Successful Day So Far

We started unloading the container at about 10:30 this morning. Because the semi could not make it up the hill, we unloaded about 20,000 lbs. of supplies and walked them the 75 yards or so to the dropoff location. We had over fifty Haitians including small children and elderly men and women carrying supplies. We're talking 8 yr. olds and 60 yr. olds carrying 50 lb. bags of rice and oats on their heads. These people are amazing. Then they got the truck over the hill and we unloaded the rest of the 20,000 lbs. on location. Next, we set up the crane with directions consisting of a picture, but Frank and Gene were great. We set up the crane with two large steel beams each weighing 200 lbs., bolted to the top, and then lowererd the 4000 lb. container to the ground. This was the part of the project where it was important that we have four Americans at each corner of the container with clear communication as we lowered the container in unison. Gene walked around to make sure the container remained level and Frank, Trey, Chris and I lowered the container. We got it done safely and efficiently. Praise God. We took a short lunch break and for the last four and a half hours, we have been working with the PaP University students to get the food into family packs in preparation for distribution. This day has been amazing. This particular project is why we came to Haiti in the first place. Though delayed by a week, this has been an awesome day so far. We still plan to work into the night. As I was working alongside Ralph, the Haitian student leader, Ralph said, "we will need to play basketball" : that gets me excited.