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Published: December 24th 2010
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Mobile Jungle Gym
On days the kids were out they had so much fun climbing all over the truck. The beginning of December turned into a time of contemplative re-evaluation for our Sele Clinic Project, and also a time of frenzied rush to get goods to where they needed to be. On the 15th, I had to leave Espiritu Santo to take care of business in Port Vila for the end of our year in Vanuatu. The clinic was not completed, nor did it look like it could be until Project MARC returns to finish the job. I left the villages holding the bag. The chiefs who’d worked so hard were left hanging. They understood the situation and had lived through the problems. They agreed to the change in the plan but it didn’t really matter. The
reality was that the clinic was not finished and that was a real kick in the gut. It still is.
Personally and professionally it is a failure.
Pain and failure are not necessarily bad things, however. They are educational tools from which we must learn. There can be no strengthening, development or growth without pain and failure. Yes, had I made different decisions at certain stages of the process we could have gotten much further along in our plans. Let’s just
Slab Complete
Andrew is a champ. His team did this in the days I was stuck in town without fuel for the truck. No cement mixer. hope we don’t make the same mistakes again.
This project was a first for us in many ways. Local donors primarily funded the clinic construction, and it was our first purely overland project. Project MARC’s focus has always been on rural communities, but we’ve always worked within a few hours walking distance from the sea. There were no boats involved in the construction of this clinic (so far).
Working with local donors also means that we were working primarily with in-kind donations instead of cash. This also changes the game a great deal. You see, when you’re purchasing goods or services you get to set the schedule. When you work primarily with handouts, you can’t really makes demands of the how and when. Likewise, when equipment breakages happen you don’t have the cash to swoop in and save the day. When nature springs up and hits you with an unexpected cost, you don’t have the cash to cover the damage.
As I priced out the cost of the clinic a couple months ago I estimated it at $25,000USD. I still feel confident that had we started with that amount of cash, we could have finished the clinic
Fueling in the rain is rough
Our fuel delivery took days longer than promised. for Christmas. Another issue with in-kind donations is that they are not always the most cost efficient for a project.
Put together, the combined value of our in-kind donations is nearly 15 grand so far. When we started in October we had only compiled about $4500USD in cash and a big list of promises for other donations. Our use of so many in-kind donations caused a number of delays, which put us deeper and deeper into the rainy season. Issues sprang up frequently and the limited cash was often used to put out logistical fires instead of to purchase supplies. In the end it was just not cost-effective to keep pushing our way uphill in the rain and mud. We’d have to call a halt until after the rainy season had passed.
My visa was almost up and the cash was long gone. I could have pushed the visa further and one of our amazing donors would have put down more cash to keep it going, but I just couldn’t accept it. At that point, it would have been too cost ineffective to continue as we were for my personal efficiency threshold.
This amazing donor reminded me
Oops...
Our estimates of steel rebar needs was off. Last minute expense broke the bank. of a few things: We as aid workers owe it to our donors to finish projects in a timely fashion. We owe them a certain level of efficiency in how we spend their money. If something can be obtained for free, we need to go that route instead of spending money on that same item or service. And we owe it to our donors to search for those free or discounted options until all opportunities are exhausted.
These things are important, but sometimes you can’t have them all. There is a time/money spectrum that we need to consider. With more time you can do things with less money. If you have little time, you’ll need more money to get it done fast. From the start of our project we were on a ticking clock.
In my old line of work we used to call it the "Golden Triangle," which involved time, money, and quality. (Out here in the bush though, the concept of quality is a very relative term.) My friend Chris Borreson once taught me that “It is often cheaper to buy something than it is to get it for free…once you factor in the cost of
Filling up.
Since the Big Truck couldn't deliver the 1500 bricks, we had to run three trips a day delivering them in the small truck. We could only take 60 at a time. time, labor, delivery, and repair.”
After reconsidering the current plan, it was decided that we halt construction at the end of phase two. Phase one being the foundation, two being the walls, three is the roof, and four is the finish work (plaster, paint, windows, doors, ceiling). The plan now is to return in 2011 with cash donations to pick up the construction time-line where the use of in-kind donations left off.
It’s the efficient thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. We owe it to our donors.
But that doesn’t mean I’ll feel any better about having to make the decision to pull the plug.
Now all I have to do is go back to the States and beg for cash in a recession, to raise money for a country that few Americans have ever heard of. Wish me luck.
Happy Holidays everyone, and if anyone receives a Diesel Cement Mixer, or 4 Wheel Drive Dump Truck as a gift this season....let me know, I may have a favor to ask of you next year.
P.S. Thank you to Mrs. Marin for all the fuel, engine oil and steel rebar
Last Kaikai
My farewell lunch at the jobsite. that kept us going at the end. Without you, we wouldn't have more than a slab.
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