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Jacmel mountain road
A view of this twisting, winding road snaking up the mountain. May 29 - Jacmel
This trip was to deliver mattresses and Numana to Jacmel, which is northwest of PaP. First, we went west along the seacoast and then headed North up a mountain. Oh my - what a mountain! I took pictures, but I’m sure they don’t convey the breathtaking view I saw. It was also pretty hairy! The road is steep, twisting and turning, snaking its way up the mountain. Sometimes, I would look out my window and see the only thing between this truck and the drop off down the mountainside was a little piece of metal called a guard rail…and in some cases, the guard rail was gone! Adding to the excitement - going around hair pin curves with no way to see what might be coming or, in one case, a truck broken down in the road.
Ah…but you’re wondering if there was quake damage here as well. The answer is yes. Mostly in terms of damage to small homes. However, here I also saw some significant mudslides on the lower half of the mountain. As we climbed higher into the mountain and the geology changed, I saw rock slides as well. Everywhere there was a slide,
there seemed to be a crew out trying to get it cleared, sometimes meaning one lane traffic. This is the main route from PaP to Jacmel, which is a major city and seaport. I was impressed by the amount of terracing all along the mountain side, in an effort to hold back the mountain and prevent these slides. In some places I could see that there were actually crops planted on these terraces. Sometimes I saw corn, sometimes grasses of some kind, sometimes banana trees. Not sure, how they harvested them…must be an exciting process. Once I actually saw a cow grazing up several levels of terracing along the road. Not sure how she got there but sure hope she was surefooted! I took several snapshots on the way up and hopefully they will give you some idea of the magnificent panoramic view. As we climbed higher into the mountains, we actually became enveloped in the mist that I had seen from the road at the bottom. Pretty amazing experience. I tried to get a picture, but it’s only a glimpse of how it really was. I also tried to capture the twisting, winding road to give you a flavor
of what this trip was really like.
Life must be harder for those who live in the mountains. There would be a long distance between villages. I saw people walking, presumably to market with bundles of produce. Once in a while I would see someone with a donkey, but mostly they were walking. Often, we saw young children along the roadside with baskets of vegetables, holding them out to us, trying to make a sale. Personally, it would be very scary for me to have a young child along such a narrow, dangerous stretch of road. Perhaps they think people would be more responsive to a child selling goods or perhaps the parent(s) are busy working fields.
One little village we went through had a large market area right along the road (actually encroaching into the roadway). There was barely room for one vehicle to move through and here we are with a big truck! At one point, I thought we were going to take out this elderly lady’s little table with loaves of home baked bread. She was on my side of the truck and we missed her table by a hair!
Again, all along the way, there were
Jacmel road 3
a little higher up signs of damage from the quake. Individual homes flattened or damaged severely. Devastating for an area where life was already hard, families live in small homes and try to make a living on terracing on the mountain. Except for the tents, however, I’m sure life is very much as it was before the quake.
Within Jacmel, the damage is erratic. Sections where damage is extensive; sections where there is little or no damage. This may have to do with the quality of building materials as well.
We arrive at the Jacmel Corp amid pouring rain and are welcomed warmly. I took a picture of the church here. Since there no church building, church is held outdoors with tarps for the sun and rain. In Jacmel, there is a project sponsored by SAWSO (Salvation Army World Service Organization) to build 600 transitional housing buildings, 3 schools and a church for this Corp! They are very excited to see this project begin. A little more about that project later on. We unload mattresses and boxes of Numana, getting them under cover quickly in the school. They will be distributed among the community vulnerable, and food to be also used for the school
lunches.
Since I was in Jacmel, I also wanted to visit the transitional housing team based here. I had been in touch by phone with a team member over the previous week. The lumber and the tarps had been delivered by barge to Jacmel. However, the containers with the hardware and cement were hung up in customs at PaP. The team had been going through layers of paperwork to get them released and I was sensing the frustration and disappointment they were experiencing. I was so impressed with the members of this team and how well they had scoped this project to build the Corp church, 600 homes, and 3 school buildings that would provide better coverage for the rainy and hurricane season, as well as withstand another quake, if one should come. This project team has been deployed to many disasters, including Mt Saint Helens, Hurricane Andrew, 9/11, and recovery of the Challenger.
They had located the sites, cleared rubble if necessary, hired building crews, (4 men per crew), a crew boss for each crew, and a supervisor for each 4 crews. They were chomping at the bit to get started. Let me explain about these houses, meant to
Jacmel terracing
Tried to get a picture of the terracing. It's just behind the trees on left of picture. Hope it shows. be a transition between the tents and makeshift houses and more permanent homes to be built later. They will be 10 x 20 with metal roofs and specially designed tarps that can be rolled up to provide ventilation. The 4x4 uprights will be placed in cement piers deep in the ground with deck hangers and hurricane straps to allow for wind or quake movement. Flooring will be OSB. This size may seem small to us, but most of the homes I’ve seen are very small by our standards, and most activities are outside, unless the weather is bad. If the site is too small to support the 10 x 20, a 10 x 10 will built. However, most will be 10 x 20. Metal roofs are steep pitched to allow for adequate water runoff. Cost of these homes to SA is approximately $1,000 to $1,500 each. For the church and schools, 6 of these single units will be used, joining 3 units together at the roof pitch to provide a wide building. Other NGO’s are also in the process of designing and building these units across Haiti. This project will build the 600 homes in Jacmel and nearby Cayes Jacmel
simultaneously. Plans are to complete the project in one week, which is an aggressive schedule. My understanding is that the next phase will be transitional housing in the camp at PaP. I have been in contact almost daily by phone, bringing encouragement to them as they await the release of these containers.
Now, for the trip down the mountain. Remember, I told you the trip up was breathtaking, and a little scary - now picture us careening down the mountain on this narrow, twisting, winding road in a big truck., with the driver blowing his horn at every turn to warn everyone we were coming. Well, maybe ‘careening’ is too strong a word, but it sure felt like it. Whoever covered me with prayer on Saturday, May 29th, between 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. your time - I can’t express my gratitude more! Your prayer coverage provided a safe journey down the mountain. Of course, I prayed a lot too. I was very glad to get to the bottom.
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