RenewCanada.com is closed from April 27 until May 9 as we are in Haiti for an unplanned urgent trip.

In Haiti the grid is very unstable and unreliable. On some days there is grid electricity for 12 or more hours. More commonly there is only grid electricty for a few hours per day. In Jacmel, electricity is provided by diesel powered generators as seen below....

To deal with this most orphanges and medical clincs have battery/inverter systems. When the grid is available, all appliances are operated with grid power with a portion used for battery charging. When the grid is not available, the appliances all operate with inverters and batteries. One orphanage in Jacmel (Petit Anges de Jacmel) has had a failure in their backup power system. As there are many children depending on Petits Anges de Jacmel we decided to make a quick trip to repair the problems as well as repair and maintain four other battery/inverter systems while here. Sorry for any delay this wil cause for our customers.... 

TRIPS OF THE PAST...

RenewCanada.com was closed from February 14 until February 23, 2011 as we were in Haiti to help with a couple of projects. Please read on for more info...

The main purpose of our trip is to bring water to a remote village on top of a 3000 foot mountain called Savanette. This village has been up there for over 200 hundred years. The women of the village have to hike down the mountain with a 5 gallon pail, fill it with water and hike back up everyday. The hike takes nearly 5 hours.

The project has been in the planning stages by Don Mowat of Mowat's Well Drilling (from Grand Lake, NB) for a few years now. Don Mowat, Sheldon Spencer (Forest Ranger with surveying expertise) and Donnie Ferris (jack of all trades) have been going to Haiti for years to help in any way they could by bringing much needed supplies and various building/repairing projects. More recently they went to Haiti to prepare for this pumping project by making measurements, surveying a route for the pipeline, getting landowners permissions and hiring Haitians to prepare the site and by building a pumphouse. This trip's purpose was to install the solar modules, pump, batteries and pipeline. For this project Don, Sheldon and Donnie were there as well as Arman Cormier of Armlin Geothermal and myself (Jody) of Renewable Energy New Brunswick. I have never worked with such intelligent, talented and capable people. There is nothing these guys can't do.

About 1/10 of the way up the mountain is a spring running out of the side of the mountain. We were able to use this spring about 1200 vertical feet below the peak of the mountain as the water source to pump the water to the top. The pump operates at 525 psi and about 1 gallon per minute for about 8-10 hours per day. This produces 500-600 gallons of clean water everyday or enough for over 500 Haitian people.

The second purpose of our trip was to install and pre wire a dual Outback inverter/battery system to provide backup power to a new orphanage under construction. Since the earthquake orphanages are in short supply leaving many children sleeping on the ground or streets. The same ground that has many rattlesnakes, boa constrictors, 24 hour worms (that bite you and kill you within 24 hours), tarantulas and many other poisonous snakes and spiders. This new orphanage will be built out of shipping containers making it impervious to the next earthquake. This recent earthquake occurred on about 50 km of the massive fault line running through Haiti. There is still another 200 km of fault line under tension. The next earthquake could make the 7.0 last January seem minor.

The third purpose of the trip was to bring much neeed medical and general supplies to an orphanage by the name of Petits Anges de Jacmel. Petits Anges de Jacmel is owned and operated by Pastor Wilbert Placide and supported by an organization called Lifeline Haiti. For more info on Lifeline Haiti please go to http://www.lifelinehaiti.com.

Monday February 7, 2011

Spent the entire day finishing collecting supplies, making last minute plans and packing. Thanks to the folks in the Sussex, NB area I was able to bring six large suitcases containing antibiotics, pain medicines, sutures, wound management supplies, Cholera medications, and many goodie bags full of little toys and candies for the children. All packed by 1:00 AM. Asleep by 2:30 AM.

Day #1, Tuesday February 8, 2011

Awake at 3:00 AM with 30 minutes of sleep. Travelled to the airport in Fredericton, NB with about an inch of fresh snow on the road. Arrived at the airport (thanks to my driver and friend Mark) by 4:30 AM to catch our 5:30 AM flight to Montreal. Even though I had 6 large suitcases to check with AIR CANADA I was only charged $225 total. They could have charged me $1125 as that is the normal price. Thank you Air Canada.

Arrived in Montreal. This will be the last Star bucks for 7 days.

3:30 PM Arrived in Port au Prince a little late but everything is cool. Notice the cracks on the exterior of the airport that were not there before the big earthquake of January 12, 2010.

There is a new process when arriving in PAP. As the airport is badly damaged, we now have to take a bus to the far end of the long building.

After the short bus ride we enter the temporary airport building and customs. There are about 250 on this flight and 3 lines to get through customs. By the time you get to the front of the line it has been about 30 minutes and it is hot...I mean really hot. The customs official looks at me, looks at my passport and looks at me again. He simply says "welcome back...thank you for coming back to Haiti my brother". No questions asked! What happens next as you leave the airport is amazing. There are no photos. It is too busy for picture taking. As soon as you enter the street there are hundreds of Haitians who try to "help" you with your luggage. If you have a cart of luggage you are pushed out of the way and simply walk beside your cart. Then many other Haitians will try to either take the cart from your helper or put their hand on a piece of your luggage or on the cart. You see if you as a Haitian help a "blanc" (white man) in any way you are entitled to a US dollar or two. The more that help you the more you pay. I draw the line at one helper per bag as you could end up with four Haitians carrying each bag. Arrived at the truck and load up.

Left the airport at about 4:30 PM for our road trip to Jacmel. The first thing you'll notice while driving is the smell. Next you see the garbage, sewer, people and extensive damage. Many buildings that used to be two story are now one story or a pile of concrete and dust. It is hard to imagine. On the right side is the pathetic solution for the homeless... the infamous "tent city". On CNN the tents are brand new and clean. Maybe they used Adobe Photoshop to clean up the photographs. These tent cities are disgusting. There are hundreds of portable toilets lining the streets that are overflowing raw sewage down the streets and alleys. These same sewer infested streets have hundreds of children playing in their bare feet. This is disgusting and wrong. What did these poor little children do to deserve this? For water there are 40 gallon barrels every 1000 feet or so that are filled hopefully on a daily basis by the water trucks. The water is brown. This is the drinking water. How can we accept this?

After driving about an hour we pass the famous Parliament Buildings...

Only a year ago these buildings were the pride of Haiti. Speaking of pride, almost every Haitian you see will have a spotless t-shirt and pants/shorts. Spotless clean! How can people that live in streets that are dirtier than any public dump I have ever seen have such clean clothing?

A few minutes past the Parliament buildings darkness sets in. We then drive for another hour before our first adventure.

The diesel SUV we are driving suddenly quits. The driver was not able to pull over. We had to get out and push the truck off the road and oh great were are in the middle of one of Port au Princes' s tent cities. The truck is dead...no lights...no action. After finding the battery under the driver's seat we notice the battery cable terminal/battery post are smokin' hot. Too hot to touch and so hot the top post of the battery is now melted and missing about 1/4 of its diameter. We have no tools, no parts and are in the dark in the middle of a tent city. After untying our luggage on the roof and looking for anything to work with a large crowd is gathering. Haitians love to watch the "blanc" do stupid things. Someone in the crowd appears with a 20 or 30 year old pair of pliers and offers them to us. We were able to bend a penny in a round shape and force it into the gap left by the melted battery terminal. The lights come back on and so does the engine. After thanking the pliers loaner with a 10 dollar bill we are on the road again. To make a long story short...after stopping a few time for toilet breaks and two stops for car sickness we arrive in Jacmel about 4.5 hours after leaving the airport. We arrive at our quote unquote "hotel', eat supper that has been waiting for over two hours on the heat rack and go to bed. Tomorrow the fun begins...

Day #2, Wednesday February 9, 2011

This morning we take time for a quick breakfast and head to one of the existing orphanages (Petits Anges de Jacmel) that survived the earthquake. This orphanage a operated by Pastor Wilbert Placide. A long time ago Wilbert converted his home into an orphanage holding about 40 children. Half get to sleep three to a bed and the other half sleep on the floor. They get one meal of rice and beans per day in the evening before going to bed. These are the lucky children in Haiti.

Most of the children are in school leaving just the little ones at the orphanage.

A few years ago, a few members of our group brought down and installed a reverse osmosis water purifier to a local business man to provide clean water to Jacmel. He sells the water for 5 Gourdes a gallon or 12.5 cents US.

Today our goal is to get all of our supplies and equipment out of a shipping container and loaded into a truck to go to the jobsite tomorrow. While the others work on this I mount the dual Outback inverters to a piece of plywood and pre wire so it will be ready when needed in the weeks to come.

Day #3, Thursday February 10, 2011

After loading up on water for the day we head for the spring that will provide the water for the village of Savanette. It is a 1 to 2 hour drive to the bottom of the mountain. When the road ends we hike about 4 miles to the jobsite/spring. Our goal today is to get all of our tools, batteries, solar modules, breaker panels, charge controller, pump and various items to the spring. Here are a few pictures of the main highway from Jacmel to the Dominican Republic. Some parts are paved and some are not.

Typical power pole in Jacmel. I do not know how they keep track of power bills but they do.

We are now at the end of the driveable road and our hike begins. We now unload the truck and get things on their way up the mountain. We were able to load two Surrette S460 batteries on to one mule using the grass baskets on the mule. Each battery weighs 120 lbs but did not seem to even slow the mules down. The mule I walked beside only took one short break at a river crossing for a drink of water. There were 5 river crossings on the trail.

Next we needed a plan to get the two boxes of Sharp 216 watt modules up to the job site. Each box contains two solar modules and weighs 100 lbs. No problem for two Haitian men. These men were able to hike up the mountain carrying the solar modules over their heads...unbelievable!!!!

On the trail we meet many women and children carrying 5 gallon pails full of water on their heads. This is what we are trying to stop.

We finally reach the spring and the new pump house that has been built for this project. We had contracted a local mason to build this for us to protect the pump, batteries and equipment from the weather and theft.

 Our day is complete as everything we need has been delivered to the pump house. This took the whole day leaving only an hour or so to begin wiring the batteries and mounting electric equipment to the walls. I was also able to wire a temporary light to allow work into the evening if necessary.

Day #4, Friday February 11, 2011

Got up, had breakfast and stopped by the new orphanage site in Jacmel as we needed a few things to take to the mountain. There are five containers full of food, equipment, tools, building supplies, clothing and generators. These containers are full to the top and we do not know exactly where everything is. All we do know is that they are locked and no one knows where the keys are. After a few minutes it is known that the sets of keys are either in Port au Prince or somewhere between Cap Hatien and Jacmel. There are 30 or so folks just standing around looking for something to do. We decided that regardless of where the keys are we do not have time to wait. I started to damage a padlock on the container I hoped was the one with the generator we needed to take to the mountain. After pounding on the lock with a hammer for 15 minutes I was exhausted. However a Haitian was able to take over and pound for another 40 minutes or so until the lock broke. Excellent except for the container only had one large generator not suitable for us to take. But luckily we were able to se that generator and a mini grinder to cut another lock apart. This time we struck gold and found a small generator suitable for carrying up the trail

Above are photos of the inside of the pump house containing the controls, batteries and pump. As the temperature is in the 35 to 40 degee range, by the time you get to the top of the mountain you are soaked with sweat. I am above having a quick snack after making the climb to the pumphouse.

Day #5, Saturday February 12, 2011

 Today we spent the morning looking for various items before heading to the base of the mountain. One item needed was a relay. We had brought a relay from Canada but the relay had been damaged the day before when the pump was turned on. For some reason the pump had a solenoid valve that was normally closed. The valve would need 12 volts applied to it in order to open. Somehow we missed this while installing the system. Finally the pump was turned on and began to prime. When the pump primed, the water had no where to go because of this solenoid valve. As the water had no where to go and this is a positive displacement pump, the pump seized and required far more current than our relay could handle. The relay went up in smoke. In Haiti you cannot just go to a store and buy a relay. There are no stores. We did manage to find a relay at a used car parts booth but when we got to the jobsite the relay was no good. We finally decided to take one from the truck we were borrowing. We decided the truck would not miss the relay used for defrosting the rear window. Problem solved.

Above are Don Mowat and Sheldon Spencer in one of our "hotel" rooms. I use quotes for hotel as it was not a hotel like we would go to in Canada. Hotels in Haiti are very poorly built, have water and power on occasion and do not get cleaned during your stay. As a security precaution there is usually only on key per room so you know that no one will be in your room when you are out. As I am always the last to get out of bed Sheldon and Don are probably sitting there telling me to get up and making sure I do. The photo on the right is Joel's fuel station where we would get water and fuel. Above we are discussing our relay shortage.

A dam needed to be built in ordered to make the water deep enough to divert to the pump house. The gentleman to the left of the right photo is our mason. The gentleman to the right is Nel, one of our translators.

Below you will see a Haitian mixing cement Haitian style. They mix the portland cement, sand and aggregate (gravel) dry on the ground. Then they make a bowl (in the dry mix) to contain the water. Next they pour in the water and mix it by hand with a shovel or stick. Notice the bare feet. Cement is very corrosive. In North America we do not touch wet cement let alone walk in it in our bare feet. Haitians are a lot tougher than we are.

Haiti has some beautiful trees and flowers. Much of the land is barren and dry but on occasion you will see some natural beauty.

Above is a pic of the relay we "borrowed" from one of Lifeline Haiti's vehicles. Normally we do not borrow parts from vehicles but when you have nothing else you do what you have to.

Day #6, Sunday February 13, 2011

Today the crew sleeps in a little (I did anyway) and goes to Pastor Placides church in downtown Jacmel. It the most amazing experience of the whole trip. In Canada we have so much to be thankful for but are not. In Haiti they have so little to be thankful for yet they are very grateful. The pastor spoke in Creole some of the time and in English some of the time. We were the only English folks in church but half of the service was in English just for our benefit. Some of the music is recognizable most is not. One thing is for sure...these people can sing. They sing for hours at a time. The leader had to be replaced twice from exhaustion. Amazing!

Above left is Pastor Placide with Sheldon. Above right is Pastor Placide. It is probably over 40 degrees Celcius. Eneryone is soaked with sweat. The service was 2 1/2 hours long and it seemed like only minutes.

The next set of photos were taken from the roof of the church just to show what typical Jacmel looks like. Most houses are shacks made from cement/bricks with tin roofs.

Above the church is a school. It is a very nice school as you can see below.

This toilet is located behind the church in downtown Jacmel. There is no water right now to clean the toilet as the pump has not worked for some time. Hopefully the pump will be replaced or repaired soon.

Day #7, Monday February 14, 2011 Happy Valentine's Day

Day #8, Tuesday February 15, 2011 Heading Home