finished with breakfast. I went back to sleep for a little while.  I didn’t get to sleep too much longer because we were shipping the group out for some touring of PAP. I sent the group off and headed to the depot… aka the soccer field. At the depot the guys were starting to put together groups of 1/4 rebar. They are tying it 20 pieces at a time to use for the foundations. They are also moving stuff around so we can build the storage shed for all of the supplies.

I then headed to Cite Soleil to check on the work that is going on. We are building 1 house and 2 roofs. The houses are starting to look really good. I was happy to get to see the workers in Cite Soleil. It has been awhile since I have seen them.

After C/S I took a nap to try to reduce my headache. It didn’t work very well. After the nap I went to the welder’s house and picked up some doors for the houses we are building. I brought them to the “depot.”

After lunch I sat down and started working on the numbers for the houses. I am trying to squeeze the budget a little bit to be able to offer a couple different things. I spent a good hour or two working on the numbers. I ended up going to Cite Soleil again to look at the work and saw one of the home owner’s. He was so happy. He is planning on bringing me some creole chicken when we are finished. These families are so nice. I love them all.

The day ended pretty nice. Some of the loudest thunder and craziest lightning I have ever seen. It was a fun time. I will admit I jumped a few times. The devotion was fun tonight. Talked about hope… hope for the Haitian people.

Tomorrow the team leaves. Always sad when a group leaves, but good news – BILL FUDGE is coming. FOR A MONTH! Bill Fudge is one of my favorites.

Anyways, thats it for today. Nothing crazy. Just a regular day in the life of an American-Haitian

Always with Love,

Stephen

Today I am writing to you very early… it is 6:30pm. I have just finished dinner and I am starting my blog because tonight I know I will be asleep soon.

Today was an interesting experience. This morning started out at 5:30am, standing out front of the compound with 30 haitian workers… waiting on the truck. I keep trying to call Ronic (the driver) but Haitian cell phone service doesn’t really work until 6 am. Finally I reach him. His starter is messed up. He makes it to the compound around 5:50am. We load up 112 pieces of rebar, 30+ workers and hit the road. We made it to the job sites are 7:30 – 1 1/2 hrs late. I got everyone started and explained the new houses to them. With every set of houses there is always one person who is amazing. There is one lady we are building a house for who is so sweet. She made juice for the workers today, she bought water for me and she hugs and kisses me every time I show up at the job site.

After I finished getting everyone started I went to the cement place. This is THE cement manufacture for all of Haiti. I learned that I could get a really good price on cement so I decided to check it out. Yesterday I stopped by and learned that they do not take cash. I had to go to the bank and do a transfer to make it possible. So, now I have my transfer receipt in hand and I am ready to work. I show up at the gate. They take all of my information again. We stand around and wait… They take my picture and create a temporary badge for me. After 30 minutes of preparation we are ready – but wait – it can’t be that easy. I am the only one that is allowed to go. Praise the Lord I speak a little creole. They will not let anyone else go.. oh and get this. You have to walk the half a mile road from the guard shack to the admin building. They won’t let you drive back there until you have a receipt for pickup. This is the most secure place I have ever been in my entire life… the sad thing is it’s all about cement. So… I make it to the admin building after walking down this huge hill (that I will have to walk back up). When I reach the building I meet a group of Haitians that are waiting on their turn. I sit down and join them. I think I sat there for an hour. It was a long time. Also, no cell phones work once you enter the main gate. It is like they have a signal blocker. Finally I met with the lady, who does not speak English. I explain that I paid for 1000 bags of cement but I only want to take 200 today but I want them 100 at a time. She says no problem. It takes about 30 mins for her to create my account and print out the bagillion receipts I had to have. We joke for a few minutes and then I start my hike back out to the main gate. Once I get to the gate, everybody gets in the truck thinking it is just easy to go get everything… Nope. Everyone has to show their ID’s & Ronic cannot enter because he is wearing shorts. This place has some crazy rules. This took another 15 mins to work out. Now that we have wasted all morning, we are on our way. We drive through this huge compound (that is right on the coast with their own personal port), make it through the scales and more security and start loading cement. This place probably bags 200,000+ bags of cement a day and sells every single one of them. There were 50 flat bed semi trucks waiting in the parking lot ready to load up. When one left another showed up. Each truck carries a minimum of 1000 bags of cement. They open at 6am and close at 6pm. They are doing some serious business. Anyways, I made it out alive. We drove to the job sites and unloaded the 10,000 lbs of cement we just picked up and then did the whole thing again (minus the admin part). So today we moved 20,000lb of cement. It was very tiring and I was incredibly dirty. The really sweet lady I was talking about earlier kept trying to clean my face and arms. I was so dirty it wasn’t working very well, but I appreciated the effort.

I spent all day at Ibo and made it back to the compound at 3:30pm. I got a shower and then did some work here. Time flies here. It was 6 o’clock before I knew it.

Today was a lot of fun. I enjoy busy days. The mosquitoes are really bad right now so tonight will not be fun.

It is almost time for devotion. Thanks for everything.

Always with Love,

Stephen

Finally.. it will let me write. I think my blog wanted me to take the night off last night. However, I stayed up late trying to make it work. No worries. I didn’t disappear… I am still here.

So let’s see. What happened yesterday. OOoooo some randomness on the job site. One of my workers (Fredo) stops by the compound before work. He has a headache, but is telling me something about gang members trying to steal from him or from the workers and shooting at him or someone else. It didn’t really make much since, even after Byambison came out there. But, this alerted me that something was going on. After Fredo left, Ronic came by to give me an update on everything. He told me there had been some confrontation at one of the sites resulting in him only being able to take what they could use in one day. Where we are working now there are a lot of problems with things “sprouting legs” and walking off. There also seems to be a problem with people forcefully taking items… What I don’t understand is why someone would pull a gun on a worker for a bag of cement. Really… are they going to pull a gun… hoist a 100lb bag of cement onto their shoulder and expect not to get hit with a shovel as they “run away” with a bag of cement. This is just me thinking.. this has not happened.. so please don’t worry.

Anyways, I am pretty good about rambling on and on about all kinds of things. I wish I could stay on topic, but I think the blog would probably be boring then. Ok. So, yesterday. I am on foot in Cite Soleil all morning checking out job sites. At first I was with Ronic and then I saw Marconelle walking around so he joined. We scoped everything out, fixed a few problems, heard the real story about the “stealer,” and talked with some friends. The real story about the stealer was – a guy robbed the grocery store next to one of the job sites. The whole community started chasing the guy and he got scared so he pointed the gun behind him and shot, kinda up into the air. If it had not been up in the air it would have hit Rigo or Fredo. That was what Fredo was trying to tell me. I wasn’t as concerned after I heard this. I thought someone came up to them stealing from them.

After this, I had no transportation, so Marconelle and I took a nice walk back to Blanchard. It was kind of relaxing. We had a good talk. I love Marconelle, he is awesome. His new title is “Driver and Body Guard.”

After lunch, I hopped on the bicycle and peddled around Terre Noir checking on the roofing projects. It started to rain while I was riding around which made it kind of nice. I stopped by a friends house and said hello. I hadn’t seen him in awhile. By the time I made it back on my bike it was time to call it quits for the day. I ended up having to run some late errands with Ronic so I made it back to the compound around 8:30pm.

Now on to today. I think 75% of the staff woke up today with a headache and other sickly feelings. We all took a little longer to get going today than usual. Long story short… today was a little more of slow day. However, we finished framing one house and finished with the metal on 1 other. I had to make a bank run and then when I got back everyone, including me crashed. I was out until 6pm. Not sure what happened, but I hope everyone is better tomorrow.

This next week is going to be sad. We lose Ella on Tuesday & Lucy, Gracie and William on Wednesday. Half of our American staff gone in one week… It is going to be a hard time adjusting to life without them.

Well.. look at the time. 11:15pm – only an hour and 15 mins past my bed time. This 10pm thing is hard. Maybe tomorrow…

Goodnight for now.

Stephen

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

Sorry for not writing the blog last night… I know it probably threw everyone’s schedule off Anyways.. on with today.

Today was Sunday – you know what that means! Church and a Day OFF!! Wrong. We were out of water this morning so me and Jordan rushed to get water this morning before church, but it took us so long we missed most of church. One group was leaving at 9:15 anyways so I had to help them get out to the airport. After all of that jazz I took a nap. That was about the only relaxing thing at happened all day.

William and I left around lunch to go to Cite Soleil and finish the water filtration building’s roof. It has to be done by Monday afternoon because they will be using it on Tuesday – so we are on a time crunch. William and I worked on the roof until after 6pm. It was crazy.. so hot.. and nasty, but we are almost finished.

Around 4 o’clock the coolest thing happened. I am standing on the roof in what is supposedly a fairly dangerous place, where everyone is not just poor but extremely poor. Everything is dirty, sad and feels like there is no hope… when all of a sudden I hear a single voice singing Amazing Grace – in English. I couldn’t help but stop everything I was doing and sing along. As I stood there I thought about all of the people who have nothing but are sitting in this church praising the God of the Universe and crying out to Him saying how amazing He is, how thankful they are for His love an grace. Every time I see this, it reminds me of how small I am… how NOTHING I am.

After Amazing Grace they sang “Who Am I” by Casting Crowns.. hearing this song.. knowing what the Haitians have gone through.. I don’t even know how to explain it. Some things just don’t make sense. I know I wouldn’t be handling this situation the way that any of them are. They are such strong people. I love how no matter what happens.. no matter what is thrown their way, you will continue to hear them singing praises to our Mighty God.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. God Bless.

Stephen

I had a headache for the greater portion of the day… and have been up all day long, so this is going to be short tonight.

Up early this morning dealing with workers and broken tools.. maybe that’s where the headache came from. Also, from workers not going to the job site but thinking they were riding with me.

Made it to Cite Soleil around 7am. Took the workers to the new site and then walked my mom and crew around to see the houses we have built already. They really enjoyed it. Especially being in Cite Soleil – the kids are amazing there.

After C/S we drove out to Mission of Hope to pick up some pallets and tents. My head hurt so bad by now that I just laid down on some pillows in the back of the big tap tap. I slept the whole 30-40 min drive. We picked up 35 pallets and 25 tents and then came home.

Lunch was amazing grilled cheese sandwiches and a nap. I was supposed to go to the bank and the airport but the guy at the bank didn’t answer the phone and the flight was delayed. I was able to take a 2 hr nap and slightly reduce the headache. 4 o’clock rolled around and off to the airport I went. Autumn accompanied me to the airport. I am in the middle of reworking my deal with the administrators at the airport so I couldn’t use the easy gate today. I had to use different procedures, but it all still worked out pretty nice.

On the way back to the compound, we were following the tap tap with the bags and all of a sudden the wheel/axle broke on the tap tap. It just kinda flopped off in the road. Pretty sad… Marconelle wasn’t happy. Hopefully he will have it fixed soon.

The group that is here now is going to be great. They are passing out shoes to all of the students/teachers/workers at the Terre Noir and Cite Soleil compounds.

Only one more day with my mom. I think I am taking them to the beach while I go to the port and do some business, then I will join up with them. It will be sad when she leaves.

Off to bed. Talk with everyone tomorrow.

Always with Love,

Stephen