Haiti Mission Trip 2018
Aside from just spreading the word & getting to visit our friends & kiddos at the orphanage, one of our goals was to convert a 40ft long shipping container into a computer lab for the on-site primary school. The container had been previously shipped down full of supplies and had sat basically empty at the orphanage for over a year.
At the end of our stay, we had the classroom pretty much finished up. A team going down next month in May will hopefully finish it up.
DAY 1
6am flight from Pittsburgh International airport to Atlanta international airport. From ATL, we'd fly into Port Au Prince, Haiti.
DAY 1
Sleepy kids at a layover in ATL
DAY 1
Ceremonious picture of Sam Caley asleep on an airport floor.
(Look at my other two mission trip galleries, you'll see what I mean)
DAY 1
Atlanta Airport.
Sam Caley & Lexi Potopski have a love-hate relationship....
DAY 1
Backing away from the gate at Atlanta
DAY 1
Leaving Atlanta for Haiti. Me, Hailey & Lexi (You're welcome Lexi for taking my seat) & some random traveler who gave a half smile.
DAY 1
The ride from the airport to the team house.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 1
The ride from the airport to the team house.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 2
Shortly after we arrived at the team house on Sunday afternoon, we all stopped over at the orphanage to visit.
Ryan Hicks and I had a chance to survey the current state of the conex box and determine what supplies and tools we had vs. what we needed.
On Monday, Ryan & I went with Pascal, Nelson & Louinerge to MSC to purchase the rest of the supplies for the project.
DAY 2
Loading lumber at MSC.
Any trip to MSC pretty much takes up a day. By the time the drive is made over to the supply place, your supplies are gathered and loaded, and including making a stop or two at a store while you're nearby, and then with the drive back, a work day is pretty much gone.
I think I did start to break down some of the plywood panel sections for the computer desks late that afternoon.
DAY 2
Dustin playing with Beigline and Stevenson at the orphanage
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 3
Work starts on our project.
We started by laying out where the entry door and two windows that Pascal wanted would be located.
These were relative to the grain silo looking Sukup classrooms behind pascal in this picture.
Ryan & I laid out the openings and Pascal, Louinerge and I cut them out with a grinder.
DAY 3
Conex box location relative to the classrooms.
If you look just under the tree in the planter, you can see the door & window cut out.
For more info on the classrooms https://www.sukup.com/Buildings/144/Safe-T-Home
DAY 3
Cut-outs complete for the entry door and both windows. The other window is on the opposite side of the box.
DAY 3
Cut-outs complete for the entry door and both windows. The other window is on the opposite side of the box.
In this photo you can see that the conex box was set in place about a foot or so away from the cement pad of the classrooms. Instead of building up an "apron" around the box, we felt it was best to simply shove it over closer to the cement. It would make finishing the bottom easier, and entering exiting the entry door more convenient.
DAY 3
Cutting the window on the opposite side.
A grinder and reciprocating saw with a metal blade did the job.
Here, Louinerge is supervising my work.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 3
Shot of the window coming out of the opposite side.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 3
Entry door & window of computer lab framed in.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 3
We had to make wooden frames to hold the door & windows. We made them out of treated 2x6's & 2x4's then then bolted them in place to the container. These gave us a nice clean opening that we could control the size of and make sure that it was square.
Here, Richard & Dustin are testing out the walk-up window to order rice & beans...
Richard was a BIG help on my last conex box conversion and I was looking forward to having him as a helper this year. Because the kids were still in school this trip, he wasn't able to help out as much.
DAY 3
Ryan pre-drilling for the window frame on the opposite side of the container.
DAY 3
Work completed for the day.
DAY 3
DAY 3
Our kids hanging out with Ron on the roof of the team house.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 3
Emma & Hailey basking in the Haitian sun on the roof of the team house.
DAY 4
We had to put 4x8 sheets of 4" thick styrofoam on the outside of the conex box to insulate it, and also give a base for the masons to skim coat it with cement.
The original plan, which was used on the office container was to pre-drill the metal sides for 9-12 carriage bolts to go through the styrofoam with a large washer & be bolted from the inside. Another team had come up with this plan from doing the exterior of the office.
Last year, I then had to go through the interior of the office/conex box and cut off all of the excess length of the carriage bolts so that I could place 1/2" sheets of plywood on the walls.
This trip, with Ryan Hicks' expertise in the roofing industry, after he surveyed the box and work, he contacted work at home and had them send down 5" self tapping metal screws. We were lucky that Scot Caley came down 2 days after us, so he was able to pick up the screws in time to bring them down.
The self tapping screws were a HUGE help. Not only did we not have to cut off the extra length, we could completely skip the step of putting on lock washers and nuts from the inside. We simply had a crew go around and pre-dill the holes where we wanted them & then ran in the screws.
Here, Sam Caley, Dustin Bowersock & Derrick Moreland are pre-drilling, with no ladder to be found.
DAY 4
Work continues installing the styrofoam on the sides.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 4
While Scot and I were on the roof of the container prepping for the roof styrofoam, I caught Richard and his buddies having their lunch in the shade.
DAY 4
Emma playing with Dario
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 4
Pascal had arranged for a guy in an old beat up dump truck to stop by the orphanage to shove the container into it's final place.
This would prove to not be an easy task.... in Haiti
DAY 4
You can see the concrete pylons previously built. I wanted to shove the container over to close the gap between it, and the concrete slab for the classrooms.
You can also see the "elbow" for the power supply going into the container.
DAY 4
Pascal directing the truck.
DAY 4
*Video- Click to play*
After the truck failed to push the container into place, and on this end it couldn't get into position to push it, it was pulled into place.
Anyone who has used chains and straps to secure something or pull something, will appreciate the fear of this video.
The container was finally moved into it's final place and no one was injured or killed.
DAY 4
Work wrapping up on day 4. All of the styrofoam was screwed into place on the (now) front, (now) back, & one end.
Day 4
Andy cutting off the excess carriage bolts that were used to bolt on pieces of 2x4 onto the back doors to shim out around all of the latching hardware on the doors.
DAY 4
Cleaning up the inside to get ready to install plywood the next day.
DAY 4
DAY 4
Here you can see the latching hardware for the rear doors.
The last container, a team cut off all of the hardware and had a Haitian welder weld the door shut and add bracing.
This time, we decided to just leave it all in place to latch/lock the door and "shim" out around the latches. This gave us a relatively flat area to secure the styrofoam. This also turned out to be a blessing because since the latches were still in place, we could still open the doors to get air and light into the container. We would seal up the back doors as one of the final steps prior to the exterior cement.
DAY 4
DAY 4
The Captains America.
Dustin and Stevens on the roof of the team house.
DAY 5
All styrofoam installed except for the rear cargo doors.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 5
Ryan, Scot, Ramona & I start to install the plywood walls.
We used self tapping wood-to-metal screws with a flat counter sunk head. They were much easier than the ones I used last time and the flat head looked better.
With only two windows and one door, but no interior wall or electrical in place like last time, the work went pretty quick.
DAY 5
Installing plywood walls.
DAY 5
Installing plywood walls
DAY 5
Installing the plywood walls.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 5
Me, documenting the progress of the walls.
Sadly, my trusty Leatherman tool seen here on my belt, which has survived many years with me and my trips and travels, including all three trips to Haiti, stayed behind at the Haiti airport. I inadvertently packed it in my carry-on and it was removed at security. Fearing I would miss our flight if I went all the way back to the main counter to check my bag, I told the Haitian security guy to put it on his belt and keep it. Hopefully, it serves him as well as it has me...
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks
DAY 5
Finishing up before lunch on Thursday.
DAY 5
Finishing up for the end of the day. All of the plywood wall panels were installed and Ron & Andy hung the entry door.
The large pallet looking thing was a large shipping crate that supplies were packed on in the container when it was previously shipped. We had the kids disassemble part of it and it was cut down to repurpose it as a wall to make a small storage room at the back of the classroom. We set it inside at the end of the day to try to keep it dry & preserve it.
DAY 6
Installing the repurposed partition wall.
*Photo credit: Ryan Hicks