I am trying to learn to post pictures on the forum. I'll attempt to post a couple from my family's trip to Haiti last year (it's all I have on this computer). The group we went with are in the process of building a school. The slab they're pouring will be for living quarters to be used by missionaries and volunteers when they visit.
The hill in the first picture is much steeper than it appears. I had a hard time keeping my footing while walking down. The workers mixed concrete on the ground with shovels, just behind the aggregate pile. Other workers carried the concrete up the hill in 5 gallon buckets (about 100 yds). You can see in the second picture how they poured. Sort of like a bucket line to put out fires in the old westerns. There may be 10 or 15 people walking up and down the hill with buckets while they poured. When it was about dark (close to quitting time) all the workers for that day would line up. It was a solid line of people from the mixing area to the pour. Full buckets going up and empty buckets coming down.
There is an extreme lack of jobs in Haiti. These people would gang up in the road, bucket in hand, before daylight in hopes of getting a days work. The lucky ones got to labor until dark for $5/day. Some of the workers were working so that their children could attend the school.
One lady dropped a 5 gallon bucket of water on her foot. We had a doctor in our group so I went to get him to check on the lady. He told the translator to ask her if she wanted to try and keep the toenail or pull it off. She said to pull it off. I saw her later carrying conctete up the hill with a big ball of bandage wrapped around her toe. There are some knuckle heads in Haiti that get a lot of press, but most of the people I met were hard working and tough.
The hill in the first picture is much steeper than it appears. I had a hard time keeping my footing while walking down. The workers mixed concrete on the ground with shovels, just behind the aggregate pile. Other workers carried the concrete up the hill in 5 gallon buckets (about 100 yds). You can see in the second picture how they poured. Sort of like a bucket line to put out fires in the old westerns. There may be 10 or 15 people walking up and down the hill with buckets while they poured. When it was about dark (close to quitting time) all the workers for that day would line up. It was a solid line of people from the mixing area to the pour. Full buckets going up and empty buckets coming down.
There is an extreme lack of jobs in Haiti. These people would gang up in the road, bucket in hand, before daylight in hopes of getting a days work. The lucky ones got to labor until dark for $5/day. Some of the workers were working so that their children could attend the school.
One lady dropped a 5 gallon bucket of water on her foot. We had a doctor in our group so I went to get him to check on the lady. He told the translator to ask her if she wanted to try and keep the toenail or pull it off. She said to pull it off. I saw her later carrying conctete up the hill with a big ball of bandage wrapped around her toe. There are some knuckle heads in Haiti that get a lot of press, but most of the people I met were hard working and tough.
